About the job

Job summary

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 Ofgem’s 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.

 

Rising prices and security of supply are challenging all parts of the energy sector to consider how we can collectively ensure that this crucial foundation for our society remains accessible to all. And as well as the complexity of the here and now, we continue to look to the future – ensuring that energy policies support a shift away from fossil fuels and that new, renewable energy sources are identified and developed into viable alternatives. And we are challenging the wholesale energy market to do more to ensure more efficient pricing and a better deal for consumers.

 

Ofgem are recruiting for a Private Secretary to join the Chair and CEO’s Private Office, a small, high-performing team providing policy, logistical and administrative support to a member of the organisation’s senior leadership team.

 

The successful candidate will be the Private Office lead for a defined portfolio, acting as the main interface between the Chair and CEO and internal and external stakeholders. Working closely with the Head of Office, you will translate strategic direction into actionable tasking for teams across the organisation, working closely with them to ensure timely delivery of the Chair and CEO’s priority objectives. You will need to build productive working relationships with colleagues across government and the energy sector, utilising these to support the Chair and CEO with insightful advice as required. The work is fast-paced and varied, and presents opportunities to engage and influence at the highest levels of the organisation.

 

As a core member of the wider Private Office network, you will also have a key role to play in driving high performance across the organisation, working with teams to establish processes and best practice in the provision of advice to the senior leadership team. If you thrive on fast-paced, highly varied work where every day is different, enjoy building and managing relationships, and are assured in engaging and influencing at senior levels, this role is for you.

Job description

Key Responsibilities

 

• Representing the Chair and CEO across the organisation, agreeing and communicating steers and taking ownership for delivering outcomes and handling issues on their behalf.
• Supporting the Head of Private Office in the smooth and efficient running of the Chair and CEO’s Private Office.
• Being the first point of contact for key aspects of the Chair and CEO’s portfolio, facilitating the development and delivery of policies. Identifying potential attendant risks and supporting teams to mitigate these including by providing constructive feedback clearly and accurately.
• Developing excellent working relationships with Ofgem’s leadership team and seniors across the organisation, ensuring they understand and can deliver against the Chair and CEO’s priorities.
• Advising and being a sounding board to support the Chair and CEO’s decision-making, considering a wide range of views and drawing on accurate sources.
• Working with the Heads of Private Office to develop and deliver an ongoing programme of outreach to socialise the work of Private Offices, supporting teams and senior leaders to ensure they have the capacity and capability to produce high quality advice.
• Coordinate cross-cutting workstreams across the wider organisation to ensure high-quality delivery to agreed timescales.

 

Key Outputs and Deliverables

 

• Delivery of senior team’s priorities and projects across the organisation. Efficient administration of the Private Office.
• Organised and efficient follow-up of actions.
• Strong and effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Solid understanding of key workstreams and a well-briefed senior team.
• Implementation of improved processes and efficient ways of working.

 

Key Stakeholder Relationships

 

Internal

• Senior leaders across the organisation.
• Head of Private Office and wider Private Office team.
• Governance and secretariat team.
• Comms and stakeholder teams.
• Corporate teams.

 

External

• Stakeholders across the energy sector, including suppliers and consumer groups. Other Government Departments, including HMT, DESNZ and Cabinet Office.

Please note this role involves significant and ongoing travel to London.

This role also attracts a non-contractual Private Office allowance to reflect the role requires some working outside regular hours.

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Person specification

Essential criteria:

• Excellent organisational skills with proven ability to identify priorities and support senior leaders to oversee their portfolios of work (lead).  
• Strong interpersonal skills with significant experience developing and managing effective working relationships and networks with a range of internal and external stakeholders. 
• Proven ability to assess and judge a situation, providing challenge and fresh ideas to leaders in response to issues. 
• Ability to work at pace in a constantly changing environment. 
• Confident presentation, oral and written skills. 

Desirable criteria:

• Experience of working with or in a government department. 
• Experience of working with or in the energy sector. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £45,614, OFGEM contributes £11,785 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 personal 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. 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.