At Scottish Water, our graduate programmes empower you to drive change, tackle real challenges, and shape Scotland’s future. This is more than just a launchpad for your career – it's an opportunity to make a meaningful impact. As part of our team, you’ll play a key role in delivering essential services and infrastructure that help Scotland flourish every day.
You’ll be joining us at a fascinating time, as we transform into a more agile, innovative organisation that delivers outstanding service, delivers great value for money, and works in an environmentally sustainable way that goes beyond Net Zero. Start a career that’s built for you, today.
What you’ll do
Step into a dynamic role where people are at the heart of everything we do, helping to transform and enhance the customer experience across our service delivery teams. You’ll play a key role in shaping exceptional customer journeys by ensuring interactions are seamless, effective, and empathetic. From day one, you’ll gain hands-on experience in customer engagement, service design, and process improvement, building a foundation for leadership with insight and compassion.
In this fast-paced, customer-focused environment, you’ll develop critical skills in problem-solving, strategic thinking, and adaptability, all while driving meaningful, lasting improvements. With guidance from experienced mentors, you’ll gain an in-depth understanding of every aspect of customer service, contributing to our mission of putting people first.
This graduate opportunity will see you working on impactful initiatives, from enhancing engagement processes and advancing digital innovation to streamlining service scheduling. Along the way, you’ll refine your abilities in project management, coaching, leadership, and analytics - equipping you to make a tangible difference at the core of Scottish Water’s customer services.
Take a look at the team hiring within this 2-year Management Trainee Graduate Programme
Customer Engagement and Planning: This team manages the customer journey from start to finish. This includes our Customer Engagement Centre, handling over 500,000 contacts annually, our Customer Response and Planning team, which coordinates field service appointments, and our Wholesale Service Desk, supporting licensed providers and business customers. This team is integral to delivering Service Excellence, a core ambition of Scottish Water, by ensuring every customer interaction is efficient, empathetic, and effective.
Over your two years with us, you’ll receive dedicated training to become a fully qualified Operations Team Coach, building the skills and confidence needed to succeed.
How does the graduate programme work?
- You’ll be employed on a permanent contract from Day One, with a starting salary of £29,000.
- As you progress through the programme and reach key milestones, you’ll be rewarded with salary increases that recognise your growth and commitment to ongoing learning. Upon completing the programme, you’ll also have the opportunity to advance into an Operations Team Coach role, starting from £33,560. For more details, please visit www.scottishwater.co.uk/graduates.
- You’ll be part of a cohort of c.30 graduates, giving you an instant and invaluable network of contacts throughout the business.
- There is plenty of support. As well as your day-to-day manager, we’ll match you up with a mentor who will support and coach you as you go through your programme.
- You’ll have access to both structured and informal training designed to equip you with the skills you need now, and in the future.
What you’ll need
You’ll have graduated within the last three years (or be on track to graduate next summer). We are keen to hear from applicants from a range of backgrounds, so we’re flexible on degree programme - we're looking for a minimum of a 2:2 classification.
We’re looking for people with problem-solving skills, a passion for delivering exceptional customer experiences, and the ability to coach and lead a team effectively. Background in analytics or customer service is advantageous but not essential.
You’ll need to live within commuting distance of one of either our Edinburgh or Stepps offices.
In terms of essential requirements? That’s it.
But here’s the thing: We get thousands of applications for our Graduate roles each year. What makes the best candidates stand out?
Here are a few things we love to see:
- CVs that tell us more than what grades you earned over the years. Show us what you’ve learned. What you love. What your aspirations are.
- Cover letters that tell us why you’re interested in Scottish Water (and in this role)
- People who use their application to show that they are Bold, Responsible, Inspiring and Caring.
Looking out for you
While the work we do is important, it’s not the only thing that matters. That’s why we make sure you have everything you need to find a good work-life balance.
You’ll get plenty of time to recharge with 38 days of holiday every year (including public holidays). And you can even buy five more if you need a little extra time. You can also take paid time off to volunteer in your community.
When it comes to major life events we have family-friendly policies around adoption, maternity, and parental leave. And for the everyday? We embrace flexible working.
For your future, there’s our pension (the ‘know-what-you’ll-get-when-you-retire’ kind), as well as life assurance.
As for some nice extras? You can expect an annual company bonus. Not to mention access to SW Splash – handy rewards that can save you money on holidays, bills, and shopping.
What happens next?
- The closing date for applications is Sunday 22nd December.
- Assessment activity will kick off in January with some surprisingly fun (no, really!) online testing.
- Final face-to-face interviews will happen during February. Where you can give us a good grilling too.
- If you accept a place on the programme, you’ll go through some pre-employment screening during the Spring, including a criminal record check.
- All our new Graduates will start together in September, with a week-long induction event in Glasgow. You’ll learn more about the organisation, meet our leaders, visit some of our operational sites, start making friends, and have a lot of fun.
A few final things worth knowing…
Research shows that some people avoid applying for jobs unless they can meet every single criteria. If you’re interested in this job, but don’t tick all the boxes, apply anyway! We hardly ever hire people who can do every part of a job from Day One. Everyone has a learning curve. So don’t rule yourself out!
Let us know if there are any changes we can make to our recruitment process to help you perform at your best. Lots of our people have disabilities or neurodiverse conditions (including some of our recruiters!). We're also aware that some people might be experiencing temporary challenges because of life events, like menopause. We’re very used to making adjustments, so please don’t be afraid to ask.
As part of our commitment to developing a flourishing Scotland, it’s important that all our employees are Scottish taxpayers. If you join us, your home address will need to be in Scotland. If you don’t already live here, you'll need to commit to moving here within your first three months.
Finally (finally!), candidates who haven’t submitted an application in the last 12 months will have their records removed from our recruitment database. You won’t need to do anything. Your data will be automatically deleted.
