Deputy Legionella & Water Hygiene Subject Matter Expert

For jobs located in Wales, the ability to speak Welsh is desirable.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is one of the government's largest public service departments with a sizeable annual budget, serving over 20 million citizens.

The estate spans 1.4 million square metres across 800+ sites and supports around 78,000 colleagues.

Our vision includes DWP colleagues, supply chain, partners and, most fundamentally, the customers the Department exists to serve. They are the reason for our existence.

We are responsible for the day-to-day operation of our vast Estate by managing a private sector supply chain that delivers essential services such as Security Guarding, Maintenance, Property and Leasehold Management, Construction, Cleaning and Facilities Management.

DWP Estates is not just about maintaining buildings - it's about transformation. Our strategic goals include:

• Transitioning to a smaller, more affordable, and adaptable estate to meet future needs
• Investing in infrastructure through planned replacement works
• Embedding sustainability in line with Government Greening Commitments (GGCs)
• Delivering cost-effective services while maintaining high standards
• Creating a professional, best-in-class working culture across the Government Property profession

Our Estates strategy ambitions have been refreshed to take us through to 2030:

• OPTIMISE: Continue to transition to a more affordable and adaptable DWP estate that creates productive environments

• INVEST: Investment in an improved environment that better meets the needs of customers and colleagues and minimises service disruption

• SUPPORT the drive for sustainability throughout DWP

• DELIVER: Expertly deliver improving, cost-effective services for DWP

• THRIVE: Continue to develop a working culture for DWP Estates that is best in class across government

There is no better time to join the award winning DWP Estates team.

** Location - While a Corporate Hub in the locations specified is preferred other locations nationally can be considered **

Government Property Profession Career Framework (Link)

This role sits within the following:

• Job Family - Strategic Asset Management
• Core Role - Property Data Management
• Level - Practitioner

Job Summary

DWP Estates is expanding its national water safety function and is seeking an additional Legionella & Water Hygiene Subject Matter Expert (SME) to work collaboratively across a complex UK-wide estate.

The post holder will work alongside a fellow Water Hygiene SME as part of an integrated national technical function. Both SMEs will operate at the same technical level, with equivalent professional standing, competence, authority and accountability across DWP's water safety arrangements.

Together, the Water Hygiene SMEs will provide national technical leadership, oversight, assurance and challenge across Business As Usual (BAU) water hygiene activity, Water Risk Assessments (WRAs), Written Schemes of Control, planned preventative maintenance (PPM), remedial activity, water sampling, projects, asset information, investigations, compliance evidence, contractor performance and governance.

Both SMEs will work collaboratively across the full water safety portfolio to ensure that risks identified through WRAs, BAU activity, operational data, projects, incidents and technical investigations are collectively understood and translated into proportionate, coordinated and effective controls. This approach will strengthen assurance, support efficient use of technical resource, reduce duplication and ensure attention is focused on the areas of greatest risk and operational priority.

The post holder will act as a DWP Estates Responsible Person for Water Safety, with responsibilities exercised in accordance with the DWP Water Safety Plan and established governance arrangements.

DWP retains duty-holder responsibility for the effective management of water safety. While services are delivered through the FM contractor, specialist water hygiene providers and other delivery partners, accountability for effective control cannot be contracted out. The Water Hygiene SMEs provide the competent technical oversight, assurance and challenge necessary to support DWP in demonstrating that appropriate controls are established, implemented and effective.

The role is central to maintaining effective water safety arrangements across diverse building types, system configurations and operational environments and contributes directly to reducing risk, improving operational effectiveness and protecting people, assets and organisational reputation.

What we are looking for

If you're someone who can use your technical expertise to strengthen Legionella risk control and provide clear, evidence-based assurance at a national level, we want to hear from you. Most importantly, we are looking for individuals who are motivated by delivering effective, proportionate and sustainable water safety management that protects people, assets and organisational reputation.

Drawing upon your mechanical engineering knowledge and Legionella risk management experience, you will play a key role in supporting the National Water Hygiene SME by leading Business As Usual (BAU) technical activity. You will provide day-to-day oversight of Legionella control arrangements, ensuring risks are identified early, control failures are understood, and corrective actions are progressed through the appropriate governance and operational routes.

Working across a complex, multi-site estate, you will engage routinely with operational stakeholders, providing clear technical direction, assurance and challenge to support compliant outcomes. You will review and quality assure Water Risk Assessments (WRAs), written schemes of control and CAFM-based compliance evidence, ensuring that Legionella control measures are technically correct, practical and aligned with ACOP L8 and HSG274.

The role requires strong analytical and communication skills, translating operational performance data into clear national risk narratives, reports and governance packs. Through structured BAU reporting, weekly operational engagement and targeted escalation, you will support informed decision-making, prioritisation of risk and continual improvement in Legionella control.

This role is not a contract or commercial management position; instead, it provides independent technical assurance and risk-based recommendations that enable delivery teams to act with confidence. Your work will have a direct and tangible impact on national water safety assurance, helping to maintain safe environments and demonstrate robust statutory compliance.

Duties and Responsibilities

• the role holder will play a key part in national water hygiene risk management and assurance, working collaboratively with the other Water Hygiene SME, operational stakeholders, contractors and assurance functions to:
• act as a DWP Estates Responsible Person for Water Safety and Water Hygiene Subject Matter Expert;
• maintain an effective, relevant and compliant water management system across the estate;
• maintain effective oversight of water hygiene and Legionella risk across a complex, multi-site portfolio;
• ensure risks are identified, assessed, controlled, monitored, rectified and escalated appropriately;
• provide independent, evidence-based technical advice, assurance and engineering challenge;
• assure that contractor delivery and supporting evidence demonstrate effective implementation of required controls;
• maintain an accurate and evidence-based understanding of national water hygiene risk, assets, compliance and performance;
• provide technical leadership on repairs, maintenance, projects, asset changes and investment; an
• support governance through clear reporting, escalation and proportionate risk-based recommendations.

Key responsibilities

• Act as a DWP Estates Responsible Person for Water Safety, exercising the responsibilities and technical authority assigned through the DWP Water Safety Plan, policies and governance arrangements.
• Maintain a detailed understanding of water hygiene and Legionella risk management requirements, ensuring arrangements remain aligned with applicable legislation, ACOP L8, HSG274, BS 8580-1, relevant technical standards, DWP requirements and good practice.
• Ensure DWP maintains an effective and usable water management system, including appropriate plans, asset registers, schematics, surveys, Water Risk Assessments, Written Schemes of Control, logbooks, compliance information and risk records
• Provide national technical oversight of water hygiene controls, reviewing compliance evidence, validating control delivery and identifying emerging, recurring or sustained ris
• Lead collaborative working with specialist water hygiene providers, WRA providers and the FM contractor in developing, operating and improving the performance and assurance arrangements used to demonstrate effective delivery of statutory and risk-based water hygiene maintenance.
• Manage, control and assure the implementation of Water Risk Assessments, associated treatment or action plans and the escalation of non-conforming water systems through appropriate operational, Asset Management, Compliance and governance route
• Review and quality assure WRAs, Written Schemes of Control, schematics and associated action plans, ensuring they are technically accurate, proportionate and reflective of actual system configuration and identified ris
• Review survey and assessment documentation produced by specialist providers, the FM contractor and their supply chain, ensuring findings and actions are appropriately documented, tracked and supported by satisfactory evidence before closure.
• Identify and challenge discrepancies between WRAs, Written Schemes, asset information, PPM requirements and operational delivery, ensuring site-specific controls are correctly translated into maintenance and monitoring arrangements.
• Use CAFM and associated compliance information to interrogate PPM delivery, identify missed, overdue, incorrectly scoped or inadequately evidenced activity and ensure corrective actions are appropriately prioritised, owned and tracked to verified closure
• Review water hygiene monitoring and sampling information, including adverse or out-of-parameter results, and determine proportionate technical requirements for investigation, immediate controls, corrective action and escalation
• Provide technical oversight of hot and cold water services and other relevant systems including water features, cooling towers and swimming pools, applying appropriate engineering and water hygiene principles to the assessment and control of risk.
• Lead the technical assessment of proposed repairs, improvements, maintenance changes, remedial works and modifications to water assets and systems, ensuring identified risks and root causes are appropriately addressed.
• Assess, authorise and sign off requests to delay, defer or vary water hygiene maintenance and repairs where this responsibility is assigned, ensuring decisions are supported by an appropriate and evidenced risk position and are escalated where acceptable control cannot be demonstrated.
• Determine whether evidence submitted in support of corrective, maintenance or remedial activity is sufficient to demonstrate satisfactory completion and effective risk control, challenging or rejecting inadequate evidence where necessary.
• Lead or support site investigations, audits and technical deep dives to verify system condition, completed works, compliance arrangements, asset information and supporting documentation and to identify root causes, assurance gaps and opportunities for improvement.
• Lead or support investigations into control failures, adverse trends, repeated non-compliance or suspected water-related incidents, applying root-cause analysis and defining effective corrective and preventative action
• Lead the capture and interpretation of accurate and relevant water asset, condition, maintenance and compliance data to ensure appropriate maintenance, remedial works, lifecycle interventions and investment are identified.
• Use asset, condition, compliance and risk information to make evidence-based recommendations for future works, improvements, maintenance and investment, balancing water safety, compliance, whole-life performance and value for money.
• Provide Water Hygiene SME input across the project and asset lifecycle, including acquisition, design, specification, refurbishment, system modification, commissioning, handover, occupation change and decommissioning.
• Ensure appropriate cleaning, disinfection, flushing, sampling, commissioning evidence, schematics, asset information, maintenance requirements, risk assessments, Written Schemes and other relevant water safety documentation are established before new or modified systems are accepted into BAU.
• Collate, interrogate and present water hygiene risk and performance information, identifying trends, hotspots, recurring site or asset issues, contractor performance concerns, data-quality problems and systemic weaknesses.
• Provide constructive technical challenge to the FM contractor, specialist water hygiene providers, consultants and project teams, including assurance of contractor competence, technical methods, proposed solutions and supporting evidence where required
• Maintain and support accurate water asset and system information throughout the asset lifecycle and ensure incomplete or inaccurate information that could compromise safe management is identified and corrected.
• Perform risk-based audits and checks of water hygiene data, maintenance activity, compliance practices and evidence to understand root causes, close assurance gaps and improve performance
• Work collaboratively with the other Water Hygiene SME across the full water safety portfolio, combining technical expertise and professional judgement to improve consistency, strengthen assurance, reduce risk and improve efficiency
• Collaborate with Asset Management, Asset Intelligence, Compliance, operational teams and supply-chain partners to support legal and contractual compliance, appropriate asset management, best practice and value for money
• Contribute to the development, review and implementation of DWP water safety strategies, policies, procedures, technical standards, assurance arrangements and the Water Safety Plan.
• Apply appropriate asset-management principles, including relevant principles of the ISO 55000 series, to support effective management of water assets throughout their lifecycle
• Support DWP's estate objectives by ensuring water safety decisions appropriately consider compliance, risk, lifecycle value, efficiency and the principles of a smaller, greener, more affordable and adaptable estate.
• Drive continual improvement and practical innovation in water safety management, using evidence from WRAs, BAU performance, incidents, audits, projects and technical investigations.
• Represent the Water Hygiene SME function in appropriate operational, technical and governance meetings, providing a clear technical position and ensuring risks and actions are appropriately understood, owned and progressed.
• Recognise when operational issues represent wider systemic or strategic risk and escalate appropriately, ensuring material issues maintain a clear audit trail of risk, action, owner, target, evidence, verification and closure.

Essential Skills, Knowledge & Experience

Technical ownership of water hygiene and Legionella risk across complex water systems

• Substantial demonstrable experience applying and independently managing water hygiene and Legionella risk across complex or multi-site estates, with a clear understanding of how risk assessments, technical standards and control measures are translated into operational delivery, governance and assurance. (Lead Criterion)

Responsible Person and Water Safety Governance

• Demonstrable competence to operate as a Responsible Person for Water Safety, including the ability to exercise professional judgement, provide authoritative technical advice, assess and escalate risk and ensure appropriate water safety arrangements are implemented and assured.

Water Risk Assessment, Written Scheme and Compliance Assurance

• Proven experience reviewing, implementing and assuring Water Risk Assessments, Written Schemes of Control, schematics, treatment or action plans and associated compliance arrangements, with the ability to identify unsupported conclusions, technical gaps and proportionate corrective actions.

Contractor Oversight and Technical Challenge

• Demonstrable experience providing credible technical assurance and challenge to FM contractors, specialist providers, consultants and other delivery partners, including challenging inadequate evidence, technical solutions, non-conformance and reported completion.

Applying Technical and Engineering Principles to Water Hygiene

• A strong practical understanding of mechanical engineering and the design, operation and maintenance of commercial water systems, including hot and cold water services, water storage and distribution systems, water features, cooling towers and swimming pools. Candidates must be able to demonstrate how system design, configuration, materials, operating conditions, maintenance, temperature control, water treatment, stagnation and asset condition can influence Legionella and wider water quality risk, and apply appropriate technical and engineering principles to identify deficiencies, assess risk and determine proportionate control measures.

Data, Asset and Evidence-Based Assurance

• Strong analytical capability, with experience interrogating CAFM, asset, maintenance, monitoring and compliance information to establish the actual risk and compliance position, identify trends, repeat failures, systemic issues and data-quality problems and determine whether available evidence supports action closure.

Projects, Asset Lifecycle and Handover

• Experience providing water hygiene technical input across projects, acquisitions, refurbishment, system change and commissioning, including the technical information and assurance required for safe handover into operational use.

Governance, Escalation and Technical Influence

• Experience communicating and defending clear technical positions, influencing stakeholders through evidence and professional competence and escalating unresolved risk through appropriate governance arrangements.

Essential Qualifications/professional memberships

• Candidates must have served a recognised apprenticeship in a mechanical discipline, preferably within a commercial or complex mechanical engineering environment, and hold a minimum of an HNC in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related discipline
• Candidates must also hold a Responsible Person (Water) qualification or equivalent recognised water hygiene competence appropriate to the role and demonstrate a clear commitment to continuing professional development.