Let’s cut straight to it. Taking care of ‘one of life’s essentials’ – it’s our purpose and we want you to be part of it. Supplying wholesome drinking water, treating wastewater and recycling this back to the environment responsibly is no mean feat. We serve around 8 million people across the Midlands and Wales and unlike other businesses, our delivery is non-negotiable. It’s a matter of life.
Many of our employees are also our customers, so we truly take pride in what we do! Employing people from across our communities and beyond, Severn Trent is an exciting and inclusive place to work – a place where you can be curious, can be ‘Wonderfully You’ and where you can truly make an impact to our environment, now and for future generations.
Let’s tell you more
Our Strategy and Regulation Undergraduate Programme offers the perfect blend of personal and professional development, exposing you to both the mechanics of how a regulated business works, but also its future strategic direction and how we can think innovatively to develop compelling strategies, play our part in our sustainability journey and help transform our business as we move towards a net zero future.
The programme comprises of 12 months working across our Economic Regulation, Strategy, Sustainability and Transformation teams, which you will have the opportunity to shape. You will gain a real insight into our business and have the opportunity to learn about our strategic, regulatory and sustainability agendas. You will work on projects which will help address real life challenges and help drive tangible change.
You will learn how we:
- Manage, and deliver our 5-year business plans within our regulatory framework
- Set our long-term strategies across all of our respective business areas, as well as the process of bringing these to life and put them into action
- Ensure that we’re doing the right thing by our people, our business and our communities as part of our social and environmental sustainability agenda including our drive to net zero.
Throughout the year you’ll enhance your critical thinking, leadership, and strategic thinking, as well as having the opportunity to showcase your creativity and really add value in shaping our future direction. You’ll also gain experience across our whole group, including our regulated and non-regulated businesses.
What will you learn?
You will learn the following either directly from your placement, or through supplementary training or project work:
People:
- Engagement with many different stakeholders from technical experts through to senior leaders, such as programme sponsors and directors
- Indirect management of people through project management
Customer:
- Customer experience focused project role
- Customer insight and market research skills
- Customer engagement methods including ability to communicate complex concepts effectively to customers
Project:
- Project lifecycle exposure
- Informal project management that demonstrates PM skills required
- Understanding of stakeholder management within projects and understanding of project tools
Commercial:
- Understanding of the regulatory environment in water
- Understanding of wider macroeconomic/environmental/political factors impacting the water industry
- Awareness of Severn Trent’s approach to sustainability
- Embedding sustainability throughout the business
- Budget management
- Business planning and Strategic planning
Economics and Sustainability:
- Practical application of micro/macro and regulatory economics
- Practical application of econometrics
- Gain an understanding of sustainability and the environmental and social issues affecting our communities
- Working knowledge of programmes such as STATA/Excel
- Research and analytical skills
- Effective writing skills
- Knowledge of data and metrics necessary to determine ESG/sustainability
- Data analysis skills
Our New Talent Team will guide you and support you every step of the way. Furthermore, your line manager and mentor will be there to help you in making sure you reach your full potential here at Severn Trent.
Entry criteria
Preferred individuals with an analytical mindset and a passion for Strategy, Sustainability, Transformation and Economic Regulation.
For candidates who wish to specialise in the Economic Regulation part of the team, a degree in Economics or related discipline is preferred.
You must be a student who needs to complete a placement as part of their undergraduate degree, this will normally mean you are currently in your 2nd year of a 4-year degree.
Typical contracts are 37 hours per week, however there may be flexibility around the structure of your working hours, team and line manager dependent.
What we’re looking for
We want our employees to care and to have a genuine passion for what we do as a business. We need people who want to make a difference in providing a vital service to our customers, now and for the long-term.
We’d love you to be someone with…
- A ‘can do’ attitude – willing to get stuck in, take accountability for decisions and actions and who takes pride in their work
- A love of variety in a role and ability to adapt to a dynamic, fast-paced working environment
- Ability to quickly prioritise tasks and the initiative to dive head-first into problem solving.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills and enjoy working with multiple teams
- Ability to analyse and interpret information and effectively communicate this to different team members and audiences
- Ability to travel freely across our patch to visit different sites and travel to meetings and training days
- Curiosity to learn quickly in a reactive and dynamic working environment
Diversity and inclusion
At Severn Trent we are passionate about our people. We want to make sure that we continue to foster a more diverse, inclusive, and cohesive culture that represents the communities and customers we serve. We’re making sure we keep up the progress with our wonderful working groups – LGBTQ+, Women in Operations & STEM, Disability and Ethnicity, who help us with our commitments. Find out more about our commitments to Diversity and Inclusion at Severn Trent.
How we’ll reward and care for you in return
It’s not just a job you’ll get here, you’ll get a career too. We have a range of benefits that reward and recognise great work and award-winning training to ensure you reach your potential. And we’ll also help you play your part in looking after the environment and the community in which we live.
Here’s some of our favourites:
- 25 days holiday + bank holidays
- Annual bonus scheme maximum £1,500 (pro rata based on your start date, and based on company performance)
- Dedicated training and development with our ‘Academy’
- Family friendly policies
- Two community volunteering days during your placement
Let’s go
Apply now to build an amazing career and be part of a brilliant team. We can’t wait to hear from you.
- Roles close on 31st January 2025
- Check your diary – face to face assessments will run from 17th February-14th March 2025.
- Estimated start date- September 2025
To find out more about working with us, search #LifeatSevernTrent on social media.
