Powered by Water, Driven by Purpose

South West Water keeps the South West flowing with safe, reliable drinking water and wastewater services across some of the UK’s most stunning landscapes.

We’re proud to be part of Pennon Group, a leader in the UK water sector, working towards a greener future. Our goals? As well as lowering our carbon footprint, we’re working with partners to plant 300,000 trees, restore peatlands and supporting farmers and landowners to improve water quality and wildlife.

Whether you’re starting out or seeking a new challenge, our scale and ambition create opportunities for you to shape your own career.

Ready to make a splash? Join our team today.

We’re looking for an Assistant Commercial Manager to join our Commercial Management team—our centre of excellence responsible for delivering consistent, high-quality commercial management across both day‑to‑day activity and major one‑off programmes.

Reporting to the Senior Commercial Manager, you’ll support the delivery of our commercial strategy, develop strong collaborative relationships with supply chain partners, and help ensure our contracts are delivered safely, efficiently and to specification.

This role is also a fantastic opportunity for a graduate looking to enter the industry — whether your degree is in Civil Engineering, Commercial Management, Quantity Surveying, or a Business-related discipline such as Business Management, Business Studies or Finance.
You’ll gain hands‑on commercial experience, supported by experienced mentors in a high-performing team.

What you’ll be doing:

• Support the development, monitoring and reporting of commercial KPIs and improvement targets.

• Maintain and quality‑check commercial data within our commercial model database.

• Analyse costs and contribute to future cost model development for upcoming procurement cycles.

• Assist in improving frameworks, contract documentation and commercial processes.

• Produce monthly and quarterly reporting for operational and strategic forums.

• Support procurement and tendering activity to ensure compliant and timely contract awards.

• Assist with project budgets, forecasting, accruals and financial reporting.

• Assess and certify contract payment applications.

• Build knowledge and capability in the NEC suite of contracts.

• Provide estimating input and support the CEDAR process.

• Maintain commercial trackers, registers and risk management processes.

• Work closely with Group Procurement to ensure alignment across contractual arrangements.

What we're looking for:

• Strong analytical thinking and data-handling skills.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

• Commercial awareness and a proactive, collaborative mindset.

• The ability to build effective relationships across teams and suppliers.

• Experience of construction contracts or estimating is helpful, but not essential.

What’s in it for you

We know our people drive our success — so we’re committed to offering an excellent range of benefits, including:

• Generous holiday allowance + bank holidays

• Discretionary bonus

• Competitive contributory pension

• Share-save scheme

• Health benefits & wellbeing support programmes

• Group discounts

• Cycle to Work scheme

• Financial support services

• Development and training opportunities
  … and much more!

Closing Date: 8th May 2026

Please note that the successful candidate will be subject to a mandatory DBS check as part of the onboarding process.

Be yourself, we like it that way. Together, we will build a culture of belonging, where inclusion is instinctive. Diversity is our strength and a reflection of our communities. We care, we value everyone, we celebrate uniqueness.

Our core values, which are essential to our success, are:

Be Rock Solid - Build trust and be trusted. Be the one we all look to and can depend on.

Be You - We want you to bring your best everyday. Be yourself and make your mark in your individual way.

Be the Future - Embrace change. Drive Progress. Own the challenge.