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 Treatment Process Engineering Graduate Programme offers the perfect blend of personal and professional development, exposing you to the frontline and the core of our business. The programme will enable you to spend time in different areas of our treatment process engineering teams, where you will learn how to evaluate & identify best solutions that meet requirements, balance process reliability, risk operability, carbon impact and cost in decision making.
A typical day could be in the office, on site, or a mix of both! You could be working with a number of groups who have expertise in treatment, designing and commissioning for wastewater and clean water. Another day you could be on site carrying out on site tests, taking samples of wastewater, assessing the results and making decisions to progress a live scheme
You’ll get an insight into our water and wastewater treatment through a number of unique placements across our teams in Asset Planning and Treatment. You’ll learn about different aspects of our business whilst working on a range of projects which will help address real life challenges and drive tangible change.
The aim of the programme is to create a pathway and give you the necessary tools to become a valued member of our treatment process engineering teams. Furthermore, the programme is designed to enhance your critical thinking, leadership, and strategic thinking, as well as giving you the opportunity to showcase your creativity and really add value in shaping our future direction.
Potential placements could include
- Strategic Asset Planning: Aligning our long-term plan with shorter-term requirements, designing the parameters of our five-year plan and defining the rules for our in-AMP Plans and Practice
- Tactical Asset Planning: Learning how to act as the link between the issues and risk we have on a day-to-day basis to our long-term strategy
- Treatment Process Engineering: Making correct system choices for capital solutions that fulfil the outcomes of our short and long-term asset management plans
- Treatment Process Hub:
- You will have the chance to discuss your development and career ambitions in your 1-1 meetings with line managers, mentors, and New Talent Team
What will you learn?
You will expand your knowledge of project management, including learning how to effectively manage and influence stakeholders. You’ll also gain a strong business and commercial acumen, developing your ability to plan strategically with time, cost, and quality in mind, and how to deliver this message successfully to a range of stakeholders.
You’ll gain a deeper understanding of why and how we make sure we deliver with our customers at the heart of what we do, and how we communicate this message across our communities.
You will learn the following either directly from placements, through supplementary training or project work:
- How to evaluate and identify the best process solution that meets our design requirements and is the optimum whole life solution
- How to balance process reliability, risk, operability, carbon impact and cost in our decision making
- How to work with our site teams to ensure that commissioning activities are completed successfully
- You’ll explore innovative technologies and solutions
- The regulation that affects our business and long-term planning
- How to gather and interpret vital data that can benefit our business
Typical off-scheme role
This can vary depending on your personal career ambitions and the business needs at the time. However, roles such as Treatment Process Engineer, Process Scientist, Tactical Asset Manager and Strategic Asset Manager are examples of some of the roles our past graduates have landed after the scheme.
Our New Talent Team will guide you and support you every step of the way. Furthermore, your line manager, mentor and buddy will be there to help you in making sure you reach your full potential here at Severn Trent.
Entry criteria
STEM degree preferred, ideally in a chemistry, biology, a science-based subject or engineering.
A full driving license and access to your own vehicle is required in this role.
Typical contracts are 37 hours per week, 8am-4pm, however there may be flexibility around the structure of our 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. No two days are the same on the front line and not every day goes to plan, so you’ll need to be quick on your feet to respond!
- 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 are some of our favourites
- 28 days holiday + bank holidays (and the ability to buy/ sell up to 5 days per year)
- Annual bonus scheme (of up to £2,225 which is subject to eligibility)
- Leading pension scheme – we will double your contribution (up to 15% when you contribute 7.5%)
- Sharesave – the chance to buy Severn Trent Plc shares at a discounted rate
- Dedicated training and development with our Academy
- Electric vehicle scheme and retail offers
- Family friendly policies
- Two paid volunteering days per year
As if that isn’t enough, you’ll receive an annual salary increase whilst you’re on programme and you’ll also get an increase when you move into your first job.