Job Description

Closing Date

27/11/2026

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

Location: Durrington

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: 37hours per week

Salary: From £70,000

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 trust, understanding and strong relationships at every level, from local communities and councils to regulators, parliamentarians and government.

As a Senior Public Affairs and Stakeholder Engagement Manager, you'll be the senior strategic partner for a portfolio of business areas and a regional lead for external engagement. Working closely with Directors and senior leaders, you'll help shape business decisions, provide insight on political and stakeholder expectations, and ensure engagement activity supports the successful delivery of the company's priorities.

You'll operate at the centre of some of Southern Water's most important and challenging issues. From major investment and environmental improvement programmes to operational performance, policy development and reputation management, you'll bring together stakeholder insight, political awareness and business priorities to help the organisation make better decisions and build stronger external relationships.

Leading activity across either our East or West portfolio, you'll ensure engagement is joined up across local, regional and national audiences. You'll work across the full spectrum of external affairs, connecting local stakeholder priorities with wider communications activity, ensuring Southern Water presents a consistent and credible voice with decision-makers at every level.

This is a role for an experienced external affairs professional who combines strategic thinking with practical delivery, can build trust with senior stakeholders, and is comfortable providing advice and challenge to senior leaders in a fast-moving, highly scrutinised environment.

What you will be responsible for:

• Acting as the senior Public Affairs and Stakeholder Engagement business partner for a portfolio of Directorates, providing strategic advice, challenge and support to Directors and leadership teams.
• Leading stakeholder engagement activity across either our East or West portfolio, ensuring engagement activity supports business priorities, strengthens relationships and delivers measurable outcomes.
• Developing and delivering integrated engagement strategies that bring together stakeholder engagement, public affairs, government relations and reputation management activity.
• Building and maintaining relationships with MPs, elected representatives, local authorities, regulators, government stakeholders, industry partners and community leaders.
• Providing strategic advice on political, regulatory, stakeholder and reputational issues, helping leaders understand external expectations and make informed decisions.
• Identifying emerging risks, opportunities and trends and translating external insight into practical recommendations for the business.
• Leading engagement on major programmes, projects and business priorities, ensuring stakeholder considerations are embedded throughout planning and delivery.
• Working across corporate affairs, operations, capital delivery, asset management, strategy and customer teams to coordinate engagement activity and ensure consistent messaging and stakeholder management.
• Supporting high-profile issues, incidents and regulatory matters, providing stakeholder and political advice during periods of increased scrutiny.
• Ensuring local stakeholder intelligence informs regional and national engagement strategies and Pcontributes to wider government relations and advocacy activity.
• Driving professional standards, continuous improvement and best practice across the Public Affairs and Stakeholder Engagement function
• Leading, coaching and developing team members while managing a diverse and often fast-moving portfolio of work.

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.
• Occasional travel across the Southern Water region to attend stakeholder meetings and engagement activities.
• Champion Southern Water’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion commitments and foster an inclusive team culture.

What you’ll bring to the role:

Essential

• Significant experience in public affairs, government relations, political engagement or influencing within political and regulatory environments.
• Significant experience in stakeholder engagement, external affairs, strategic communications or relationship management within a complex organisation.
• Proven experience advising and constructively challenging Directors and senior leaders on complex and sensitive issues.
• Experience influencing business decisions, priorities and strategic direction through external insight and stakeholder engagement.
• Strong understanding of political, regulatory and stakeholder landscapes and their impact on business decision-making.
• Exceptional relationship-building, influencing, negotiation and communication skills.
• Experience leading teams and managing competing priorities in politically sensitive, highly scrutinised environments.
• Ability to assess stakeholder, political and reputational risks and translate insight into practical recommendations.

Desirable

• Degree-level qualification or equivalent professional experience.
• Professional qualification in public affairs, communications, stakeholder engagement, public policy or a related discipline.
• Experience within utilities, infrastructure, environmental services or another regulated sector.
• Experience leading cross-functional or geographically dispersed programmes and stakeholder initiatives.

Why join us?

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

You'll work at the intersection of politics, policy, operations and reputation, helping shape how Southern Water engages with stakeholders ranging from local campaign groups and councillors through to regulators, parliamentarians and government.

You'll join at a time of significant investment and change, with the opportunity to help shape major decisions, lead important relationships and make a visible contribution to the future of the business and the region it serves.

"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.