Principal Digital Specialist - M365 Engineer

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Principal Digital Specialist - M365 Engineer

Join a highly influential digital platform engineering function that is responsible for defining, governing, and enabling Microsoft 365 capabilities across Scottish Water. As Principal M365 Engineer, you will provide technical leadership and architectural direction for Microsoft 365 services, ensuring that collaboration and productivity platforms remain secure, resilient, well‑governed, and fully aligned to organisational outcomes.

The role

You will work closely with Enterprise Architecture, Cyber Security, Digital Product teams, Information Governance, and delivery partners to define standards, governance models, and reusable patterns across key Microsoft 365 services including Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Exchange Online, Power Platform, and Microsoft Copilot. As a senior technical authority, you will act as Scottish Water’s subject matter expert for Microsoft 365 and Copilot, helping to shape the organisation’s productivity platform strategy, support modern ways of working, and ensure that Microsoft 365 delivers measurable value while maintaining appropriate governance, compliance, and security.

What you'll do

You will define, own, and evolve the Microsoft 365 platform architecture and engineering strategy, ensuring alignment with Scottish Water’s enterprise architecture principles and digital strategy. You will act as the design authority for complex, high‑risk, or business‑critical Microsoft 365 solutions, covering collaboration platforms, information management, and Copilot‑enabled productivity services. You will define and maintain Microsoft 365 standards, governance models, reference architectures, and guardrails that support secure and consistent adoption across the organisation.

In this role, you will lead the design and ongoing evolution of secure‑by‑default Microsoft 365 environments, including identity, device access, data protection, compliance, and collaboration services. You will also define and implement governance frameworks for Microsoft Copilot that ensure responsible use of AI, protect organisational data, and align with security and information management policies.

You will drive the adoption of modern collaboration and productivity capabilities, such as Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Power Platform, while working closely with Information Governance and Cyber Security teams to implement data lifecycle management, information protection, and compliance capabilities across Microsoft 365. You will promote best practice in automation, provisioning, and platform management by leveraging tools such as PowerShell, Graph API, and Power Platform.

Additionally, you will define, monitor, and report on Microsoft 365 platform health, including service adoption, performance, security posture, and compliance. You will identify and address platform risks, governance gaps, and technical debt within the Microsoft 365 estate. You will provide expert Microsoft 365 and Copilot architectural support to programmes, projects, and product teams throughout the delivery lifecycle and work closely with Cyber Security to ensure that all Microsoft 365 services meet security, regulatory, and public‑sector compliance requirements.

The role also involves providing technical leadership, mentoring, and coaching to engineers and architects to support capability development across collaboration and productivity platforms. You will engage confidently with senior stakeholders, articulating platform strategy, governance decisions, and technology trade‑offs clearly and pragmatically.

What You’ll Need

We are looking for a senior Microsoft 365 platform professional with significant experience in designing and governing enterprise‑scale collaboration environments, and who can balance strategic direction, technical depth, and stakeholder engagement. You will have demonstrable experience in designing, governing, and operating Microsoft 365 environments at scale, and in defining Microsoft 365 governance models, including lifecycle management for Teams, SharePoint sites, and collaboration workspaces.

You will be experienced in designing secure Microsoft 365 solutions across identity, access management, device access, and data protection. You will also have experience implementing and governing Microsoft Copilot and AI‑enabled productivity capabilities, as well as working with Microsoft 365 security and compliance technologies such as Purview, information protection, and data loss prevention.

The role requires experience in supporting delivery teams as a technical or design authority, and in working across organisational boundaries to influence delivery without direct line‑management responsibility. You will be comfortable communicating complex technical concepts clearly to a wide range of technical and non‑technical audiences. You should be a self‑motivated technical leader with strong judgement, capable of working effectively within governance frameworks while supporting innovation and modern ways of working. Experience in regulated environments, critical national infrastructure, or public‑sector organisations is highly desirable.

Experience & Certifications

Essential experience includes enterprise‑scale Microsoft 365 platform design and governance; Microsoft 365 identity and access architecture using Microsoft Entra ID; collaboration platform design across Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive; Microsoft Copilot implementation, governance, and adoption strategy; Microsoft 365 security and compliance capabilities with Microsoft Purview; automation and administration using PowerShell and Microsoft Graph; Power Platform governance and enablement; and information lifecycle management and records governance.

Desirable certifications include Microsoft Certified: Enterprise Administrator Expert; Security Administrator Associate; Identity and Access Administrator Associate; Information Protection and Compliance Administrator Associate; and Power Platform Solution Architect Expert. Microsoft 365 Copilot‑related certifications or AI governance experience are also highly desirable.

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 8. If you’re new to Scottish Water, you’ll join us on a starting salary of £54, 776. Performance-driven pay progression would then allow you to move through the range to a maximum of £74,386.

Please submit your CV and a cover letter explaining why you are interested and how your experience aligns with the role

If you’re interested in this role – or know someone else who might be - we’ll be accepting applications until midnight on the 11th August 2026

We operate Balanced Hybrid working at Scottish Water and we encourage people to work half their time in a Scottish Water location.

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. Screening is conducted on our behalf by a third party, and must be completed before your start date. Don’t worry - we’ll only start these checks once you’ve accepted an offer.

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.

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.