About the job

Job summary

A unique opportunity to apply your business and financial adviser expertise for the benefit of consumers. Join us and play a key role in tackling consumer and competition problems, helping make markets work well for consumers, businesses and the UK economy

About the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

The CMA is the UK’s world-leading body established to make sure competition works well and businesses treat their customers fairly.

The Remedies, Business and Financial Analysis professional group is the CMA’s centre of excellence for all aspects of remedies work and for providing commercial and financial expertise across the CMA’s varied casework, including market and mergers cases, competition and consumer enforcement and regulatory appeals.

Job description

As a Business and Financial Adviser, you will provide essential commercial analysis and insight across the breadth of the CMA's case work. You will look at a wide range of markets to understand businesses and their strategies, gathering, identifying and articulating information to test whether market structure, business conduct and subsidy provision are or could be harming competition and generating bad consumer outcomes.

You will also apply appropriate analytical tools, providing key insights for CMA decision-makers to utilise in developing remedies. In this capacity, our Advisers are central, and you will play a lead role in determining and defining effective solutions to the problems we find.

Responsibilities

Business Analysis and Understanding Markets

• Looking at a wide range of markets to understand business strategies and how businesses work. We assess how the parties to our investigations fit into the market, and how the broader market works. Engagement with businesses and asking the right questions is a key part of this.

Determining information needs

• Identifying and clearly articulating information requirements to test whether market structure, business conduct and subsidy provision are or could be harming competition and generating bad consumer outcomes. This involves meeting companies and other market players to improve our understanding of businesses, drafting information requests and critically reviewing submissions.

Analysis and interpretation

• Applying the right analytical tools, while recognising the variety of performance measures used in different areas of business. Using the information received, and analysis of it, to provide clear and compelling advice for CMA decision-makers.

Developing remedies

• If harmful competitive effects are identified, we design and implement remedies to address those effects, delivering benefits to customers. You have an integral role in developing these remedies.

Communicating and briefing

• Through verbal, written and presentational skills, sharing the results of our analysis. Issues can range from predation cost tests to assessing profitability. Business processes may need to be explained or remedy solutions developed. Audiences vary so clear communication of reasoning and conclusions in a form that works for a specific audience will be important.

Quality Assurance

• Ensuring that analysis is well thought through and accurate through review and development of audit trails, including review of work by colleagues.

Team working

• You will be a proactive member of the project team. By applying your commercial expertise, you will influence the team’s assessment of financial and business performance, while also contributing to team discussions and conclusions beyond your own discipline.

Person specification

• A degree and/or a postgraduate business, finance or accounting qualification (e.g. ACA, CIMA, CFA or MBA) OR equivalent experience, ideally alongside familiarity with economics and financial theory. Lead Criteria
• Relevant analytical and interpretive experience including understanding business models in different industries; generating insights from complex information and evidencing accounting knowledge and numeracy. Lead Criteria
• Well-developed communication skills (both verbal and written) which result in persuasive, well-reasoned arguments. Experience in successfully managing and developing relationships with colleagues at different levels, to achieve results through working collaboratively, sharing information and building supportive, responsive relationships, while having the confidence to challenge assumptions
• Experience in using sound judgement, evidence and knowledge to provide accurate, expert, justified and professional advice.
• Experience in effective planning, organising and managing time and activities to deliver a well-respected, timely and efficient service, while ensuring high quality and accurate outputs.

To find out more about the CMA please click below:

CMA – Working for the CMA , Civil Service Careers (civil-service-careers.gov.uk)

Or our LinkedIn page:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/competition-and-markets-authority/

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £55,133, Competition & Markets Authority contributes £14,886 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV, personal statement and an online application form. Further details about application requirements are listed on the application form.

The selection process will comprise of the sift (CV & application review) a case study/task with written paper submission and an interview in the London CMA office or via Microsoft Teams, to include a presentation based on the written paper.

An initial sift based on criteria 1 and 2 (Lead Criteria) may be held if a large number of applications are received. If your application progresses to a full sift, all elements of the essential criteria listed under Person Specification (above and in the attached role profile) will then be considered.

The sift will take place between 09 and 16 January 2024.

If your application is successful you will be invited to attend an interview. You will be notified via email to log-in to your Civil Service Account and book your interview slot. You will be sent an email with full details of your arrangements for interview. 

Interviews will be held from week commencing 19 February 2024.

The first part of the interview will comprise of a presentation (based on your written paper) with follow up questions. Details will be forwarded to you with your invitation to interview. The second part of the interview will be a 45 minute -1 hour panel interview where you will be asked questions based on the Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills outlined in the role profile.

Reasonable adjustments

We want to make sure no one is at a disadvantage during our recruitment process because of a disability, condition or impairment. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate. 
 
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process.  

For example, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you are deaf, a Language Service Professional. You might also require additional time to complete a timed assessment or a sign language interpreter to support with the relaying of information. 

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.