About the job

Job summary

Shape the policy that delivers a greener, fairer energy system for the UK. Join Ofgem’s  Infrastructure group and be at the forefront of the drive to deliver Net Zero!  

If you are a visionary leader with a passion for driving impactful policy initiatives, and a dedication to a sustainable energy future, then we want to hear from you.  

As Great Britain's regulator for the energy industry, Ofgem exists to ensure a safe, secure and sustainable energy supply to British households and businesses. 

As the Head of Policy at Ofgem, you will be a pivotal figure in leading a multi-disciplinary team. Your main responsibility will be to oversee and drive the development of policy initiatives and strategies that support Ofgem’s goals. In this role, you will collaborate closely with other teams, industry experts, and stakeholders to ensure the effective execution of policy recommendations.  

These roles will sit within Ofgem’s Infrastructure group. We are responsible for designing new regulatory regimes for price controls and major projects, developing new regimes in low carbon technologies, delivering change to energy systems, wholesale markets and governance arrangements and much more.  

You will have the opportunity to work at the cutting edge of regulatory policy design and delivery, as part of collaborative and dynamic teams with industry leading experts. It is challenging but vitally important and highly rewarding work, and we aim to create the best possible environment for people to grow and develop their careers.   

You will have a proven aptitude for leadership and significant experience of leading the policy development process. These skills will play a vital role in building effective relationships with teams and stakeholders, fostering an inclusive culture that celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our colleagues, and ensuring that we best represent the consumers and communities we serve. Your exceptional communication skills will enable you to effectively communicate complex policy issues to non-expert audiences, translating them into accessible messages.  

Ofgem has a culture of inclusion that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our colleagues. It fuels our innovation and helps ensure we can best represent the consumers and the communities we serve. Everyone is welcome - as an inclusive workplace, our employees are comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work. 

Job description

Purpose 

Energy policy is something that touches on every aspect of our lives – at home, at work and at play. Energy fuels our society and our economy. That’s why our policy work is so important, and so rewarding. It protects consumers. It enables businesses. It influences the entire energy industry. And it helps to bring about the seismic societal and infrastructure changes that will be the foundations for a Net Zero future.  

Infrastructure Group 

The infrastructure group is at the forefront of this drive to deliver Net Zero. It is responsible for: 

• designing the regulatory regimes for the next round of electricity and gas network price controls (RIIO3 and ED3), as well as operating the current RIIO2 and ED2 regimes. 
• designing new regulatory regimes for major projects including electricity interconnectors, offshore transmission, large electricity and gas network upgrades. 
• the development and implementation of new regulatory regimes in low carbon technologies including nuclear power, hydrogen transport and carbon capture and storage. 
• delivering the change needed to energy systems, wholesale markets and governance arrangements, including establishing the future system operator(s), network connections, charging and digitization. 
• delivering strategic system planning to help ensure future gas and electricity networks develop to meet net zero targets. 
• our in-house engineering capability to provide expert technical advice to policy teams. 
• cyber security of the gas and electricity sectors to ensure resilient companies and networks and ongoing security of supply.  

You will have the opportunity to work at the cutting edge of regulatory policy design and delivery, as part of collaborative and dynamic teams with industry leading experts. It is challenging but vitally important and highly rewarding work, and we aim to create the best possible environment for people to grow and develop their careers. 

Ofgem has a culture of inclusion that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our colleagues. It fuels our innovation and helps ensure we can best represent the consumers and the communities we serve. Everyone is welcome - as an inclusive workplace, our employees are comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work. These are policy roles – but we are very keen to ensure we bring in relevant experience, particularly ensuring our recruitment practices open us up to people from a range of infrastructure backgrounds. 


Recruitment Open Event

We are running a Virtual Open Event to give candidates the opportunity to learn more about working for Ofgem and discuss the roles we have available in more detail. This virtual event will be on Tuesday 6th February 12:30pm-13:30pm, to attend please register via: https://buytickets.at/ofgem/1135205

Person specification

Key Responsibilities 

• Lead multi-disciplinary teams leading on infrastructure regulatory policy, with the opportunity to influence and develop across a broad range of policy & strategy roles in your career at Ofgem. 
• Plan, oversee and deliver a set of work deliverables on time and to a high standard through effective project management and support of multidisciplinary team members. 
• Provide inclusive team leadership by supporting and developing team members and demonstrating commitment to Ofgem values. 

You will be someone who:  

• Has a proven background of delivering positive change for consumers, communities and society through infrastructure delivery, regulation, strategy or policy development.  
• Enjoys developing new skills, capabilities and expertise in self and others, and being engaged across a broad range of diverse activities, including stakeholder engagement, analysis, policy development and project management. 
• Is interested in the energy sector in the broad sense, passionate about ensuring good outcomes for current and future consumers, protecting consumers, and eager to help drive Ofgem’s contribution to delivering Net Zero. 
• Champions our culture of inclusion and encourages, supports, and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our colleagues, fuelling our innovation and ensuring we best represent the consumers and the communities we serve.  

Key Outputs and Deliverables  

Setting-up and leading high-performing team based on effective resource management, ongoing support and professional development: 

• Manages effective and inclusive team resourcing and staff onboarding through close engagement with relevant Deputy Director, Workstream Managers, Heads of Professions, PDLs and HR Staffers to ensure best talent match to work needs. 
• Helps team members deliver by building supportive, inclusive team environment based on trust-based relationships, transparency and inclusivity. 
• Takes ownership for own and team members’ professional development by: 

• Providing ongoing coaching and identification of development opportunities in regular performance conversations. 
• Supporting team member’s performance evaluation through honest, fair, high quality 360-degree feedback to PDLs. 

Essential Criteria

• Proven aptitude for leadership, with an ability to build effective working relationships with teams and a wide range of stakeholders that creates space for constructive, open, and transparent engagement contributing to a culture of inclusion (Lead criteria).
• Significant experience of leading the policy development process, and managing the input of relevant analytical, technical, and legal experts to present policy recommendations that highlight the risks, trade-offs, and wider commercial and economic considerations to decision makers (Lead criteria). 
• Develops, plans and delivers work outcomes, including clear and transparent work objectives, milestones and success metrics. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills that effectively communicate complex issues to non-expert audiences, distilling complex subject matter into relevant messages for internal/ external stakeholders at a range of levels. 
• Excellent negotiation, influencing and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to represent Ofgem effectively at external and senior levels. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,000, OFGEM contributes £15,120 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.

When you press the ‘Apply now’ button, you will be asked to complete personal details (not seen by the sift panel), your career history and qualifications.  

You will then be asked to provide a 1250 word ‘personal statement’ evidencing how you meet the essential and desirable skills and capabilities listed in the role profile. Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your supporting statement, how you meet each of the essential and desirable skills and capabilities. 

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.