Please note this role will close at 00.01 on 10th July so we advise making your application by midnight on the 9th July.

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

Almost every part of our lives is now online. As well as bringing many benefits, there are also real risks posed online by harmful or illegal activity – from hate speech to bullying and harassment to child sexual exploitation, and more. The UK Government has appointed Ofcom as the new regulator for online safety. There has never been a more meaningful time to join Ofcom on our mission to create a safer life online.

The Online Safety Technology team conducts research to build knowledge and understanding in subject areas fundamental to online safety. This includes, for example, AI and machine learning, digital identity, privacy enhancing technologies, decentralisation, user experience, gaming, network infrastructure, and digital forensics. The team provides technical expertise to policy, supervision and enforcement colleagues in the wider Online Safety Group, and others in Ofcom, during policy development processes and industry engagement activities.

About the team you’ll be part of

The Online Safety Technology Team works with colleagues across the organisation and with external stakeholders to continually develop the skills and understanding required to ensure Ofcom keeps pace with the rapid rate of change and innovation in online and trust and safety technologies. 

The team’s mission is to monitor, engage and shape development of technologies that provide trust and safety for citizens online; and structure standards/best practice to promote innovation and influence service design, benefitting both citizens and industry as outputs inform Ofcom’s regulatory approach.  

The purpose and scope of the role

The successful candidate will play a leading role within the Online Safety Technology team to help design and deliver a programme of work that will develop and share fundamental understanding of the technologies that underpin online services to help meet Ofcom's Online Safety objectives.

We are looking for somebody who will act as an authoritative ‘go to’ subject matter expert on the changing landscape of specific areas of technology related change, diffusing relevant insight from applied research and experimentation and raising stakeholders’ understanding of technology trends having an impact on online trust and safety.

Your key responsibilities

• Lead the design and delivery of complex research projects, often in partnership with specialist third parties and other policy/functional specialists (e.g. strategists, economists, lawyers, data scientists etc.), ranging from desk-based reviews to the delivery of practical experimental and demonstration projects.
• Manage and support projects to explore in detail aspects of the systems, platforms and standards which are of concern to Ofcom; create an evidence base for the application of a technology or combination of initiatives to tackle a particular challenge; explore new technologies that present significant opportunities in areas where existing regulation may be incomplete; and help develop new regulatory mechanisms; to brief senior management and to build the knowledge and understanding of the Online Safety Technology technical team. 
• Proactively manage internal relationships to help define business-relevant research programmes and maximise the application of findings, including by effectively communicating with non-technical audiences.
• Strengthen external relationships with industry, academia, and public bodies to jointly define and deliver research programmes successfully.
• Represent Ofcom and advocate for the role of technology across a range of external industry and policy working groups, in order to shape the technology debate, the regulatory landscape and inform national policy.

Skills, knowledge and experience

To be successful in this role, you will be able to demonstrate:

• Practical and theoretical expertise in the architectures, integration strategies, deployment models and operation of online networks and systems
• An extensive background working in at least in at least one of the following core technology topics: Content Management/Moderation, Cloud and Modern Processes & Online Security, Foundations of the Internet; and Data and Identity.
• Experience of acting as an expert within relevant specialism(s).
• Operational experience within a trust & safety environment preferred.
• Articulating Ideas: The ability to demonstrate how technical or complex concepts can result in tangible consequences for stakeholders, consumers, and policy areas.
• Harmonising work: The ability to work across organisational boundaries in multi-disciplinary project teams of policy professionals, technologists, data specialists and lawyers to understand requirements and their mapping to technical specifications and delivering business outcomes.
• Forming relationships: Strong interpersonal skills and evidence of an ability to interact effectively with, and influence, a range of internal and external stakeholders.

At Ofcom we prioritise inclusive and diverse recruitment in order to truly reflect the society we represent.

Where positions are listed as full time, we remain open to reduced hours, part-time arrangements, job shares and other flexible working options from day one of employment.  We warmly welcome applications from candidate returning to work after a break – for whatever reason.

As a disability confident employer, we offer interviews to any disabled applicant who meet essential criteria for advertised roles.  Learn more about the scheme here.

If you need information in an alternative format or have specific preferences, please contact our recruitment team.