Wastewater Treatment Operator

Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland.

Most people don’t think too much about how clean water reaches their taps, or what happens to their wastewater. But at Scottish Water, it’s all we think about.

We have an exciting opportunity for a self‑motivated, flexible and hard‑working individual to join our team within Customer Service Delivery as a Wastewater Treatment Operative based around the Motherwell, Wishaw, Larkhall, Lesmahagow, Douglas areas.

You’ll be on the front line, helping to make sure Scotland’s wastewater services are safe, reliable and effective every day.

About the role

You’ll be joining a motivated and supportive team who are committed to making a real difference to the experience our customers have with us. This isn’t just a task‑driven role. You’ll be trusted to take ownership of issues, fully investigate them, and help find the right solutions for our customers.

In this role, you’ll be trained to operate various wastewater treatment processes and carry out maintenance and fault finding alongside a range of other operational tasks, helping to resolve problems quickly and professionally.

You’ll play an important part in making sure our assets remain compliant and any impact our operations have on customers is managed and recovered.

What you’ll do

You’ll help maintain our wastewater treatment works and assets, including clearing choked pumps and carrying out essential and routine maintenance work., ensuring everything continues to run safely and effectively.

You’ll respond to reactive work on treatment processes, carrying out investigations and onsite analysis to make sure compliance is maintained at all times.

You’ll complete all required reporting to help measure performance and productivity, and support continuous improvement across the team.

You’ll follow all Scottish Water safe systems of work and wider health and safety policies. This includes carrying out safety checks on plant, equipment and vehicles working at height and confined spaces.

You’ll also work closely with a range of internal teams and external stakeholders, helping to coordinate work and resolve issues effectively.

What you’ll need

You’ll need a full, valid driving licence, as this role involves travelling across the area and working at different sites.

You’ll be comfortable working as part of a team, while also being confident working on your own when required. You’ll be reliable, self‑motivated and able to take responsibility for your work.

You will be required to participate in our out of hours service (standby)

Looking out for you  

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 paid 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), as well as life assurance.  

As for some nice extras? You will participate in a company bonus scheme. Not to mention access to SW Splash – handy rewards that can save you money on holidays, bills, and shopping. 

The not-so-small print

This role will be a Grade 4. If you’re new to Scottish Water, you’ll join us on a starting salary of £31,640 Performance-driven pay progression would then allow you to move through the range to a maximum of £36,460.

If you’re interested in this role – or know someone else who might be - we’ll be accepting applications until midnight on the 20th November 2026.

Job offers at Scottish Water are conditional, and will be confirmed on completion of our pre-employment screening, e.g. referencing, criminal record checks, license checks, etc. These checks are conducted on our behalf by a third party. Don’t worry - we’ll ask your permission before starting these checks.

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.

Candidates should be aware that a valid UK driving licence is required for driving on Scottish Water business and claiming business mileage expenses.

Please note, Scottish Water takes the safety, health and wellbeing of our employees, colleagues and customers very seriously and as such you may be subject to Drug & Alcohol testing in line with our policy.

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 [email protected]