About the job

Job summary

Do you have strong stakeholder engagement skills and a passion for making a difference to society? If yes, then we want to hear from you.

Join Ofgem as a Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Manager in the heat networks team to play a key part in the decarbonisation of the economy. Ofgem works to protect energy consumers, especially vulnerable people, by ensuring they are treated fairly and benefit from a cleaner, greener environment.

As a Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Manager, you will manage and build relationships with external stakeholders and lead the implementation of engagement activities. You’ll also provide stakeholder engagement expertise to the team supporting the effective delivery of the stakeholder strategy for the heat networks programme on our journey to becoming the heat networks regulator for Great Britain.

Heat networks will play a key role in achieving net zero. The Climate Change Committee estimated that around 18% of UK heat could come from heat networks by 2050 to support cost-effective delivery of carbon targets (up from around 2% currently).

To join our team, you’ll have experience delivering high volume and widely targeted stakeholder engagement, an ability to prioritise and manage competing demands, enjoy working collaboratively and thrive in a fast-paced environment. You’ll also be self-motivated, a problem-solver and have excellent communication skills.

We take professional development and training very seriously and offer a range of opportunities in the stakeholder engagement sub-profession to develop your skills and further your career in a supportive and collaborative working environment.

We welcome candidates from all backgrounds, especially individuals from underrepresented groups. While this is a full-time role, flexible working patterns are welcome.

Job description

Ofgem plays a key role in the delivery of decarbonisation of the Great Britain economy. With record increases in global gas prices and upward pressure on consumer bills, now more than ever we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, ensure security of supply and keep the energy system on track for Net Zero. We are looking for people to meet the challenges we face head-on, and help us deliver a greener, fairer energy system.

Ofgem has been named the future regulator for heat networks in GB and we are working closely with Government to develop the regulatory framework for heat networks. This role is part of the heat networks team, supporting engagement with the sector at this crucial time.

You will be someone who:

• Thrives in a fast-paced environment, enjoys working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team, is exceptionally organised and wants to make a difference to society.
• Has experience delivering stakeholder engagement activity.
• Can solve complex problems quickly and navigate a complex stakeholder landscape.
• Is self-motivated, embraces change and can be flexible.
• Champions our culture of inclusion and encourages, supports, and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our colleagues, fueling our innovation and ensuring we best represent the consumers and the communities we serve.

We are seeking a candidate who can play a proactive role in maintaining and building Ofgem’s reputation through effective stakeholder engagement, ensuring that stakeholders have had the opportunity to influence sector specific protections for GB heat network customers. You will be an essential member of a busy team with multiple projects and priorities with no two days being the same. You will be using your communication skills to establish avenues to contact hard to reach stakeholders, be developing and delivering stakeholder engagement plans including managing stakeholder meetings and other engagement forums including organising webinars, managing communications, evaluation, and reporting

Person specification

Key Responsibilities

• Support the Senior Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Manager to deliver the heat networks stakeholder engagement and communications strategy.
• Use insight to identify and target relevant audiences to inform engagement and communication planning.
• Gather intelligence and analyse effectiveness of external engagement to help inform current and future engagement.
• Build relationships with key organisations and networks to support the development and administration of heat networks regulation.
• Develop and deliver stakeholder handling and engagement plans for high-profile and sometimes controversial issues.
• Support the heat networks policy and operations teams to present at conferences and events.
• Champion engagement principles and best practice to improve the quality of stakeholder engagement across Ofgem.
• To support with the administration and delivery of engagement and communications working as part of the team as required.

Key Outputs and Deliverables

• Create and manage appropriate stakeholder forums and events and other activities, including setting agendas working with external stakeholders and developing material with relevant policy teams.
• Oversee regular meetings with key external stakeholders.
• Guide and advise the heat networks team on engagement strategies and tactical delivery.
• Produce and maintain stakeholder maps.
• Develop, implement and evaluate external stakeholder engagement and communication strategies.
• Co-ordinate and manage communications with external stakeholders on key messages.
• Track, monitor and report on external engagement work
• Produce briefings and communication materials.

Essential Criteria 

• Experience of devising and delivering stakeholder engagement plans (LEAD).
• Excellent communications skills and an ability to produce high quality written materials.
• Exceptional organisational and prioritisation skills to be able to manage competing demands.
• Confident working at all levels with the ability to influence others.
• Proactive attitude to building and nurturing excellent external contacts.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of developing and implementing a stakeholder engagement strategy in the energy sector.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £30,950, OFGEM contributes £8,356 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 skills and capabilities listed in the role profile. Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your supporting statement, how you meet each of the essential  skills and capabilities.

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.