About the job

Job summary

Ofgem’s legal function sits in the Office of the General Counsel (OGC). The OGC is responsible for the provision of all legal advice and management of all legal risk required by OFGEM and its governing body the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority and for managing the organisation’s exposure to legal risk.

The energy sector is going through an unprecedented transformation to a net zero and data-enabled future. You will be joining Ofgem OGC with a number of significant policy and legal matters all under development at a time of increasing change in the energy sector.

The OGC supports Ofgem’s activities through hubs focused on several areas. These Legal Director roles will specifically be for: 

1.Price Controls and Major Projects

2.Systems

3.Enforcement and Financial Resilience

4.Retail and Consumers

Further information on the specific roles is available in the candidate pack 

The work is interesting, intellectually challenging and varied, you will be involved in advising on a wide range of public law issues in a regulatory context. We will tailor the role according to your skills and experiences. You will enjoy the role if you are a lawyer who is pragmatic and solutions driven, can manage competing demands and deliver at pace to provide advice to policy colleagues at all levels.

Ofgem is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All employment is decided on the basis of open and fair competition, merit and business need.

Job description

The Legal Directors are responsible for the strategic leadership of the General Counsel functions alongside the GC and the leadership team, with the responsibility for all legal leadership in their teams’ areas as well providing individual advice to senior internal clients at Director and Director General Level.  They will lead a large team of approximately 25 legal professionals to deliver high quality legal services to enable Ofgem to achieve its priorities and to inspire and motivate to enable delivery of Ofgem’s Multi Year Strategy.

The Legal Directors will provide strategic advice on legal risk and mitigation. within their areas, building relationships across Ofgem being accountable for the delivery of high quality legal and governance services. 

Person specification

Essential Criteria

A strategic and inspirational leader - background and knowledge in strategic leadership and senior decision making. A dedicated, motivational and collaborative leader who builds strong, inclusive, high performing teams and cross-team working relationships.

Legal Leadership - extensive experience of leading large legal teams and collective leadership of a legal function.

A legal expert in energy, regulation or public law –extensive senior-level legal experience as a qualified solicitor or barrister, gained across the public and/or private sectors

A senior advisor - experience of working with Boards and senior officials and making a positive impact with a range of senior stakeholders both internally and externally, adopting an open approach and unafraid to make decisions when necessary. 

A strong communicator - highly credible communication skills, both in writing and in person, with experience of building strong stakeholder relationships, high emotional intelligence and engendering trusted relationships that achieve buy-in and commitment.

Commercially minded - professional knowledge and experience that evidence an understanding of regulation and consumer priorities within a commercial and/or public body.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £110,000, OFGEM contributes £29,700 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.

To apply for this post, you will need to submit the following documentation by email to the email scsrecruitment@ofgem.gov.uk no later than 23:55 30th July 2024.

A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.

A Statement of Suitability (no longer than two pages) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the person specification.

Applicants selected for interview, will be asked to attend a virtual staff engagement session, and then a panel interview with a presentation 

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). 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.