ICA Technician

About the Role

You will join Southern Water’s Fresh Water team to maintain and improve instrumentation, control and automation (ICA) systems that support the processing of clean water for distribution. The role focuses on ensuring the compliance, reliability and efficiency of control systems while driving continuous improvement across the South Coast sites. Employees are expected to participate in 24/7 incident support to resolve water service issues quickly. While flexible working requests are considered on a case‑by‑case basis, the role may involve occasional out‑of‑hours duties as part of the incident support rota. • Perform planned, reactive and proactive maintenance on telemetry, flow‑, level‑, pressure‑ and temperature‑metering, analysers, MCC/LVA and dosing equipment. • Diagnose and resolve control system faults; program and improve PLCs (Rockwell, Mitsubishi and package plant PLCs). • Manage PLC software backups, routine verification and change‑control processes. • Maintain and modify HMI and SCADA systems, ensuring regular backups. • Configure and maintain site control networks (Ethernet, DH+, Profibus, Profinet, RS232) including managed switches. • Calibrate instrumentation to Southern Water standards and national requirements (HACCP, MCerts). • Respond to faults and alarms from the Regional Control Centre and investigate instrumentation issues at freshwater plants. • Complete accurate documentation to satisfy change‑control compliance. • Support root‑cause analysis and implement corrective actions. • Implement system modifications requested by Operations to enhance control and compliance.

Key Responsibilities

• ▸plc programming
• ▸scada maintenance
• ▸network configuration
• ▸instrumentation calibration
• ▸fault diagnosis
• ▸incident support

What You Bring

• Essential: NVQ Level 3 in Electrical or Electronic Engineering or equivalent apprenticeship; ONC/HNC in Instrumentation, Electronics or Control. • Essential: strong problem‑solving and fault‑finding skills; full UK driving licence. • Desirable: experience in a process‑oriented industry such as water utilities, petrochemical, electricity or manufacturing; background in instrumentation, control or automation.

Requirements

• ▸nvq3
• ▸onc/hnc
• ▸problem solving
• ▸fault finding
• ▸driving licence
• ▸instrumentation

Benefits

The Instrumentation, Control and Automation Technician role closes on 2025-10-25 and is based in Hastings. It is a permanent, full‑time position working 38 hours per week (Mon‑Wed 08:00‑16:30, Thu‑Fri 08:00‑15:30) with a salary ranging from £37,260 to £53,820 depending on experience.

Work Environment

Onsite