Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland.

It’s not every job where you make a difference for the people of Scotland. But it’s what’s behind every job here. Our work keeps Scotland’s water flowing, from reservoir to tap – and from sewer to treatment plant.

Do your bit by joining our Juniper House lab on the outskirts of Edinburgh – home of our Technical Support Team for Scientific Services.

What you’ll be doing:

Clean water doesn’t just happen. Our team of 300 samplers, scientists and support staff analyse their way through an average of one test every minute. As a Scientific Sampling Administrator within our Technical Support Team, you’ll play a crucial role in our extensive analytical testing service.

You’ll be following our processes to register and receive a high volume of water and wastewater samples from all over Scotland, from both internal and external customers. To keep the high volume of work flowing, you will investigate and resolve regular customer queries. You’ll help schedule and prioritise work within your team and carry out routine maintenance and calibration of equipment.

Naturally, we’ve got a big focus on health and safety. The standard? 100% compliance with the strictest standards – many of them set out in law.

This role is an ideal entry level role for people looking to start their Scottish Water career.

What you’ll need:

When you join us, you’ll be part of Scientific Services development programme which lasts 2 years, and where you can perfect your customer service and administrative skills. But you’ll need some foundational knowledge to get you off to a flying start.

You’ll need top-notch customer service skills and the confidence to talk to anyone. And of course, you’ll know your way around Microsoft Office – even the fiddly bits, like table formatting.

Attention to detail is a must: you will need to make sure all sampling data is entered correctly to allow technical interpretation of laboratory results by others.

What you’ll get:

While the work we do is important, we know it’s not the only thing that matters. That’s why we make sure you have everything you need to find a good work-life balance.

You’ll get plenty of time to recharge with 38 days of holiday every year (including public holidays). And you can even buy five more if you need a little extra time. You can also take time off to volunteer in your community.

When it comes to major life events we have family-friendly policies around adoption, maternity, and parental leave. And for the everyday? We embrace flexible working. For your future, there’s our pension (the ‘know-what-you’ll-get-when-you-retire’ kind), and life assurance.

As for some nice extras? You can expect an annual company bonus. Not to mention access to SW Splash – handy rewards that can save you money on holidays, bills, and shopping.

The not-so-small print

The starting salary for this role is £23,177 (£13,155 pro rata).

You’ll be placed on our Scientific Sampling Administrator Progression Plan, which starts from £23,177 and reaches £27,505 (£15,611 pro rata) over a 2-year period. Progression is 6 monthly and tied to completion of specific training milestones in your development plan.

This is a part time role (21 hours per week), and you’ll work shifts between 5.00 pm to 9.00 pm, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and 5.00 pm to 10.00 pm on Tuesday, with the ability to stay until 10.00 pm if business needs require. Overtime or time off in-lieu will apply where this is required.

The role will be based at Juniper House in Edinburgh and is not suitable for flexible/home working.

All new Scottish Water employees are required to complete pre-employment security checks before they can start work.

If you’re interested in this role – or know someone else who might be - we’ll be accepting applications until midnight on Sunday 17 December 2023. We’ll be interviewing the week beginning Monday 8 January 2023.

A few final things worth knowing…

Research shows that some people avoid applying for jobs unless they can meet every single criteria. If you’re interested in this job, but don’t tick all the boxes, apply anyway! We hardly ever hire people who can do every part of a job from Day One. Everyone has a learning curve. So don’t rule yourself out!

Let us know if there are any changes we can make to our recruitment process to help you perform at your best. Lots of our people have disabilities or neurodiverse conditions (including some of our recruiters!). We're also aware that some people might be experiencing temporary challenges because of life events, like menopause. We’re very used to making adjustments, so please don’t be afraid to ask.

As part of our commitment to developing a flourishing Scotland, it’s important that all our employees are Scottish taxpayers. If you join us, your home address will need to be in Scotland. If you don’t already live here, you'll need to commit to moving here within your first three months.

Finally (finally!), candidates who haven’t submitted an application in the last 12 months will have their records removed from our recruitment database. You won’t need to do anything. Your data will be automatically deleted.

We’re here to help. Ask us anything at SWRecruitment@ScottishWater.co.uk