Principal Policy Lead - Business Retail Market

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 have an opportunity for an experienced Principal Policy Lead to join our Business Retail Market team within Major Projects & Markets.
Our work is high-profile and fast-moving, within a dynamic and agile environment. 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., We are looking for Principal Policy Lead to join our Business Retail Market team. The team has a multi-faceted programme of work aimed at improving the Business Retail Market so that it delivers better outcomes for customers, society and the environment.
Now is a particularly exciting time to join the team as we are at an important juncture in the development of the market – we have recently established revised industry governance arrangements through the creation of a Strategic Panel and Code Change Committee. Work is
underway to reform the market's incentive framework and revised retail price caps for the Business Retail Market recently came into force.
As a Principal in the Business Retail Market team, you will lead and support a number of strategically important workstreams. These are likely to include leading Ofwat's role in understanding and strengthening customer protections, improving trading parties' support for the market, and working with industry and stakeholders to deliver change.
Key Deliverables
In this role you will be expected to:
+ Lead or contribute to the development of policy and process to support delivery by the Business Retail team and working across Ofwat as appropriate. This may include, for example, leading policy and analytical work regarding our approach and decisions
on customer protections, financial resilience, and supplier of last resort arrangements.
+ Lead and/or contribute to the delivery of the portfolio of code modification decisions and/or policy projects. This may include managing processes and team members with a view to ensuring Ofwat decisions on Code modifications are made and presented in a robust manner.
+ Provide visible leadership and guidance to members of the Business Retail team. You will be expected to support, empower and be a role model for junior members of the team, to help them develop skills and experience and to continue to support all members’ professional development. As a leader in Ofwat, you will also role model our values and ways of working and be an active contributor to the corporate activities that make Ofwat a great place to work.
+ Act as a People Leader and/or Project Manager, taking on budget management responsibilities and, where appropriate, people management responsibilities in line with Ofwat’s Governance Framework.
+ Create and champion an inclusive working environment that supports growth, well-being and continuous improvement in our delivery.
+ Strongly contribute to Ofwat’s wider leadership, by engaging, contributing and supporting our work to make Ofwat a great place to work., We operate a blind sifting model to eliminate bias. All candidate identifying information will be removed from applications.
At sift stage we assess your application (CV and personal statement) against criteria 1, 2, 3 & 4 listed in the professional requirements section above.
Use your personal statement to address the Lead criteria below and tell us how your how your skills, experience, and knowledge meet this:
+ Lead criteria 1: Skills and experience in formulating, presenting, and writing clear and concise evidence-based advice to inform policy making, decision building and recommendations, for a range of audiences and to encourage and respond to constructive challenge to build confidence in decision-making. This would ideally be from a public policy or regulatory policy background.
+ Lead criteria 2: Knowledge or experience of markets, competition and regulation, and the benefits markets and competition can deliver for customers. This would ideally include the identification and application of relevant economic, legal and policy
frameworks and requirements.
You may find the STAR method useful in structuring your personal statement.
In the CV section of your application, please state clearly how your skills, experience, and knowledge meet essential criteria 2 & 3.
In the event of receiving a large number of applications, a pre-sift will take place on just the lead criteria.
Ensure that anything submitted as part of your application is factually accurate, and you are not presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by AI, as your own.
Please note that if a high volume of candidates meet the minimum pass mark at sift stage, we will only progress the highest scoring candidates to interview. Candidates not invited to interview, who have achieved the minimum pass mark, will be placed 'on hold' until the final stage of the assessment process is completed. Should the role/s remain unfilled, candidates placed 'on hold' may be invited to interview in merit order.
Interview Stage
Our transparent interview process involves candidates receiving a list of attribute-based questions in advance. This has been proven to help neurodiverse candidates and others to perform better at interview and is part of our inclusive culture.
At interview stage we will test against attributes, as well as skills, experience, and knowledge (set out in the professional requirements section).
You can read more about Attributes in Ofwat’s Framework for Success here.
As part of the interview process, we will require you to complete a short-written exercise.
Further details will be provided to candidates upon invitation to interview. Please note that the interviews will be conducted via video conferencing software (Microsoft Teams).
If the assessment process identifies more appointable candidates than roles available, a reserve list will be created for 12 months from which further appointments in merit order can be made.
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.

Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

1. Lead criteria 1: Skills and experience in formulating, presenting, and writing clear and concise evidence-based advice to inform policy making, decision building and recommendations, for a range of audiences and to encourage and respond to constructive challenge to build confidence in decision-making. This would ideally be from a public policy or regulatory policy background.
2. Lead criteria 2: Knowledge or experience of markets, competition and regulation, and the benefits markets and competition can deliver for customers. This would ideally include the identification and application of relevant economic, legal and policy frameworks and requirements.
3. Outstanding analytical and problem-solving skills, including experience of identifying, analysing and accurately interpreting a range of information and insights to inform evidence-based decisions and solutions for complex problems.
4. Ability to effectively plan, prioritise and deliver large projects and programmes of work both directly and by managing multi-disciplinary teams, and where necessary external advisors/consultants.
5. Experience of building and maintaining constructive working relationships with a diverse set of internal and external stakeholders to understand their needs, expectations, and priorities, and to influence and collaborate effectively to deliver desired outcomes.
Attributes
6. Delivers Outcomes
7. Champion and Leader of Change
8. Makes Relationships Count
9. Adaptable Thinker
Attributes as per Ofwat's Framework for Success for Principal Band. You can read more about Attributes here.

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, for this role ranging from £15,942 to £23,176. You can find further details about pension schemes in the terms and conditions below.
+ 25 days’ annual leave (increasing to 30 with each year of service) plus bank holidays and an extra 2.5 days of privilege leave
• 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
+ Recognition vouchers scheme
+ Generous shared parental leave and pay
+ Enhanced sick pay
+ Regular development opportunities
+ Health and wellbeing initiatives
+ Cycle-to-work scheme
+ Season ticket loan for home-to-office travel
+ Free eye tests and contribution to lenses/spectacles for VDU users