About the job

Job summary

We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales.

We are at the source of everyday life. We help the sector build trust and confidence with customers, the environment and wider society: keeping water flowing, bills affordable and helping ensure the health of our rivers and waterways. 

We're looking for a Senior Innovation Officer to join our small but expanding team responsible for the design and delivery of Ofwat's Innovation Fund. The Innovation Fund has been supporting water companies to develop new solutions and approaches to tackle the unprecedented challenges facing the sector. We want someone who relishes the opportunity to apply their skills and experience to help the water sector to innovate and solve those challenges

The work that you’ll be involved in every day will help us to deliver our strategy, to make us the regulator we want to be and help the sector to deliver for customers and society. 

You can find out more about why you should join Ofwat, our strategy, values and our framework for success in the attached Information for Candidates Pack.

Job description

You will play a key role in supporting the development and delivery of the next stage of the Innovation Fund, including the design of innovation competitions and the development of strategic policy areas to maximise the outcomes of innovation in the water sector. This is a high-priority workstream and is a fundamental component of Ofwat’s strategy and approach to improving outcomes for customers.

Experience of building effective relationships is a must, as you will be engaging extensively with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders such as, colleagues at Ofwat, our delivery partners and with many facets of the water sector, including the water companies. Overall this is a challenging yet rewarding opportunity, where you can truly make a difference by embedding new ways of working to improve the performance of the sector now and in the future.

Ofwat is a learning organisation, so you will have opportunities to develop your knowledge and experience, and to consolidate your skill set. We have a well-supported, agile working environment, and have a trust-based culture intended to help empower you and support you to succeed within Ofwat.

Key Deliverables

In this role you will be expected to: 

• Help to design and deliver the next round of our innovation competition the 'Water Breakthrough Challenge' as well as contribute to the development of critical policy areas planned for the Innovation Fund in 2025-2030.
• Support collaborative work on joint projects with the Environment Agency, Drinking Water Inspectorate, Ofgem, Innovate UK, the European Space Agency and other regulators and government departments.
• Oversee the planning of team activities, working with colleagues to ensure plans align with strategic objectives, are executed on time and are connected to related activity across Ofwat and externally. You will evaluate the effectiveness of activities and provide recommendations to improve activities and partnership working.
• Represent and promote the Innovation Fund in internal and external meetings and forums.
• Lead work on the Innovation team's internal engagement strategy building strong relationships within Ofwat to ensure colleagues are aware of innovation projects and findings from the evaluation.
• Work with colleagues to identify priorities for external influence and improve ways of working.

Person specification

To be successful in this role you will need the below essential experience, skills, knowledge and attributes:

Experience, skills and knowledge 

• Lead Criterion: Experience of working and engaging with internal and external stakeholders, including multiple organisations to gather and share information to deliver a common objective. This could be from within a regulatory setting, the water sector or any other relevant sector.
• Lead Criterion: Ability to work independently, and as part of a team, using creativity and innovative approaches. 
• Experience of working under pressure, effectively planning, prioritising and managing a varied and changing workload to meet different, and often tight, deadlines.
• Analytical and decision-making skills, including understanding strategic implications of decisions and making connections between different work areas.
• Good written and oral communication skills, including the ability to present complex information to non-technical audiences.
• Ability to think strategically and use creative problem-solving including experience of identifying and managing risks and opportunities.

Attributes 

• Delivers outcomes
• Adaptable thinker
• Makes relationships count
• Promotes collaboration

Attributes as per Ofwat's Framework for Success for Senior Associate Band. You can read more about Attributes here.

Benefits

Why You Should Join Us: 

We’re forward-thinking, creative, innovative, and ambitious. We constantly push the boundaries and embrace new ways of working.  

With us, your work matters, your voice is heard, and your impact is felt. Ours is a culture of trust, flexibility, autonomy, collaboration, and innovation. We all want positive change for water customers, the environment, and the future of water.  

But for us, change is more than what happens on the outside – we’ve always pushed boundaries internally, too. From becoming the first Civil Service organisation to achieve ‘Smarter Working’ status, to gaining our prestigious ‘Smarter Working Maturity’ award, we’ve consistently demonstrated our commitment to embracing innovative ways of working. Our people do their best work when given freedom over where, when, and how they work. Which is why we trust our teams to balance meaningful collaboration in the office with the flexibility of working from home. 

You will also benefit from:

• Excellent employer pension contributions of 28.97% (around £10,695 to £14,485 per annum for this role). You can find further details about pension schemes under Terms and Conditions in the Candidate Pack.
• 27.5 days leave (25 days annual leave + 2.5 days privilege leave) increasing to max 32.5 days with each year of service, plus bank holidays
• Access to exclusive discounts on a variety of goods and services, including retail 
  outlets, theatre tickets, holidays, insurance, and a gym membership.
• Flexible working arrangements that suit your lifestyle.
• Fees paid for membership of relevant professional bodies.
• Up to 3 volunteering days per year.
• Generous shared parental leave and pay.
• Enhanced sick pay.
• Regular development opportunities.
• Health and wellbeing initiatives.
• Season ticket loan for home-to-office travel.
• Cycle-to-work scheme.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

How to apply

Apply through the Civil Service Jobs website where you’ll be asked to create an account and complete an application form (CV and personal statement). If you’re unable to make an electronic application, please contact recruitment@ofwat.gov.uk and we will support you in completing your application.

Please ensure you have submitted your application in full ahead of the deadline listed below. Unfortunately, we won't be able to consider late applications.

Selection timetable

• Closing date: 23:55 on 30 June 24
• Sifting: Week commencing 01 July 24
• Interview date(s): WC 08 July 24

Assessment process

Sift Stage

At sift stage we assess your application against key essential skills, experience, and knowledge, listed in the professional requirements section above. 

In your application, please state clearly how your skills, experience, and knowledge meet the essential criteria.

In the event of receiving a large number of applications, a pre-sift may take place on just the following lead criteria: 

• Experience of working and engaging with internal and external stakeholders, including multiple organisations to gather and share information to deliver a common objective. This could be from within a regulatory setting, the water sector or any other relevant sector.
• Ability to work independently, and as part of a team, using creativity and innovative approaches.

In your personal statement, please tell us how your skills and experience meet the lead criterion, with examples if appropriate. 

You may find the STAR method useful in structuring your personal statement. 

Interview Stage

We will assess your Experience, Skills and Knowledge as well as Attributes (set out in the professional requirements section) at Interview Stage.

You can read more about Attributes in Ofwat’s Framework for Success.

As part of the interview process, we may require a short presentation. Further details will be provided to shortlisted candidates upon invitation to interview.

Please note that the interviews will be conducted via video conferencing software such as Microsoft Teams.

If you have any queries about any aspect of this role, selection process, or you require any reasonable adjustments please email recruitment@ofwat.gov.uk.

Please read the attached "Candidate Information Pack" for details on terms and conditions.

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.