Territory Manager in Training - Early Careers - Water

Ecolab — Where Your Work Actually Matters
Every day, millions of people eat safer food, drink cleaner water and recover in healthier environments — often without ever knowing Ecolab had anything to do with it. That's just how we work. Quietly, reliably, at nearly three million customer sites across more than 170 countries. We deal in water treatment, hygiene and infection prevention, and our people show up — physically, at customer sites — to make sure things run the way they should. Food businesses, hospitals, hotels, factories. The sectors change. The commitment doesn't.
If you're just starting out and you want a role where you'll actually learn something useful, the Territory Manager in Training Programme is worth a serious look.

So What Is the Programme, Exactly?
It's 12 months. It's structured. And it's designed for people who don't yet have all the answers but are willing to put the work in to find them.
Kicking off 1st October 2026, the programme is built around how people actually learn best — not just sitting in a room reading slides, but getting out there and doing things. You'll learn through:

Classroom and virtual sessions
Shadowing experienced colleagues on real customer visits
Coaching from people who've done the job for years
Hands-on time at actual customer sites, dealing with actual challenges

Nobody's going to throw you in the deep end without support. But by the end of it, you'll know how to swim.

The Division You'd Be Joining
You'll be part of Nalco Water, which sits within Ecolab's Water division. The work here is about helping industrial and commercial customers manage water better — from how it comes in, through how it's used in their processes, to how it goes back out.
The customers span a surprisingly wide range: food and beverage manufacturers, power stations, mining operations, data centres, commercial buildings. What they share is that water is critical to what they do — and when something goes wrong, it's costly. That's where this team comes in.

What the Job Actually Looks Like
After training wraps up, you'll take on a real customer territory. Not shadowing someone else's — yours. You'll be the person customers call when they need technical advice on water treatment, process performance or sustainability targets.
That involves:

Visiting customers regularly and building the kind of trust that keeps relationships going long-term
Learning their systems properly — the equipment, the quirks, the pressure points
Helping with equipment installation and maintenance so nothing grinds to a halt
Training customer staff so they're not dependent on you for every small thing
Developing an eye for where things could work better, and eventually pitching those improvements yourself
Coordinating with Sales, Marketing and Customer Service when customers need more than you can handle alone
Getting involved in local outreach and helping build Ecolab's presence in your patch

It takes time to get comfortable with all of it. That's expected. The programme exists precisely because we know that.

Who We're Looking For
There's no single profile we're hiring against. But practically speaking, you'll need:

A technical or scientific background — Chemical Engineering or Chemistry would be ideal, though we're open to similar disciplines
A genuine interest in working closely with customers in a technical capacity
The kind of attitude where feedback lands well and you do something with it
Good problem-solving instincts — not necessarily formal, just the ability to think things through
Flexibility when things don't go to plan (and sometimes they won't)
Basic Microsoft Office skills
English at B1 level or above
A full driving licence with a clean record — you'll be on the road regularly, and sometimes further afield than your usual patch

Immigration sponsorship isn't available for this position.

What You Get Out of It

A 12-month contract to start, with a real chance of going permanent based on how things go
A training programme that's actually thought through — field time, e-learning, shadowing, classroom sessions and clear checkpoints along the way
Colleagues who will coach you properly, not just tell you to figure it out
A career path in sales that goes somewhere, inside a company that promotes from within when people earn it
25 days holiday plus 8 Bank Holidays
4% Flexible Benefits Allowance — take it as extra salary or spend it on benefits that work for you and your family
Company pension with 7% employer contribution, plus life cover at 4x salary
A company car, available for personal use too
Pay that grows as your role and responsibilities grow


On Diversity and Inclusion
Ecolab isn't perfect, but we're serious about this. We hire, develop and promote based on what people can do and how they do it — not on anything else. We want teams that bring different perspectives to the table, because frankly, those teams make better decisions. That principle runs through everything, from how we advertise roles to how we handle progression.