Lead Data & Reporting Scientist, Water Resources

Lead Data & Reporting Scientist – Full‑time role offering a salary of £48,000 – £54,000, with hybrid working. The role is mostly remote, with one day a week in our Exeter office. You’ll be joining a dedicated team within the Data & Modelling department, focusing on water resources data management, analysis, visualisation and regulatory reporting.

Responsibilities

• Owning Annual Performance Report (APR) delivery for Water Resources (currently 50% of time, with intent to automate and reduce manual effort).
• Leading data science and scientific modelling work – applying statistical methods, forecasting techniques and machine learning to water resources problems. Setting team standards for analytical quality and resolving complex modelling problems others cannot (WRMP demand forecasting, supply‑demand balance, water resource zone modelling).
• Establishing auditable single source of truth – designing data governance, quality standards and stewardship processes for Water Resources reference data.
• Designing data pipelines to move from manual APR processes to automated workflows – specifying Bronze/Silver/Gold layer architecture requirements, defining transformation logic, working with data engineers to implement solutions.
• Managing stakeholder requests across the Water Resources Function.
• Supervising and mentoring Data & Reporting Scientists – providing technical guidance, modelling and visualisation approaches, building team capability.

Essential Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership in data science, setting standards for statistical methods, forecasting and machine learning, and solving complex analytical challenges.
• Proven ownership of regulatory BI delivery (e.g. Ofwat APR, ODI or similar), including forecasting, consumption methodology and water balance outputs.
• Strong scientific modelling capability across WRMP, demand forecasting, water resource modelling and supply‑demand analysis for strategic planning.
• Expertise in data management and governance, including single source of truth, data quality standards, lineage and reference data stewardship.
• Data engineering experience designing automated pipelines and implementing Bronze/Silver/Gold architectures.
• Skilled in data ownership, storytelling and communicating complex technical insights to non‑technical audiences.
• Extensive experience in data science, analytics or scientific modelling roles with leadership of technical delivery and regulatory accountability.
• Proficient in handling large structured and unstructured datasets using SQL and Python or R.
• Ability to balance immediate operational delivery with long‑term data infrastructure development.

Desirable Qualifications

• Experience in project/work management, coordinating stakeholders, scoping work and managing deadlines.
• Strong data visualisation skills (e.g. Power BI, matplotlib), translating technical insights into clear dashboards and enabling self‑serve reporting.
• Proven ability to document methodologies and build knowledge resources to support team independence.
• Experience in the water/utilities sector, particularly water resources, leakage, consumption or demand forecasting.

Benefits

• Flexible, hybrid working model.
• Generous annual leave allowance, plus Bank Holidays and the option to buy or sell holiday to increase your flexibility.
• Competitive company pension scheme.
• Access to thousands of discounts and savings through Pennon Perks.
• Cycle to Work Scheme – supporting you to access sustainable, healthy transport options.
• Employee Assistance Programme with 24/7 access to support.
• Comprehensive family leave.
• Discretionary company bonus scheme.
• Much more.

Additional Information

Closing Date: 5th June 2026. We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

The successful candidate will be subject to a mandatory DBS check as part of the onboarding process.

#J-18808-Ljbffr…