Job Description

Closing Date

27/11/2026

Job Title: Public Affairs & Stakeholder Engagement Officer (East/West)

Location: Durrington

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: 37hours per week

Salary: From £35,000

About the role

Southern Water is delivering one of the largest infrastructure and environmental investment programmes in the UK, with £7.8bn of investment planned between 2025 and 2030. The success of that programme depends on strong relationships, meaningful engagement and a clear understanding of the communities, stakeholders and decision-makers we serve.

As a Public Affairs and Stakeholder Engagement Officer, you'll play a vital role in helping Southern Water build and maintain those relationships. Supporting an East or West regional portfolio and partnered business areas, you'll help ensure engagement activity is well organised, informed by insight and delivered to a high standard.

You'll be at the centre of the team's day-to-day activity, coordinating stakeholder engagement, researching emerging issues, gathering intelligence and supporting relationships with stakeholders ranging from local authorities and MPs to community groups and strategic partners. You'll help ensure business leaders have the information they need to engage effectively and that stakeholders receive timely, accurate and professional support.

The role combines research, coordination and relationship support. You'll help turn stakeholder insight into action, support the delivery of engagement programmes and play an important role in ensuring commitments are tracked, intelligence is shared and engagement activity is delivered consistently across the business.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to develop a career in public affairs, stakeholder engagement or external affairs while gaining exposure to major infrastructure investment, public policy, community engagement and reputation management within a highly visible and regulated organisation.

What you will be responsible for:

• Supporting stakeholder engagement and public affairs activity across an allocated East or West regional portfolio and partnered business areas.
• Researching, monitoring and analysing political, stakeholder, community and regulatory developments and sharing relevant intelligence with colleagues.
• Preparing briefings, stakeholder profiles, reports, correspondence, presentations and engagement materials for a range of internal and external audiences.
• Supporting the planning and delivery of stakeholder meetings, site visits, events, consultations and engagement activities.
• Maintaining stakeholder records, contact databases, engagement trackers and action logs, ensuring information is accurate and up to date.
• Supporting relationships with MPs, councillors, local authorities, regulators, community groups and other stakeholders through effective coordination and communication.
• Assisting with the management of stakeholder enquiries, concerns, correspondence and casework, ensuring commitments are recorded and followed through.
• Providing administrative and project support for stakeholder engagement programmes, public affairs campaigns and external affairs activity.
• Gathering and analysing stakeholder feedback and insight to support business planning, engagement activity and decision-making.
• Supporting engagement during incidents, operational issues and periods of increased stakeholder or political interest.
• Contributing to reporting, governance processes, performance monitoring and continuous improvement across the Public Affairs and Stakeholder Engagement function.
• Working collaboratively with colleagues across Corporate Affairs and the wider business to support delivery of engagement objectives and business priorities.

Additional Requirements specific to the role

• Participate in role-appropriate on-call rotas and provide support during incidents, emergencies and periods of heightened operational, stakeholder or reputational risk.
• Support and engage with Southern Water’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy, demonstrating positive and inclusive behaviours

What you’ll bring to the role:

Essential

• Degree-level qualification, equivalent professional experience, or evidence of the ability to operate effectively at graduate level.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines and competing demands.
• Strong research, analytical and information-gathering skills, with the ability to identify and interpret stakeholder, political and community intelligence.
• Excellent written communication skills with experience preparing reports, briefings, correspondence and presentations.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to accuracy when managing stakeholder information and records.
• Ability to build effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong planning, coordination and administrative skills.
• Ability to work under pressure, manage competing priorities and adapt to changing requirements.
• Understanding of stakeholder engagement, public affairs, political processes or community engagement principles.

Desirable

• Qualification or training in public affairs, politics, communications, stakeholder engagement, public relations or a related discipline.
• Understanding of parliamentary, local government or regulatory environments.
• Experience of stakeholder mapping, intelligence gathering or community engagement activities.
• Awareness of the political, regulatory and stakeholder landscape relevant to Southern Water and the wider water sector.
• Experience using stakeholder management systems, databases or reporting tools

Why join us?

This is an opportunity to work on issues that matter to millions of customers and communities across the South East.

You'll gain hands-on experience supporting stakeholder engagement with local authorities, MPs, community groups, regulators and other key stakeholders while helping deliver major investment and environmental improvement programmes.

You'll join at a time of significant investment and change, developing valuable experience across public affairs, stakeholder engagement and external affairs while building the skills, relationships and knowledge to grow a long-term career in the profession.

"At Southern Water, we believe diverse perspectives drive innovation. If you’re passionate about making a positive impact and think you can bring value to our team, we’d love to hear from you—even if you don’t tick every box. Your unique skills and experiences could be exactly what we need."

If this role isn’t quite what you’re looking for but are keen to be contacted about opportunities at Southern Water, you can register your details here: Introduce Yourself (myworkdaysite.com- Introduce Yourself)

Our Commitment to Diversity

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, identities, and experiences. We do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or any other protected characteristic. If you need reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know.

Additional information:

In line with Southern Water’s security requirements, successful candidates will be required to provide evidence of their identity, eligibility to work in the UK, criminal record check (DBS) and verification of their employment and/or education history for the past three years.

Appointment to this role is subject to the successful completion of all pre‑employment checks, including security vetting.

Please note that if a candidate does not meet the required security standards or fails to pass the vetting process, Southern Water reserves the right to withdraw the offer of employment. Some positions may also require higher levels of security vetting, which may involve providing additional documentation.