Early careers
We believe everyone has potential and should be given the resources and support to thrive. That’s why we’re opening up opportunities for as many people as we can through our apprenticeships, graduate schemes, internships and work experience programmes – helping passionate people kickstart a successful and sustainable career.
Your background and experience really doesn’t matter. We’re looking for people with real passion and a burning desire to make things better. And, while you help us take care of our world, we’ll take care of yours – creating the environment you need to flourish.
It’s your journey and it begins at Thames Water.
Investing in success and sustainable careers
Our ultimate goal is a skilled workforce that’s supported by a strong education and skills system – one that will help our people and communities thrive, be open to all and provide fulfilling work for everyone.
We want to help create a fairer society and tackle real challenges, including in-work poverty and under-employment.
We’ve already set up several initiatives to do this:
- Improving the diversity of our workforce by building a pipeline of skills from local communities and the education sector
- Creating careers, not just jobs, by investing in our people and fostering a culture of lifelong learning
- Establishing sustainable strategic skills partnerships, like 10,000 Black Interns and Workwhile
- Becoming leaders in skills development, both in our industry and with our supply chain.
We’re determined to make a real impact by:
- Investing in an appropriately skilled workforce
- Providing opportunities for people not in education, employment or training
- Working with the education sector to link curriculum with careers
- Delivering quality apprenticeships for current and future employees
- Connecting with local communities to show we’re a good employer.
Apprenticeships
An apprenticeship gives you the brilliant combination of practical training, education and real work experience. You ‘earn while you learn’ from skilled and knowledgeable colleagues..
We’ve continued to invest in our apprenticeships, and we offer opportunities across the whole business to new apprentices and our colleagues who want to upskill. We offer a variety of options from level two to six, and all lead to professional qualifications, on a permanent basis with a competitive salary.
It doesn’t matter what skills you have – if you’ve got a passion for knowledge and the drive to manage your learning and working life, a Thames Water apprenticeship could be for you. Our apprenticeship scheme plays an important, central role in helping us nurture local talent and upskill our existing workforce. That’s why we’re committed to investing in more apprenticeships in the future – so anyone, at any age and level, has the opportunity to join us.
Latest apprenticeship opportunities
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Graduates
We welcome self-driven graduates, who have real passion and a burning desire to make things better, onto our two-year graduate programme. As a company, we have some big challenges ahead, and our graduates and apprentices all play a vital role in helping us tackle these head on.
Our graduate programmes focus on setting you up for success. We’ll look at your strengths and qualifications during the selection process and identify the best placement opportunity to help you thrive, rotating within the engineering team or our asset team.
The sheer scale of our major projects and the reactionary nature of our world means that no two days will be the same. You’ll learn and develop alongside world-leading experts, with exceptional professional development that will give you the skills, experience and competencies you need to build a successful and sustainable career.
We’re looking for self-motivated, resilient and proactive individuals who hold great passion for the industry we work in and share our future aspirations.
Summer interns
If you’re an undergraduate, you’re eligible for our eight-week Summer Intern programme. If you have the behaviours and attitude we’re looking for, we’ll create a tailored project that matches you and your interests and is aligned to a business area at Thames Water.
You’ll have a technical mentor who’s an expert in their field and will help you develop your technical capabilities. You’ll also have an employability mentor to help you get career-ready and develop soft skills.
And it doesn’t end there, all our interns move into our talent pool that feeds into current and future vacancies.
Our benefits
Health MOT
From annual health MOTs to physiotherapy and counselling, we’ll help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing.
Financial benefits
Take advantage of our wealth of financial benefits, from discounts and shopping vouchers to generous pension contributions and life assurance.
Loyalty rewards
We reward loyalty and going ‘above and beyond’, through loyalty and instant awards schemes.
Support package
Expect an impressive package of support to help you fulfil your potential and enjoy a successful and sustainable career.
Flexible hours
You can work flexibly in lots of ways: changing your days or hours, compressed hours, job shares, changing location and flexible retirement.
A day in the life of our apprentices
Be inspired by the stories of Shivani, Tania, and Fahriar, as they share their experiences as apprentices at Thames Water and why it could be the right decision for you too.
Shivani shares her journey of growth and learning, highlighting the supportive environment and hands-on experience she’s gained. Tania reflects on the opportunity to express her unique self and the rewarding feeling of contributing to essential services. Fahriar speaks of the exciting opportunities of linking his career to his passions, earning while learning, and gaining invaluable real-world experience. Join us on an apprenticeship journey that will shape your future.
Why put us top of your list?
If you want a career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the environment for future generations, an apprenticeship or graduate position at Thames Water could be perfect for you.
When you join, you’ll become part of our thriving apprentice and graduate network and enjoy a comprehensive and tailored induction programme. This will be followed by a bespoke development programme to support your personal and professional development and enhance your career progression. As part of this, you’ll get involved in a range of activities and gain knowledge in areas such as mental health and wellbeing, sustainability and health and safety. In addition, you’ll join a variety of events, including our annual raft race.
From day one, we want you to do more than just show up – we want you to fully engage with every aspect of our development programme as these experiences aren’t just extras, they’re opportunities for your growth, development, and for forging meaningful personal and professional connections.
We work with organisations like the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN) to make sure we continue to offer the very best apprenticeships and graduate programmes, so you can be confident you’re getting a first-class start. Developing engineers can also work towards the competencies set out by the Engineering Council’s UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC) through the Monitored Professional Development Scheme (MPDS).
If you’re into big plans and challenges, you’ve come to the right place:
Real purpose, real support, real opportunities… it’s your journey and it begins at Thames Water.
