About the job

Job summary

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.

We are looking for two outstanding candidates to join the Innovation Hub team at Ofgem. Your mission will be to aid innovators that benefit consumers by helping them navigate the sector, bring their products to the market and deepen their understanding of what regulation means for them.

This is an exciting opportunity as you will gain exposure to cutting-edge innovations across the market. Your experience will play a vital role in leading the policy development of a Future Regulation Sandbox.

You’ll be someone who can quickly research, understand and clearly articulate unfamiliar areas, particularly when dealing with complex, novel information. You’ll thrive working in a team environment, collaborating with others to successfully develop solutions and options in policy recommendations and present their trade-offs, risks and dependencies effectively. You are someone who excels in a faced-paced environment with a proven background of delivering benefits for consumers, communities or society and an interest in the energy sector.

The two Senior Policy Leads will work on overlapping areas:

• Closely support innovators across the energy system to deliver the net zero transition.
• Provide insight and analysis of trends to inform Ofgem’s wider work and priorities, including the longer-term regulatory change needed to boost innovation and benefit consumers.
• Continuously improving our services to ensure they are best meeting the needs of current and prospective energy innovators.

The roles will differ in the following areas:

• Role 1 will lead direct engagement with innovators through our Fast Frank Feedback and Sandbox services. You’ll work with innovators to understand what their business models and regulations could mean for new products and services. You’ll then work with technical teams to provide advice, guidance and identify solutions.
• Role 2 will lead the development of a Future Regulation Sandbox (FRS). This will involve considering stakeholder feedback for an optimum delivery process. Additionally, you'll support the delivery of FRS trails.

Please ensure you demonstrate clearly within your personal statement, how you meet each of the criteria stated in the attached document (no more than 1250 words).

Ofgem has a culture of inclusion that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our colleagues. Everyone is welcome - as an inclusive workplace, our employees are comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work.

Job description

Team Purpose 

We operate a Flexible Resourcing model where you will have the opportunity to work flexibly across Ofgem supporting on a range of projects or may have a longer deployment within a team where you have in-demand specialist skills, knowledge, and expertise.  We will support you to learn and develop the Policy & Strategy skills and knowledge you need to build your career. 

Initially these roles will sit within the Innovation Hub team at Ofgem, within the Decentralisation, Innovation & Digitalisation Directorate. The Hub’s mission is to support innovators that benefit current and future consumers and enable energy sector innovation. We do this by helping innovators navigate the sector, understand what regulation means for them and bring their products and services to the market.  

This role involves the management of the Hub’s flagship innovator facing services (Fast Frank Feedback and the Regulatory Sandbox), and the development of these services to maximise their impact on the energy market. Through these roles you will gain exposure to cutting edge innovations across the energy market, own innovation team engagement externally and with wider policy and engineering teams and will lead on the policy development of a Future Regulation Sandbox.  

The two senior policy leads will work on overlapping areas, with both roles:  

• Working closely to support innovators across the energy system leading on delivering the net zero transition. 
• Providing insight and analysis of trends to inform Ofgem’s wider work and priorities, including longer-term regulatory change needed to boost innovation and benefit consumers. 
• Continuously improving our services to ensure they are best meeting the needs of current and prospective energy innovators.  

The roles will have some different areas of focus:  

• Role 1: leading on our direct engagement with innovators through our fast, frank feedback and sandbox services, working with innovators to understand their business models and what current regulation could mean for new products and services, then engaging with policy and technical teams to provide advice, guidance and regulatory relief. 
• Role 2: leading on the development of a Future Regulation Sandbox (FRS), including considering stakeholder feedback to design agile delivery processes; support delivery of FRS trials by working with innovators and internal technical experts. 
  

Flexible Resourcing  

Ofgem operates a Flexible Resourcing model where you will have the opportunity to work across Ofgem supporting a range of projects or may have a longer deployment within a team where you have in-demand specialist skills, knowledge, and expertise.  The model is based on meeting both career and personal development goals and meeting Ofgem priorities. We will support you to learn, develop and gain the Policy & Strategy skills, knowledge and experience you need to build your career. 

Key Responsibilities (Generic) 

Policy Development & Delivery  

• Proactively leads a policy area and provides the end-to-end knowledge and strategic oversight to support effective decision making and continuous improvement. 
• Proactively leads continuous development of their domain knowledge, policy proposals, research, technology, consumer needs and stakeholder perspectives in their policy/strategy area. 
• Works flexibly across Ofgem to ensure delivery of organisation priorities in line with business planning, guiding, supporting, and collaborating with colleagues to respond effectively to change. 
• Leads on the delivery of high quality, timely, and robust analysis of core issue/s and policy options resulting in evidence-based and deliverable recommendations. 
• Leads key projects, including responsibility for internal and external stakeholder engagement, prioritising, planning and delivering work.  
• Ensures decision makers consider relevant legislation and regulation and any specific case issues and escalates critical issues as needed to ensue delivery for consumers. 

Stakeholder Management 

• Effectively communicating the benefits, challenges, and trade-offs from policy proposals to Ofgem colleagues and sectoral stakeholders, effectively using evidence to build understanding and commitment to action. 
• Ensures effective delivery by working collaboratively across team boundaries and engaging with key Ofgem functions and relevant government departments - developing close links to manage and mitigate risks. 
• Representing Ofgem externally and building constructive stakeholder relationships to ensure challenges and issues are identified and resolved in consumers’ interests. 
• Is demonstrably accessible and identifiable to all who operate in their policy/strategy area as and Ofgem lead/expert and in turn knows who to engage to improve policy design and delivery. 

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Research: ability to quickly research, understand and clearly summarise an unfamiliar area, including dealing with detailed technical information. (LEAD) 
• Policy Skills: identifying, analysing, and articulating complex problems; working with other professionals (for example analytical, technical, and legal) to develop solutions and options, and presenting policy recommendations that consider the trade-offs, risks, and dependencies to aid effective decision making (LEAD) 
• Energy knowledge: some energy sector knowledge and understanding. 
• Managing delivery: set clear goals and priorities, supports others to solve problems, overcome challenges, seeking feedback and means of continuous improvement.  
• Clearly identifies and communicates the relevance, interdependencies and strategic fit of their work to organisational priorities both internally and externally. 
• Demonstrably identifies and understands the value/contribution of internal and external partners and effectively creates open, creative, constructive, timely and inclusive engagement. 

Desirable Criteria

• Ability to work with new, ambiguous or incomplete information, and use judgement on how to make progress. 
• Ability to build effective relationships in order to gain information and insights from experts.  

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.