Meet Chris, one of our water production managers

Chris started at United Utilities as a network and process apprentice 14 years ago. Since then he has climbed up the career ladder and is now a water production manager, leading a team of 25 field service engineers and process controllers covering eight of our sites.

“I decided to apply for the network and process apprenticeship as I liked the idea of both academic and hands on work. I enjoyed the physical side of the job and spending time outdoors. I ended up achieving my apprenticeship on the aqueducts team - this is a large trunk mains that transports vast volumes of water across the region.

“Upon completing my apprenticeship I successfully achieved a permanent role in the aqueducts team. I spent three years in the team before moving on to my next role in the integrated control centre as part of the production planning team. This helped enhance my regional knowledge but also allowed me to share my technical knowledge, which I gained from the aqueducts team, with office based employees. From this, I moved on to become an incident manager leading incidents across the business, I thoroughly enjoyed this role however it did come with its challenges. I was able to get great exposure across all areas of the business and build some great relationships.

“My current role as a water production manager has been my most challenging role to date – leading a team of 25 field service engineers and process controllers covering eight sites. It has been great to come full circle and back to my roots in operations, managing apprentices like myself 14 years ago!

“I have gained so much confidence from my time at United Utilities. I have been able to gain a Higher National Certificate in business with full support from my peers and mentors.  Most importantly I have met a lot of great people and made some amazing friends.

“I chose United Utilities as I knew it was a great place to work, but the most appealing thing for me was being able to earn money whilst building a career. I have been able to gain a unique set of skills that can be used anywhere in the world.

“My future goals are to continue to develop at United Utilities and hopefully work towards a senior leadership position.”