Job Description

Lead (Pb) Scientist

Circa £42,725 dependent on skills and experience

Fixed Term contract - maternity cover, full time (37 hours) with flexible working options

Huntingdon / Ipswich / Lincoln / Norwich

Dive into a world of opportunity, and join our team!

We are recruiting for a Lead Scientist (Pb) to join our Drinking Water Science team!

You will be responsible for the effective delivery of the lead programme and ensuring risks of lead in drinking water are mitigated ahead of time. Focusing on quality source to source, through a mixture of onsite work and using the vast data we have for our sites, you’ll be continually looking at getting the optimum quality of wholesome water out to our customers, through our network and distribution assets.

You’ll provide scientific understanding and challenge our processes to safely distribute wholesome water. You’ll implement the required actions to any water quality deteriorations so that understanding of the impact can be gained. Using the data and process information around you, you’ll take proactive interventions to mitigate risk and record this information to showcase the impact of your work.

This role will be part of an out of hours standby support for the business across the region. Due to the nature of the role, some travel will be necessary and a full UK driving license is essential.

Key responsibilities

• Data collection, manipulation, analysis and interpretation of results
• Analysis of the phosphate dosing plant performance
• Monitor and analyse the enhanced lead sampling programme and review appropriateness
• Provision of information to ensure Lead Strategy Team reporting requirements are delivered
• Respond to exceedances of the lead standard and subsequent customer correspondence
• Support our operational call centre with customer queries from Lead Advice Line
• Administration of customer queries, including documentation and record keeping, managing the data and resolving queries
• Contribute to the development of short and medium term strategies to reduce lead risks to water quality and ensure these are delivered through local operational teams
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement in Health & Safety, ensuring consistent H&S standards are maintained

We invest in our people - as a valued employee, you’ll be entitled to:

• Personal private health care  
• Generous double match pension – contribute 7% and Anglian Water will contribute 14%, giving a total contribution of 21%
• 24-hour Virtual GP service for you and your household 
• 26 days annual leave – rising with length of service and the ability to buy more
• Life assurance (up to 8 x salary)
• Personal accident cover (up to 5 x salary)
• Excellent family friendly policies, such as 26 weeks full pay for maternity / adoption leave, as well as 4 weeks paid paternity / partner leave. Opportunity for shared parental pay
• Bonus scheme  
• Flexible benefits and working culture to support your wellbeing and lifestyle.

What does it take to be successful?

• Educated to a degree level in a relevant scientific subject OR equivalent experience OR equivalent qualification
• Able to critically evaluate information to take tactical action
• Excellent data interpretation skills
• Build rapport with operational colleagues, whilst being able to communicate actions required
• Able to influence those around you in making positive decisions to protect wholesomeness of our water

Inclusion at Anglian Water:

Inclusion is for everyone and we are an equal opportunity employer, which means we’ll consider all suitably qualified applicants regardless of gender identity or expression, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or beliefs, age, sexual orientation, disability status or any other protected characteristic. We recruit and develop our people based on merit and their passion for creating better outcomes, and we’re committed to creating an environment where all our colleagues feel they belong.

Closing date: 16th September 2026

#loveeverydrop