This role contributes to Thames Water's Digital strategy by providing strategic leadership across Digital Engagement, ensuring customer and colleague digital channels are secure, resilient, scalable, and aligned to organisational priorities. You will lead a multidisciplinary, matrix-based domain organisation, acting as the single point of accountability for technology platforms, services, suppliers, and digital engagement outcomes while building strong partnerships across the business to deliver measurable customer and business value.
What you'll be doing as the Head of Digital Domain
Define and execute the Digital Engagement strategy across customer and colleague digital channels, including web, mobile applications, portals, and in-journey communications, aligned to Thames Water priorities and customer outcomes.
Lead the Digital Engagement domain strategy and roadmap, aligning investment priorities with enterprise architecture, business objectives, and long-term digital transformation plans.
Act as the senior technology and business partner for Executive Directors and senior stakeholders, providing strategic advice, challenge, and guidance while ensuring priorities, benefits, and outcomes remain aligned.
Lead the design, optimisation, and continuous improvement of end-to-end digital customer journeys, including billing, moving home, leakage reporting, and outage communications, using customer insight, UX research, analytics, and service performance data.
Partner with Product, Engineering, Service, Contact Centre, Security, and Data & Analytics teams to embed engagement capabilities into products, platforms, and releases while driving customer adoption.
Own the technology estate, operational services, and platforms within the Digital Engagement domain, ensuring high levels of availability, resilience, performance, security, and compliance.
Lead governance, change, release, and service management activities across the domain, ensuring operational excellence and effective lifecycle management.
Develop and maintain the Digital Engagement roadmap aligned with enterprise architecture, product roadmaps, and organisational priorities, coordinating cross-functional delivery and change adoption.
Build, lead, and develop high-performing multidisciplinary matrix teams across UX, content, journey optimisation, engagement operations, engineering, and insight functions.
Create a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, innovation, and psychological safety across the Digital Engagement domain.
Establish and monitor KPIs, OKRs, SLAs, and performance measures including digital adoption, task completion, customer satisfaction, self-service success, cost to serve, and operational performance.
Drive continuous improvement through experimentation, customer insight, A/B testing, content optimisation, accessibility improvements, and journey analytics.
Lead supplier strategy, commercial performance, contract management, and service assurance for Digital Engagement partners, ensuring value for money and delivery against agreed outcomes.
Own the Digital Engagement domain budget, supporting forecasting, investment governance, cost optimisation, and business case development.
Ensure all engagement activities comply with security, regulatory, accessibility, data protection, and brand standards, including Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) requirements where applicable.
Represent the Digital function as a member of the Digital Extended Leadership Team (ELT), acting as a senior role model for Thames Water values and leadership behaviours.Base location – Hybrid – Clearwater Court, Reading.
Working pattern – 36 hours Monday to Friday.
What you should bring to the role
Significant senior leadership experience within Digital, Technology, or IT functions, with responsibility for large-scale digital engagement, platforms, or customer technology services.
Proven experience leading large multidisciplinary matrix teams across engineering, product, service management, UX, and operational functions.
Strong experience partnering with Executive Directors, Senior Leadership Teams, and business stakeholders to shape digital strategy and investment priorities.
Demonstrable experience owning technology roadmaps, digital platforms, and operational services within complex enterprise environments.
Experience delivering customer-centric digital transformation and continuous improvement across digital channels and customer journeys.
Proven experience managing multimillion-pound budgets, investment planning, commercial governance, and supplier performance.
Strong leadership capability with experience building high-performing teams, developing talent, and creating collaborative cultures.
Excellent communication, influencing, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business-focused outcomes.
Ability to balance strategic leadership with operational delivery in a complex, regulated, and evolving environment.Technical experience and skills
Strong knowledge of cloud platforms, preferably Microsoft Azure, together with modern platform engineering, microservices, and DevSecOps practices.
Strong understanding of enterprise platforms, digital technologies, service management, and operational governance.
Experience defining and operating governance frameworks, including risk management, service performance, change management, and release management.
Strong understanding of enterprise architecture principles and aligning technology roadmaps to business strategy.
Experience establishing and monitoring KPIs, SLAs, OKRs, and service performance metrics to drive operational excellence.
Strong knowledge of security, resilience, compliance, data protection, accessibility, and regulatory requirements within enterprise technology environments.
Experience leading supplier management, contract governance, and service assurance across strategic technology partners.Desirable qualifications and experience
Experience working within utilities, regulated industries, Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), or other large, complex enterprise organisations.
Experience leading Digital Engagement, customer experience, or enterprise digital platform functions within large-scale digital transformation programmes.
Experience delivering customer journey optimisation through UX research, analytics, experimentation, and service design.
Experience supporting AMP planning, long-term investment planning, and enterprise transformation programmes.Desirable technical skills and qualifications
Degree in Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or a related discipline.
Professional certifications such as ITIL, TOGAF, Microsoft Azure, or Cloud Architecture certifications.
Knowledge of Agile delivery methodologies, DevSecOps practices, and enterprise service management frameworks.
Experience working with enterprise architecture, service management, analytics, and digital engagement platforms.What’s in it for you?
Competitive salary: Up to £115,000 per annum, depending on experience.
Car Allowance: £5,800.
Annual Leave: 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays).
Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.Find out more about our benefits and perks (Please note different T&Cs apply if on secondment)
Who are we?
We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job, and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.
Learn more about our purpose and values
Working at Thames Water
Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.
If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.
Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.
We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else, just let us know; we’re here to help and support.
When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.
Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment
Salary description
£115000.00 - £115000.00 per year