Consultant - Water

Location: Hybrid, some travel will be required to client sites and Nottingham Head Office

Hours: Our results focus allows us to be really flexible on hours. We have successfully been able to accommodate part time, flexible working, compressed hours, variable hours etc.

Total Package: Up to £60k based on experience including biannual bonus Private Medical, Pension, 33 days Holidays including bank holidays and a holiday purchase scheme.

Job Closing: 21st August 2026

About BFY Group

BFY Group is one of the UK’s fastest-growing management consultancies, trusted by leading organisations in Energy and Utilities. We build strong partnerships with our clients, working practically to tackle their toughest challenges, realise opportunities, and achieve lasting results.

Since our founding in 2004, we’ve been proud to remain an independent, privately owned firm, becoming an Employee-Owned firm in 2025, based in Nottingham, working with clients throughout the UK.

We’re a high performing team that looks after each other, putting a huge amount of effort into creating an environment that offers meaningful work, the opportunity to develop and grow, and the ability to have fun whilst doing it. We specialise in Transformation, Strategy and Commercial Excellence, Operational Turnaround and Recovery.

We’re proud of the recognition we've received for our growth and impact. We’ve been named one of the UK’s Leading Management Consultants by the Financial Times, featured in The Sunday Times Hundred as one of the fastest-growing private companies, and earned multiple Best Workplaces awards. In 2025 Ian Barker, our Managing Partner, was twice recognised as a finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year, at national level by Lloyds and regional by EY for the Midlands.

Our employee experience is rated 100% by Great Place To Work UK, beating typical companies by 40%, with 100% of our team agreeing that joining BFY is a welcoming experience, they are proud to work here and that everyone is offered training or development to further themselves.

Why we’re hiring

Demand for our water sector support is growing, and we want to strengthen our Networks team with people who bring real water industry experience; whether that’s in network operations, asset management, customer service, capital delivery, or regulatory and transformation programmes (including the current AMP8/PR24 cycle). You will join a team of practitioners-turned-consultants who use their industry expertise to become trusted advisors to our clients.

Requirements

What would you be doing?
Although no day will be the same, the core responsibilities of a Consultant at BFY are:

• Working closely with your clients to build trusted relationships to support BFY’s aim of working in partnership with our clients
• Using your change management skills to assist your wider team in the planning and delivery of the overall project
• Adopting a continuous improvement approach to solve difficult problems, drawing on your knowledge and experience and helping transfer that knowledge to our client teams
• With support from the project team, finding every opportunity to create value for our clients
• Communicating effectively to make sure your client teams understand the problem we’re there to solve and believe in the solution
• Contributing to the culture at BFY by building strong relationships internally
• Contributing your knowledge to help build the capability BFY needs as we continue to grow both internally and for our clients
• Driving your own development and finding opportunities to build on your skills
• You will be given huge amounts of trust, freedom, and support where you need it to deliver in your role.

We pride ourselves on providing our teams flexibility and control over their work and we aren’t a traditional consultancy working all hours and spending all week away from home. That said, meeting our clients’ expectations is critical and so your workload is likely to peak and trough, and there is an expectation of travel to client sites and our office in Nottingham.

Who we’re looking for:

We care more about your water sector knowledge, curiosity and ability to add value to clients than we do about formal qualifications. We’re looking for people with a mix of the following:

Industry experience (mandatory)

Real experience in the UK water sector is mandatory. Gained within a network operator, regulator, or within the supply chain (particularly as a consultant). This can be broad general experience or deep expertise in a specialism (for example network operations, asset management, capital delivery or regulation).

Consulting skills (desirable)

Consulting skills such as structured problem-solving, client relationship management and programme delivery are desirable but not essential. We offer some training to help close gaps for candidates with strong industry experience.

Mindset and behaviours

• The ability to communicate clearly and with confidence, building trust with colleagues and clients alike.
• A growth mindset and genuine commitment to continuous personal development.
• An understanding that clients expect more from consultants than they do from their own teams – you’ll bring extra rigour, pace and polish to everything you do.

Benefits

What we’re offering

• Competitive package up to £60k based on experience including pension and biannual bonus scheme (in line with performance reviews)
• 33 days holidays (25 days plus 8 bank holidays) and a holiday purchase scheme
• Receive 1 additional day of holiday per year after 2 years of service (up to 5 extra days)
• Private medical insurance for you and cohabiting partners and children under 18
• Access to high-quality support through our wellbeing partners Plumm Health and Mintago
• Option for additional pension salary sacrifice
• EV salary sacrifice scheme

We embarked on a journey a few years ago to ensure we created a growing, sustainable consulting firm that would give people meaningful work, be a great environment for development, while preserving our culture of "we're a bit different".

• We deliver exceptional work for clients, as part of a high performing team
• Our results focus allows us to be really flexible on working location, and hours. We have successfully been able to accommodate fully remote working, flexible working, compressed hours, variable hours, etc.
• You will be given huge amounts of trust, freedom, and support where you need it to deliver in your role
• We have great fun. We do a company wide check in twice a week, regular social events and we have an awesome selection of memes for all occasions

What do our people say about working here?

"BFY really focuses on the employees and understand that the majority of the job is learned whilst working for clients. They teach you the essentials of the business and provide learning material to start your consultancy journey to ensure everyone has the same initial level and then you start consultancy work within a week or two. It's really incredible to see the level of trust they place in you to allow you to work with clients so early on, rather than have you sat watching from the sidelines. " - Tom Deen, Consultant, joined BFY December 2023

"When you join a new company, it can be daunting, am I good enough? Will I be able to do it? Imposter syndrome can be a real worry, joining BFY is a genuinely awesome experience. Through the process you get to speak to everyone on the team and what is amazing is how open and readily available to help EVERYONE is! The culture here is fantastic and you get to make your own decisions within an incredibly supportive framework." – Kev Brown, Senior Manager, joined BFY September 2022

How to apply – important!

If you feel like we’re a great fit based on what you’ve read, we’re looking forward to receiving your application. Please include your CV and a cover letter telling us more about you and why you think we’d work well together. We understand that everyone’s circumstances are different and are committed to supporting your work life balance. Please let us know if you have any flexible working requirements.

To get to know you a bit better and just a for a bit of fun, tell us the name of your favourite song and why you love it.

Please be aware that currently we can only progress applications from those who do not need Sponsorship or a Visa to work in the UK

Our interview Process

We take your next career move very seriously and want to fully understand your needs and expectations from a role at BFY. Our hiring process consists of 3 stages of interviews, where you will meet members of our team and have the opportunity to ask as many questions as you like and get a real understanding of BFY Group and how we work. We are asking you to commit to completing a few additional assessments as well as a short presentation. Communication is key during this time, so we promise to keep you updated and give you feedback as we go.