About the job

Job summary

Ofgem is Great Britain’s independent energy regulator. Our purpose is to protect energy consumers – especially the most vulnerable in society. We do this by shaping a retail market that works for them, helping to deliver the infrastructure for net zero and overseeing a fair and flexible energy system that is fit for the future.  
 
Energy is always in the news. Global gas prices continue to have an impact on consumers and energy companies. The need to create a future energy system that is cleaner, more secure and more efficient has never been greater. Not just to deliver net zero but also to protect consumers from the price shocks experienced during the recent energy crisis. 

Our role in protecting the interests of consumers couldn’t be more important, and this comes with high levels of scrutiny. We’re looking for experienced media professionals to help present and explain our work to the media. 

This unique job-share opportunity comes with working pattern of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (0.6 FTE). 
 
You will lead on significant announcements of national interest, providing clear guidance on media relations and communications, as well as writing a range of briefings and communication materials. 
 
You will supervise other members of the media team and run communications projects.  
 
You’ll ensure we are responsive and proactive in our work and that we actively manage reputational issues.  
 
We expect you to have significant experience of working in a busy, high profile press office, with a demonstrable track record in leading on high profile media announcements. You’ll be accustomed to working on your own initiative and be keen to adopt a proactive, creative approach, building positive working relationships with stakeholders. You’ll be able to get to grips quickly with complex subject matter and communicate it in a simple engaging way. You’ll have a keen eye for detail, even when working at pace. And it’s essential that you are well organised so that you can prioritise competing issues to meet tight deadlines.  
 
Ofgem is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We particularly welcome applications form those looking for flexible working conditions such as a job share. 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

Ofgem, the energy regulator, is in the news now more than ever.  

Global gas prices continue to have an impact on consumers and energy companies. The need to create a future energy system that is cleaner, more secure and more efficient has never been greater. Not just to deliver net zero but also to protect consumers from the price shocks experienced during the recent energy crisis. Our work is attracting increasing scrutiny from the media, political stakeholders, consumer groups and the energy industry.  

Effective external communications are critical to Ofgem’s reputation.   

As part of a small but great hands-on team, the post-holder will work on a range of issues from communicating our reforms of the retail energy market to network regulation and net zero. 

Our stories are often top of the broadcast and print news agenda. You’ll play a part in reassuring consumers that their interests are being protected, energy suppliers are being held to account and the transformation of our energy system is being done as efficiently as possible.  

This is a senior role and we’re looking for an experienced media manager with a strong track record in media relations for high profile organisations, who can hit the ground running dealing with high-profile reactive media as well as developing and delivering evidence-based creative, innovative media strategies. 

Once established, this role takes part in an out of hours media rota during evenings and weekends, being the first port of call for media enquiries and interview requests. 

Person specification

Key Responsiblities 

• Lead the media response on key issues, providing counsel to senior policy colleagues and Ofgem’s senior leadership team. 
• Supervise colleagues in the media team to ensure they respond to media enquiries and interview requests effectively and quickly, using news judgement to know when the story is moving on, where it’s going and whether to stick to the line or develop the narrative. 
• Oversee the process of drafting a press releases, briefing papers and Q&As. 
• Prepare senior spokespeople for high profile broadcast and print interviews. 
• Take part in an out of hours media on-call rota at evenings and weekends. 
• Evaluate media plans against objectives, and use insights to refine strategies and execution plans for future opportunities. 

Essential Criteria

• Experience of supervising and coaching more junior colleagues as well as leading large project groups to deliver a professional and slick communications service.  
• Communications professional with a strong track record working at a senior level in a busy press office in high profile organisations. 
• Extensive experience of how to engage effectively with the media to deliver the best outcome. 
• Ability to absorb complex information quickly, and to communicate it to a non-expert audience in a concise and engaging way. 
• Experience of developing and delivering media strategies, including evaluating effectiveness and developing and delivering cross-channel communications projects managing multiple internal and stakeholders 
• Ability to work autonomously, providing advice to senior colleagues without being prompted and a willingness to work across teams and get stuck in where help is needed, including on the 24/7 out of hours rota. 

Desirable Criteria 

• Knowledge of the energy sector 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £45,614, OFGEM contributes £12,315 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. 

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expect all candidates to abide by these principles. Ofgem take any incidences of cheating very seriously. Please ensure all examples provided are of your own experience. Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant applications will be withdrawn from the process. 

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.