administrative assistant Reading, England
Job description
Who are we?
Thames Water is the UK’s largest water and wastewater company. We make a daily difference to our 15 million customers by supplying 2.6 billion litres of water through 32,000 km of pipes, keeping taps flowing and toilets flushing.
At Thames Water, every one of our actions, big and small, matters every day. Water is essential to life, so our business is always open.
What you’ll be doing:
- Maintain data held in SAP, ensuring records are accurate and up to date including vendors, catalogues, material masters, and service masters.
- Proactively process all new requests and changes to vendor master data to meet SLAs and KPIs, ensuring they meet the control checks. These include:
- VAT registration and length of trading (HMRC)
- Health and safety (Achilles)
- Financial health (D&B)
- Risk Management
- Bank account verification
- Manage the annual refresh of data held in the vendor master along with any periodical self-cert requirements e.g. Achilles, MSA, cyber security
- Track, investigate and action alerts generated from D&B and notify the relevant parties as appropriate
- Proactively manage the number of live vendors in SAP by carrying out frequent deactivations
- Manage the waiver table in SAP to ensure an accurate flow of requisitions
- Manage data and drive effective processes to ensure the security and integrity of data
- Help shape new processes that impact data managed by the team e.g. MSA, IR35
- Adapt and respond to change with a positive attitude and a willingness to learn new ways to accomplish work activities and objectives
- Take on new responsibilities and adjust plans to meet changing/evolving needs and working requirements
- Make effective decisions based on a mixture of analysis, experience and judgment
- Take the initiative across all aspects of the job and consistently look for ways to improve personal performance as well as that of their peers and direct reports
- Deliver effective business written and verbal communication skills, effectively adapting communication style to different audiences
- Form professional relationships with team members, suppliers and internal customers, drawing people together and encouraging a diverse range of opinions
- Resolve any issues identified by taking accountability and seeing through to a satisfactory conclusion. Where a conclusion cannot be reached, escalate to your line manager
- Attend meetings with the business, suppliers and third parties to define better working procedures, resolve master data issues and risks
- Participate in ad-hoc projects as required where a master data viewpoint is required
What you should bring to the role:
- Strong administration experience in a fast-paced environment
- Good MS Office skills, particularly Excel for vlookups, pivot tables
- Good understanding of the importance of risk and mitigation
- SAP experience, particularly Supply Chain and Finance modules
- Effective negotiation and persuasion skills
- Process is driven but with the ability to challenge
- Confidentiality at work
- Be flexible in approach, organised and able to prioritise effectively
- Ability to work independently and in a team environment
What’s in it for you?
Thames Water is a dynamic, rewarding and diverse place to work, with opportunities around every corner. If you join our team, you’ll enjoy a fulfilling career and flexible working arrangements.
We’re also proud to embrace and promote diversity and believe that creating a workforce that reflects the communities we serve will help us to thrive. We encourage applications from everyone and offer extra support for those who need it throughout the recruitment process.
Find out more about working at Thames Water
We deliver life's essential service so our customers, communities and the environment can thrive. This means, when a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an Ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business, meet colleagues and a earn bit of extra money along the way.
Disclaimer: Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close a vacancy earlier than the advertised date. This is so we can manage all the applications properly and give candidates a positive experience. Once closed, we can’t consider any further applications, so please submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
