Senior Associate, Enforcement

About Ofcom

Ofcom is the regulator for the communications services that we use and rely on each day. We make sure people get the best from their broadband, home phone and mobile services, as well as keeping an eye on TV and radio.

Our culture is clear – we live by our values: Empowerment; Excellence; Collaboration; Agility and Respect. These define how we work to deliver our purpose, now and in the future. The behaviours which support these values set the path for a fully inclusive and innovative culture at Ofcom.
We focus not only on what we do, but how we do it. We pride ourselves on being an organisation of people who genuinely care about helping others.

About the Team

The Enforcement team plays a critical role in ensuring that the regulation and policy we put in place to protect consumers and citizens is effective. We work with teams across Ofcom to establish rules and monitor stakeholder adherence to regulatory requirements across the telecommunications, postal and broadcasting sectors. We take action as needed to deal with non-compliance, including through formal investigations and issuing substantial financial penalties. We are currently ramping up our capability in anticipation of Ofcom’s new responsibilities to enforce cyber security standards and protect UK users from harmful content online. We are committed to Ofcom’s vision of being a stronger, more inclusive organisation which is a fantastic place to work. We want Ofcom to be a confident and connected organisation, where everyone’s skills and contributions are valued and respected, and where people of all backgrounds can succeed in their career.

Purpose of the Role

The case leader role is key to Ofcom’s ability to carry out effective and robust enforcement activity. The post holder will deliver enforcement projects and case work and will also support the team’s wider work to provide enforcement input to key policy projects and carry out advocacy work to promote deterrence. 

Your key responsibilities

These roles are key to carrying out effective and robust enforcement activity. You will deliver enforcement projects and casework as well as supporting the team’s enforcement input to key policy projects.

Leading enforcement investigation casework and monitoring programmes, through:

• Defining the scope of the work and identifying desirable outcomes;
• Gathering and analysing evidence;
• Producing written outputs for internal and external audiences;
• Managing stakeholder relationships to represent Ofcom professionally; and
• Delivering high quality work to agreed timetables.

There is also lots of scope to work with policy areas across Ofcom to support strategic outcomes by:

• Influencing policy development to design enforceable regulation; and
• Taking proactive steps to clarify stakeholder expectations and incentivise compliance.

The skills, knowledge and experience you will need for success

• Project management: You have excellent project management skills and are able to work within defined processes, ensuring projects are run in accordance with public guidance. You can identify goals, plan a project, and lead teams to deliver milestones with limited resources.
• Relationship building: You can build and maintain constructive and productive working relationships with internal stakeholders and engage with external stakeholders in a fair and professional way.
• Teamwork and leadership: You are able to lead and work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams and to support colleagues to both deliver work and also develop their careers. You can work collaboratively with others to deliver a specific workstream within a larger project.
• Communication skills: You have excellent verbal and written communication skills. Written communication and drafting skills are very important in developing clear documents addressing key issues and you will also need to be confident communicating arguments in person.
• Analytical skills and attention to detail: Our decisions must be based on clear and accurate evidence-based analysis. You can analyse different types of evidence, identify key issues, and translate findings from this evidence into comprehensive, well-reasoned written arguments and recommendations on next steps.
• Outcomes focused: You can think creatively about complex problems and develop effective solutions. You enjoy learning about new subjects and quickly obtain a working knowledge of new subject areas.
• Ofcom’s values: It is important that you have a desire to promote Ofcom's values of excellence, agility, empowerment, collaboration and respect. Competencies Planning, Project & Programme Management.

Competencies

• Leads delivery of work to expectations (e.g. time/ quality/cost) holding others to account, taking full ownership of progress;
• Oversees and co-ordinates work beyond own area of expertise, ensuring team members from other areas of Ofcom understand requirements;
• Identifies and pre-empts issues, setting up contingency plans and involving appropriate specialists Relationship Management (internal and external)
• Develops and maintains professional on-going relationships with stakeholders
• Takes a lead role in stakeholder meetings, acting as a key contact on related issues
• Identifies potentially difficult or sensitive issues, escalating in a timely way
• Shows understanding of the interests and needs of internal and external stakeholders
• Builds effective relationships, adapting own style and approach when appropriate Communication (written and oral)
• Ensures the quality and timeliness of own and others’ written material
• Influences through formal and informal channels, tailoring approach to a range of audiences
• Anticipates possible challenges and objections and prepares thoroughly Problem solving and analysis
• Adapts, develops and applies analytical approaches to tackle new problems/projects
• Ensures analysis is informed by strategic priorities and input from other Ofcom Groups
• Makes timely, well-reasoned decisions and considers the practicality, risks, and long-term implications of options Knowledge and expertise
• Works independently, providing professional advice and guiding the work of others in the specialism
• Understands other relevant disciplines sufficiently to ask pertinent questions, challenge input and define tasks

How to apply:

Please send us your CV and a covering letter. The covering letter should be no more than two pages and should explain what has motivated you to apply for this role and what you think you would bring to it.