SCADA Systems Engineer

Who are we?
Thames Water is the UK's largest water and wastewater company. We make a daily difference to our 15 million customers by supplying 2.6 billion litres of water through 32,000 km's of pipes, to keep taps flowing and toilets flushing. We are an essential service and have operated throughout the Covid19 pandemic.

At Thames Water, every one of our actions, big and small, matters every day. Water is essential to daily life, and that means our business is always open.

What you will be doing
We are currently seeking an experienced SCADA Engineer to provide System & ICA support to our 24/7 operational Wastewater treatment sites in the East London / Crossness operational area.

The variety and diversity of the different systems that are used to manage data at Thames Water mean that no two days are the same, requiring technical fault-finding skills to resolve a variety of problems.

Using your analytical skills, you will fault find and problem solve appropriate technology; provide performance reporting; regulatory compliance and systems reliability work on all aspects of Thames Water SCADA system. You will provide input to the capital programme at various stages through the project lifecycle, with emphasis on the delivery stage, ensuring that changes to the Operational Technology systems are risk mitigated and efficiently delivered. You will help develop solutions, processes & procedures to improve our essential services.

James Lavington was one of our Site SCADA Engineers for Thames Water Operational Technology team (he has subsequently been promoted to the Water Site SCADA team manager role):

Having worked around control and automation in the water industry for a number of years, making the decision to apply for the Site SCADA Engineer role in OT seemed like the natural step in my career. Thames Water provides a challenging and varied work environment that keeps you on your toes and at the cutting edge of technology.
A typical week for me would include the following:

• Supporting capital delivery projects of varying sizes in the design, implementation and commissioning of new assets and control philosophies being delivered to sites.
• Performing change and improvements that have been identified by operators of the SCADA systems of the larger treatment sites.
• Assisting in the learning and development of the ICA technicians in the area, supporting them where required to bring their knowledge and understanding up to a higher level.
• Understanding how the SCADA systems are operating by carrying out regular health checks and understanding how proposed change may affect them.
• Responding to emergency faults that arise as part of other work that takes place.

Having the hands-on experience of working in control and automation, as well as the underpinning knowledge that a HNC provides, put me in a great place for this role. Being able to apply the knowledge learned from both environments really allowed me to expand my understanding further.

I really enjoy working at Thames Water due to the way in which no two days seem to be the same. Working in OT has really helped me understand more about a subject that I really enjoy, which has, in turn, made me want to do more and reach higher. Working in a team of people that are committed to doing a great job is a really invigorating experience and something I think is really important.

To be successful in this role, we're looking for you to have:

• HNC or Degree in Electrical, Control, etc. with at least 3 years in the specialist area of SCADA & ICA
• Self-motivated and keen to provide the best possible service at a minimal cost
• Site SCADA / Wonderware subject matter expert
• Confident to be able to articulate and represent Operations as the technical champion for the site SCADA systems
• Very good technical knowledge of SCADA, ICA, keeping up with current best industry practice
• Excellent IT skills MS office and email, knowledge extended programming within SCADA and MS applications

What's in it for you:
This role covers our east London wastewater area and will be based at an operational site close to home. We are offering a salary of up to £52,000 depending on experience and qualifications. Our excellent salary package includes 26 days holiday (rising to 30 days with service), an industry-leading contributory pension and a wider benefits scheme which includes an annual pay review, child care vouchers, season ticket loans and loyalty awards for continuous service plus many more.

Participation in a 24/7 Out of Hours Standby rota (typically 1 week in 4) will be required after a suitable period of training and assessment, for which you will receive an additional payment.

Our competitive salary package includes a car allowance, an excellent contributory pension, 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service and a wider benefits scheme.

We also have a referral scheme, where you can receive £750 for helping someone get a permanent position within the company.

We're proud of the positive ways of working we have adopted during the pandemic. We want to create a more flexible and dynamic environment so all our colleagues can thrive. For our office-based roles, we are moving to a hybrid approach where we will provide options around working from our offices, our operational sites and home dependent on role/team/individual. This will be discussed during the assessment process.

Thames Water is a unique, rewarding and diverse place to work. If you join our team, you'll enjoy fast-tracked career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and unparalleled benefits. We're also proud to be an equal opportunity employer, Stonewall Diversity Champion and Disability Confident Leader and we are a Times Top 50 Employer for Women.

You can find out more in our working for us section of our website.