Our customers and local communities are at the heart of everything we do within Bristol Water. We aim to have a positive environmental and social impact on our communities through the way we deliver our essential services. We have a framework for our community work, called the social contract, which sets out how we work in collaboration with local stakeholders and how we measure and report on our progress.
The Community Engagement and Education Lead will work closely with the Community Engagement Team to highlight the great work we are doing in our supply region, as part of our social contract.
What will you be doing?
This role will engage with our customers and the wider community to help us deliver on some of our core company targets, including encouraging our customers to use water wisely and to get a water meter. Building relationships within the company and working in partnership externally will be important and rewarding elements of the role.
As the role focuses on face-to-face engagement with our communities, a great deal of time will be spent out and about in the communities that we serve.
Day to day you’ll be…
• Create, develop and deliver a meaningful community engagement programme that supports the aims and objectives of Bristol Water
• Lead the development and delivery of our water fountains project, which involves promoting the existing water fountains to the public to positively impact the community, as well as oversee the creation of future water fountains, as required
• Create annual plans and manage the logistics of our water bar events. This involves identifying and preparing volunteers for each event and providing support at the events to ensure that the events run smoothly
• Lead the delivery of our schools mentoring programme, which includes the creation and delivery of school lesson plans, which you will be delivering in primary school classes and assemblies within the Bristol Water area
• To enhance the online content made available to primary schools
• To manage our Together for Good fund, which is available for community groups to apply. This involves identifying monthly winners, arranging for the fund to be issued, and visiting the winning community groups, to demonstrate a real interest in the community project. This involves liaison with the communications team to create social media posts that promote those awarded to internal colleagues as well as externally, to customers.
• Act as a link to other social contract projects to help maximise the opportunity for education
• Support the development and coordination of a volunteering approach for Bristol Water, utilising employee volunteering days to help deliver our community projects. Work with the volunteering team at South West Water for support on strategy and approach
• Create, manage and maximise community sponsorship opportunities and relationships for Bristol Water, putting in place a framework for considering sponsorship requests in a fair and transparent way
• Represent the company externally, working collaboratively with key stakeholders to deliver community benefits, for example liaising with schools, event organisers, local councils and local charities
• Work closely with the wider communications team to develop plans and content to support our social contract programme and key messaging
• As a member of our social contract working group, provide regular updates on progress and information to feed into our external reports and the calculation of the social and environmental benefits achieved
What we’re looking for...
• Experience of working with internal and external stakeholders to deliver challenging community projects
• Excellent time management – ability to manage and deliver several projects in parallel
• Self-starter – ability to develop new ideas and projects from scratch, collaborating with colleagues across the business
• Strategic thinker – ability to prioritise opportunities and workload with available time and resources
• Experience in developing different resources and/or promotional materials for stakeholder groups (online or print)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills including public speaking and presentations
• Experience of delivering training to groups of people
• Experience of running events
• Proficient in the use of relevant IT software, including Microsoft Office applications and other relevant packages, particularly Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint
Ideally, you’ll also have…
• Experience of delivery of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives or community engagement projects, particularly working with local schools or community groups
• Understanding of behaviour change techniques
• Experience of working in a communications team
• Understanding of the water industry and environmental issues
• Understanding and knowledge of the Bristol Water supply region area
• Experience of using social media as an engagement tool
• Passionate about social and environmental change
Importantly, you will need to demonstrate our core values: TRUST, SUPPORT, ACCOUNTABILITY, RESPECT, PROFESSIONALISM, PRIDE and AMBITION.
What’s in it for you?
As well as a great opportunity to develop your career, the role offers:
• 7.5% bonus opportunity
• 27 days holiday, plus bank holidays (you can also buy/ sell up to 5 days)
• Pension: We put in 8% if you put in 4%
• Flexible, supportive friendly working environment
• Access to flexible benefits and discounts via our portal
• Opportunity for some home working
• Free onsite parking when you’re in the office
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to
Disability Confident.
