Wastewater Audit Technical Lead

We are Uisce Éireann. Every day, we are responsible for the delivery of secure, safe, and sustainable water services for the people of Ireland. As Ireland’s national regulated water utility, our vision is a sustainable Ireland where water is respected and protected, for the planet and all the lives it supports.

Our purpose at Uisce Éireann is to rise to the challenge of delivering transformative water services that enable communities to thrive. That means we are proud to take on the responsibility of protecting our water supply and passing on a safe and secure water system to a rapidly growing population and empowering Ireland’s social and economic growth.

We are passionate about empowering our people, enabling them to make a positive impact on communities across Ireland. We are guided by a shared vision and purpose, grounded in values that define who we are and shape how we work, where we deliver for customers and communities, we work better together, we do the right thing, we aim high, and we keep each other safe. Our behaviours define how we interact, communicate, and succeed together. These values and behaviours apply to each one of us, across every role, location, and level.

Our goal is to attract and develop skilled and talented people from diverse backgrounds, who bring a dynamic range of expertise and insights to our work. With a strong, values-driven workforce, we ensure Uisce Éireann can continue advancing Ireland’s water services and meeting the needs of the communities we serve for generations to come.

The Role: 

The Environmental Regulation function is responsible for the day-to-day management of environmental regulation and compliance. The function monitors the compliance of the water and wastewater network and treatment works, influences external environmental policy and manages environmental stakeholder relationships. Environmental Regulation provides expertise to the Uisce Éireann business on influencing environmental policy and managing stakeholders around environmental regulation affecting Uisce Éireann’s practices. The function provides regulatory expertise to the business, including the Senior Leadership Team, in all aspects of environmental regulation. The team provides support on legislative and regulatory changes that will affect Uisce Éireann policies in the future.

Reporting to the Wastewater Audit Manager, the Wastewater Technical Lead drives the delivery of a risk-based national wastewater audit programme across Uisce Éireann’s wastewater assets. The role applies structured hazard identification and risk assessment methodologies to assess compliance, control effectiveness, and environmental risk; provides technical leadership to audit teams, develops and maintains Risk Assessment Plans, and works with internal and external stakeholders to drive continuous improvement in wastewater compliance.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Monitor and interpret wastewater legislation, regulatory requirements, and discharge authorisations to ensure ongoing compliance across wastewater assets.

• Lead the delivery of a risk-based national wastewater audit programme across wastewater assets, including DBO sites, applying standardised audit methodologies to assess compliance with regulatory requirements, company policies, and operational controls.

• Apply structured hazard identification and risk assessment methodologies to audit planning and delivery, ensuring consistent and objective assessment across assets of varying scale and complexity.

• Ensure timely completion of audits and achievement of audit objectives, managing audit analysts and coordinating contract resources to deliver against the programme.

• Analyse and interrogate wastewater performance and monitoring data to assess trends, data suitability, and areas of concern, supporting evidence-based audit findings. 

• Identify compliance risks and control weaknesses, evaluating existing and planned mitigation measures and highlighting residual risks requiring further action. 

• Develop and maintain comprehensive Risk Assessment Plans capturing hazards, risk ratings, controls, mitigation measures, residual risks, and timelines, ensuring alignment across stakeholders.

• Incorporate relevant business programmes, projects, and operational improvements into Risk Assessment Plans to provide clear visibility of risk mitigation trajectories.

• Prepare high-quality audit reports for management and stakeholders, clearly communicating audit findings, risk positions, and mitigation status in a structured and concise manner.

• Maintain accurate audit, risk assessment, and action‑tracking records, escalating where  mitigation progress is insufficient or residual risk is not acceptable.

• Collaborate with HQ and regional wastewater compliance teams, and cross-functional stakeholders to inform audit activity, align on findings, and support progression of mitigation actions while maintaining audit independence.

• Maintain awareness of legislative changes, industry trends, and best practice, embedding these into audit methodologies and processes.

• Provide technical leadership, coaching, and development to Audit Analysts and contractor resources, promoting high standards and continuous improvement. 

• Contribute to the development of audit capability, including data quality, risk‑based prioritisation, audit methodologies, and digital reporting tools.

• Ensure audit outputs are evidence-based, internally aligned, and communicated clearly and consistently to stakeholders, contributing to the development of standardised digital reporting tools to achieve this objective. 

• Ensure compliance with ethical standards, professional guidelines, and confidentiality requirements.

   

General Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Collaborate with key internal stakeholders across Uisce Éireann to support delivery of audit objectives and organisational priorities.

• Promote and deliver health and safety commitments across Uisce Éireann and its supply chain, reinforcing positive behaviours and ensuring adherence to the highest safety standards.

• Support the delivery of the Uisce Éireann Transformation Programme, contributing to directorate and organisation-wide objectives.

• Conduct duties in accordance with Uisce Éireann information security policies, standards, and controls, ensuring protection of the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of business information in line with the NIS Directive and relevant regulations.

• Maintain effective working relationships with external regulatory stakeholders, including the EPA and Inland Fisheries Ireland, providing transparent, evidence‑based communication on compliance status and risk mitigation.

• Contribute to the development of standardised and digital audit outputs, improving visibility of environmental risk and action tracking across Uisce Éireann.

• Ensure audit outputs are evidence-based, internally aligned, and communicated clearly and consistently to stakeholders. 

• Collaborate with the Communications Team to clearly articulate Uisce Éireann’s environmental compliance position and the value delivered by the audit programme to internal and external audiences, including regulatory stakeholders, communities, and the public.

• Other duties as required.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Relevant third-level qualification and/or accreditation is desirable.

• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in the water, utilities, or similar industries is desirable and/or relevant experience.

• Ability to develop and maintain effective strategic partnerships with key stakeholders internally and externally and offer support to make the right decisions.

• Proven track record in dealing with complex issues, proactively and in a timely fashion along with the ability to communicate information to others.

• Experience in managing end-to-end processes to ensure delivery meets customer expectations.

• Highly motivated individual, working to the highest professional and ethical standards with proven ability to deliver results.

• Strong analytical skills and ability to identify and analyse problems and potential improvements, and propose and implement solutions.

• Demonstrate adaptability and the ability to change focus and direction in line with business strategy and requirements.

• Proactively identify new areas of improvement by challenging current processes and encouraging creative thinking. 

• Experience in contributing to a safe working environment by checking regularly that safety and wellbeing practices are being followed as well as suggesting ways to improve. 

The closing date for receipt of applications for this vacancy is 03/06/2026.

Please note that applications submitted after this closing date will not be accepted.

*Please be advised that if successful, you will be placed on the salary range based on your skills and experience. Please note the Market reference point (midpoint) of the range is generally the upper end of the offer where someone is deemed to be fully competent to take on the duties of the role, and leaves room for the employee to progress through the pay range as their experience develops further.

Uisce Éireann is an equal opportunities employer.

We are committed to providing a diverse and inclusive place of work and have a robust strategy and framework called ibelong to enable this. We are an equal opportunity employer and through our recruitment process we welcome and encourage applications from interested and suitably qualified individuals regardless of gender, age, racial or ethnic origin, membership of the traveller community, religion or beliefs, family or civil status, sexual orientation/gender identity or disability.