United Utilities provides water and sewage services to seven million people across the North West of England. It's a big job and a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly for our customers.
From operating our pipes and improving water quality, to embracing new technologies and safeguarding the local environment – whether you're in our head office or out on site, there's always plenty going on.
Our internship programmes will give you the opportunity to learn first-hand how we make this happen. Our undergraduate and graduate programmes are key to helping us support customers.
United Utilities is committed to achieving integrated water management within the five counties of the North West of England, to benefit customers, society and the environment. This commitment has brought an exciting opportunity for a Partnerships Intern to work across United Utilities and with partner organisations to support the scaling up of this approach.
The successful Partnerships Intern will work directly with the Place Based Planning Managers in the Catchment Planning, Conservation and Partnership team. See key responsibilities for more information.
The Catchment Planning, Conservation and Partnership (CaPCoP) team is newly formed and responsible for providing environmental leadership through developing and embedding robust plans which promote nature-based interventions and protect the natural ecosystems our services rely on.
The team work in an integrated and collaborative manner with other teams in United Utilities, as well as with partner organisations to drive our Catchment Systems Thinking (CaST) approach.
This is an exciting opportunity to gain more experience and understanding of how United Utilities is building capability to integrate the management of water at a sub-regional level and drive partnership working.
The business will need new processes, systems, and ways of working to adopt a more integrated approach, which will require individuals who have the right interpersonal skills to support this change. Ultimately, we want to be sector leading and demonstrate this to our regulators at PR29.
It is an excellent time to join the team as key deliverables such as the Greater Manchester Integrated Water Management Plan and Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) are high profile within the business. It is also a fantastic platform to gain exposure to lots of teams within the Asset Management directorate and around the business as a lot of the team’s interactions is outward facing.
The CaPCoP team are a diverse group of people who have a lot of industry knowledge and expertise and have experience of supporting those in their early careers to get the best out of their placement.
This is a great opportunity to get exposure to the environmental sector, notably environmental work conducted within the water industry. Skills you will develop include data analysis, interpreting data, report writing and internal and external communications. As your internship progress there will be substantial scope to take on additional responsibilities as you gain more experience and gain exposure to other areas of the team.
Don't worry, we won't throw you in at the deep end. You'll have mentors and managers with you as you progress through your placement and support you as you work towards your personal development goals.
You will be aiming for a minimum of a 2:1 in an environmentally focussed degree such as Geography, or Environmental Science (although other degree disciplines with relevant experience and knowledge will be considered), and be at least in your penultimate year of study.
You must have a researched knowledge of the water industry and United Utilities. You must have a strong and well-developed analytical skills, with an attention to detail, ability to interpret and analyse data and contribute towards recommendations that consider the needs of the environment, customers and businesses. Ability to use GIS is beneficial but not essential.
You should possess excellent written and interpersonal skills and have the ability to communicate and influence across multiple stakeholder groups, including being able to creatively use a range of media and presentation skills for qualitative and quantitative information in a means that can be understood by all.
You must be highly computer literate (in particular word processing, spread sheets, presentations). You must demonstrate a willingness to learn and genuine interest in/curiosity about partnership working.
You must be motivated and enthusiastic, understand the importance of team work and possess ambition and drive to succeed and make the most out of your internship. You should be able to be comfortable working flexibly across a range of tasks and activities to deadlines and be able to prioritise your time.
The purpose of this role is to support in the continued development of United Utilities partnership working. Adapting to climate change, addressing the impact of population growth and meeting increasing environmental expectations require a Catchment Systems Thinking approach and much deeper partnership working.
In order to achieve this we need to scale up our work with partner organisations such as local authorities, NGOs, flood risk management authorities and land owners by integrating our planning within a specific geography.
Don't worry, you won't be going it alone. Your mentor and manager will work with you as you progress through your placement and support you as you work towards your personal development goals.
When you join our Intern Scheme you'll receive a good salary, and you'll also be eligible for a bonus of up to 7.5%. You get 26 days' holiday to take during your placement, and at our fantastic Lingley Mere site we have an onsite gym, coffee shops and other great facilities.
And while access to an award-winning pension scheme might not be top of your priorities right now, responsible employers like us make sure you get one anyway – you'll pay 5% in to your pot and you'll get an extra 10% from the company. And that's not the only way to save, as you'll be able to buy company shares as part of the employee share buy scheme.
We need fantastic people to enable us to deliver a great service to the public. We are committed to reaching and recruiting from every community and then supporting employees to achieve their full potential ensuring they feel valued and included, regardless of their gender, age, race, disability, sexual orientation or social background.
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