Water Plant Operations Lead

Reporting to the Water Treatment Operations Manager, the Water Plant Operations Lead is responsible for managing the provision of treatment services with respect to a specific plant/plants within a region. This includes the safe operation and maintenance of assets to ensure compliance and customer service standards. The role holder has direct line management of field-based teams and will provide direction and guidance as is required in the execution of the role of plant management and management of Operational Contractors working on our Assets.

Managing Plant Operations

Responsible for overseeing and supporting the timely resolution of technical/engineering issues and service risks as they arise within the plant/ plants through the provision of technical analysis, service risk management, local knowledge of assets and operational performance capabilities. The Water Plant Operations Lead will also support IDD and Minor Capital programmes, ensuring that they are facilitated by Asset Operations. They will also coordinate investment processes and identify deficits in operational standards and areas for improvement.

• Keep up to date with best practice, ensuring operations lessons are captured and improvement plans are kept up to date.
• Responsible for promoting and delivering health and safety commitments across UÉ and its supply chain, reinforcing positive behaviours and delivering health and safety objectives and requirements to the highest industry standards.
• Support the delivery of the Uisce Éireann Transformation Programme, driving results required within the Directorate and supporting organisation-wide objectives.
• Oversee the coordination of teams to ensure the effective and efficient use of resources, through team meetings, productivity reporting and monitoring water treatment operation and maintenance & repair key performance indicators.
• balancing conflicting priorities as required.
• Manage the provision of treatment services by developing and contributing to operational, maintenance and repair plans for the treatment assets within the plant/ plants.
• Oversee the coordination of teams to ensure the effective and efficient use of resources,through treatment operation and maintenance & repair key performance indicators.
• Support Key Account Managers with any queries relating to issues affecting Key
• Support operational and strategic change initiatives and develop solutions for improvements, liaising & collaborating with Operational Control & Support Teams.
• Coordinate activities to ensure operational considerations are captured in proposals and strategic investment planning is supported.
• Responsible for the management and resolution of escalated issues from field teams.
• Liaise and collaborate with the Network Manager to ensure effective treatment anddelivery across geographical areas.
• Provide direction and guidance to the Team Lead and field staff, liaising with other Teams as required.
• Oversee the extended rollout of Uisce Éireann systems for Work Management, including Maximo, and advocate for the use of their complete functionality throughout the Field Force
• Provide visible leadership for your team, coaching and developing them to achieve their full potential and deliver business objectives, promoting collaboration and highlighting the behaviours that are expected from everyone in the team.
• Conducts duties and responsibilities in accordance with Uisce Éireann’s Information Security policies, standards, processes and controls to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of UÉ business information, and delivery of critical services, in accordance with the NIS Directive and any other relevant cybersecurity regulation.
• Develop operational plans for Treatment Plant/ Plants, liaising with other staff to ensure clear plans are in place at all times, reflecting the drive for continuous improvement.
• Identify and manage any risks to budgets ensuring the necessary approvals processes are followed and the Finance function is engaged to mitigate risks. This will include overall material consumption and inventory management, identifying efficiencies and
• Approve purchase requisitions, including reactive and retrospective requests in line with procurement policies and processes.
• Liaise and collaborate with Asset Planning to support the definition and management of the investment plan, specifically; understanding the asset base (performance & condition), conducting risk assessments, needs identification and intervention generation.
• Set and review objectives, and manage the performance of Water Treatment Operations and Treatment Maintenance field based teams within the region.
• Ensure all information (including service risks) are accurately recorded and promptly reported for audit purposes and service risk escalations, using the technology systems provided.
• Support adherence of teams to allocated task schedules, standard operating procedures and the close out of work orders on completion of tasks.
• Manage the overall budget allocated to the treatment teams to ensure delivery of services within budget.
• Lead, support and develop the Water Treatment Operations and Maintenance & Repair teams and provide them with the necessary direction and skills to ensure the safe operation and maintenance of water assets.
• Collaboration with key internal stakeholders across the UÉ business
• Responsible for monitoring and reporting KPIs for owned processes
• Provide regular reports on operational progress to the Operations and Maintenance Manager as required.
• Provide technical oversight of third parties/contractors; Permits-to-work, Permits-to Enter.
• Responsible for managing or supporting with incident responses and escalating issues and incidents to the Operations & Maintenance Manager, as required.
• Oversee Specialised Works Scoping, Method-Statement Reviews
• Support the roll out and development of standard operating procedures, as required.
• Support field teams with complex asset system integrity challenges, acting as an escalation point for determining the cause and forecasting the impact of the challenge, defining the scope for site surveys and investigations, and identifying options for resolution.
• Provide visible leadership for the plant team, coaching and developing them to achieve their full potential and deliver business objectives, promoting collaboration and highlighting the behaviours that are expected from everyone in the team.
• Manage the provision of treatment services with respect to a plant/ plants, including the operation of the plant to ensure that regulatory compliance and customer service standards are met.
• Responsible for managing field-based teams, preparing, and delivering timely internal
• Support the Customer Contact Centre/Customer Contact Technical Lead with any escalated customer issues/queries including site visits as required.
• Participate in out of hours and escalation standby working, as required.
• Manage event response, ensuring the prompt response to alarms, the provision of emergency cover and the resolution of issues and incidents to minimise the impact on the customer or the environment. This will include NOMC engagement.
• Ensure adherence and compliance with all health and safety procedures, legislation, practices (including risk assessments, Safe System of Work Plans etc.), PPE, the closure of Health and Safety items and training required under the Construction Regulations.
• Provide emergency cover, as required.
• Responsible for the management, oversight and provision of operational services in in the plant/ plants by managing the operation of the assets and detailing the requirements and expectations of activities to be undertaken by field based teams across operations and maintenance.
• Oversee, in strong liaison with the Portfolio Operations Specialists, the integration and commissioning of new assets from capital investments into the operational phase.
• Responsible for leading and managing direct reports to achieve business goals.
• Lead, support and develop the Treatment teams and provide them with the necessary direction and skills to ensure the safe operation and maintenance of assets.
• Support and/or manage engagement with regulatory and other stakeholders, as required.

• Strong experience of line and performance management duties
• Ability to make decisions based on analysis of information within a very fast paced, customer focused environment
• Knowledge of managing process compliance.
• A minimum of 5 years’ relevant experience is required.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• We work better together - capable to work collaboratively across various function and achieve set objectives
• We deliver for customers and communities - experience in a customer focused business
• We do the right thing - knowledge of the application of the current legislation, standards, processes and procedures relevant to water and wastewater Budget management experience
• Effective communication skills, to engage with a broad range of internal stakeholders and front-line employees
• Knowledge of water or wastewater treatment and/or the maintaining and repairing of water or wastewater treatment and network assets is an advantage
• Knowledge of risk management principles and guidelines (ISO 31000) and risk identification at water and wastewater assets
• Relevant third level qualification and or accreditation is desirable
• Local knowledge of assets and operational performance capabilities to support the timely resolution of non-routine, specialised activities

Specialised Works