Policy Principal - Chief of Staff

Job description

Job summary

The energy sector is at the centre of some of the UK's biggest economic, environmental and social challenges. At Ofgem, we're helping to deliver a cleaner, more secure and affordable energy future for consumers across Great Britain.

We are looking for an experienced Policy Principal to join the Chief of Staff's Office and work directly with Ofgem's CEO and Chair on some of the most significant policy issues facing the organisation and the sector.

This is an influential and exciting role at the heart of decision-making. Acting as one of the CEO and Chair's principal policy advisers, you will provide high-quality policy advice, oversee delivery of strategic priorities and help co-ordinate action across the organisation. You will play a key role in unblocking complex issues, testing policy thinking and ensuring the organisation remains focused on what matters most.

A significant part of the role will involve reviewing major policy programmes and proposals, challenging assumptions, assessing risks and trade-offs, and providing confidence that work aligns with the priorities of the CEO and Chair. You will help shape organisational responses to emerging issues and ensure that Ofgem's most important work is robust, coherent and well-coordinated.

You'll join a dynamic, intellectually curious team that works at pace on high-profile, high-stakes issues. Working closely with senior leaders across the organisation, you will gain a unique insight into how decisions are made at the most senior levels of Ofgem and across the wider energy sector.

We're looking for someone with strong energy sector knowledge and experience of working on complex policy issues, ideally gained through government, regulation, consultancy, an executive office environment or the energy industry. You will be politically aware, highly credible with senior stakeholders and comfortable navigating ambiguity while delivering results.

This is a rare opportunity to work directly with the leadership of an organisation of over 2,000 people, build an unparalleled understanding of the sector, and accelerate your career while helping shape the future of energy regulation.

If you're motivated by complex challenges, strategic influence and making a real impact for energy consumers, we'd love to hear from you.

Job description

Ofgem works on behalf of energy consumers to ensure that every household and business in Great Britain can rely on a safe, affordable and environmentally sustainable energy supply. The energy transition requires Ofgem to make difficult choices at pace, connect decisions across organisational boundaries and translate medium-term priorities into effective action.

The Policy Principal will hold a key policy role in the energy transition. Working at the centre of Ofgem, the role holder will be one of the CEO and Chairs principal policy advisers and provide a constructive challenge function to the organisation. Reporting to the Chief of Staff, this role will help the CEO and Chair test policy thinking, identify underlying assumptions, expose trade-offs and ensure that risks, opportunities and gaps in ownership are surfaced early.

The role holder will turn medium-term organisational priorities into near-term plans and delivery, ensuring that Ofgems work is coherent, well-co-ordinated and aligned with its strategic direction. Working through senior leaders and teams across Ofgem, the role will create clarity, strengthen accountability and maintain momentum on the CEO and Chairs highest priorities.

The Policy Principal will lead a small, effective team, initially comprising two L2b / Grade 7 policy leads and potentially colleagues at earlier career stages.

Key Responsibilities

Principal policy adviser and challenge function

• Act as one of the CEO and Chairs principal policy advisers, providing clear, constructive and well-evidenced advice on major policy, regulatory and organisational questions.

• Provide a trusted space for the CEO and Chair to test thinking and understand the implications of different courses of action.

• Challenge organisational thinking constructively by identifying assumptions, unresolved trade-offs, material risks and gaps in analysis, ownership or accountability.

• Bring together internal and external insight and help shape coherent organisational positions and narratives on complex, cross-cutting issues.

Turning priorities into delivery

• Translate the CEO and Chairs medium-term priorities into clear short-term outcomes, delivery plans, commissioning and decision points.

• Lead or commission time-critical, high-priority work where an issue is urgent, cross-cutting or lacks a clear organisational owner.

• Establish proportionate governance, reporting and escalation arrangements, track progress and intervene early where work is off track.

• Maintain an up-to-date view of the CEO and Chairs priorities and support effective triage of new demands.

Organisation-wide co-ordination

• Ensure cross-cutting work is well co-ordinated and that the CEO and Chair receive an integrated view of choices, dependencies and competing perspectives.

• Work closely with senior leaders, strategy and delivery teams, Private Office, Secretariat and Communications to align advice, decisions, messages and follow-through.

• Use relationships and influence to secure action across Ofgem where the Policy Unit does not hold direct delivery responsibility.

Leadership and team development

• Build and lead an inclusive, high-performing branch with a strong culture of judgement, pace, collaboration and constructive challenge.

• Provide clear direction and prioritisation for two L2b / Grade 7 senior strategy manager and any junior colleagues, creating opportunities for professional development.

• Manage team capacity dynamically and contribute to the collective leadership of the wider strategy directorate

Key Stakeholder Relationships

Internal

• CEO and Chair; GEMA members; Executive Committee and senior leaders across Ofgem.

• Strategy, regulatory, policy, delivery and corporate teams; Private Office, Secretariat and Communications.

External

• Senior officials in DESNZ and other government departments.

• Energy companies, consumer bodies, sector organisations, other regulators, think tanks, academics and subject-matter experts.

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Person specification

I n the event of receiving a large number of applications an initial sift may take place on just the identified lead criteria indicated below

Essential Criteria:

Energy expertise, strategic influence and challenge (Lead criteria) Knowledge and experience of the energy sector, energy regulation and the transition to net zero, enabling effective influence on organisational positioning. Evidence of successfully identifying and challenging key assumptions, drawing out trade-offs and helping senior decisionmakers reach clear, evidence-based conclusions.

From strategy to delivery (Lead criteria): Demonstrated ability to translate medium-term priorities into practical short-term outcomes, establish effective delivery processes and work through others to secure progress and accountability.

Leadership, prioritisation and pace: Experience of leading and developing a high-performing team, setting clear priorities and maintaining quality across a varied portfolio. Ability to manage multiple competing priorities, exercise sound judgement under pressure and adapt quickly as circumstances change.

Co-ordination, collaboration and influence: Effective collaboration and influencing skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships across organisational boundaries, co-ordinate complex work and create alignment without relying on formal authority.

Communication and senior-level judgement: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to turn complex material into concise advice, clear narratives and clear recommendations to change the position of senior audiences, supported by sound judgement and political awareness.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

Benefits

Alongside your salary of 63,443, OFGEM contributes 18,379 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Ofgem can offer you a comprehensive and competitive benefits package which includes; 30 days annual leave after 2 years; Excellent training and development opportunities; The opportunity to join the generous Civil Service pension which also includes a valuable range of benefits; hybrid working (currently 1 day a week in the office but this is kept under review), flexible working hours and family friendly policies. Plus lots of other benefits including clean and bright offices based centrally, engaged networks and teams and an opportunity to contribute to our ambitious and important targets of establishing a Net Zero energy system by 2050. This exciting blend of professional challenge and personal reward identifies career opportunities at Ofgem as something to get excited about.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

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 supporting statement evidencing how you meet the essential skills and capabilities listed in the role profile. Failure to fully complete both sections of the online application form (your career history (cv) and supporting statement) will mean that the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the essential criteria listed in the person specification

Your CV should set out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) 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) .

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants
Job contact :

• Name : Lynn Robetson
• Email : [email protected]

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should email The Head of Talent Acquisition at: [email protected] in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission. More detailed information can be found on the Civil Service Commission website.

Attachments Policy Principal Chief of Staff Candidate Pack 484658 Opens in new window (pdf, 745kB) Policy Principal Chief of Staff Job Description Opens in new window (pdf, 134kB) Terms and Conditions April 2025 Opens in new window (pdf, 366kB)