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.  

Purpose of the Role

The main function of this role will be to support and manage projects relating to online trust and safety, identifying best practices platforms should build to support safer outcomes for users and raising stakeholders’ understanding of technology trends having an impact on relevant areas of our regulatory remit.

Key Responsibilities

In this role, you will:

• Work across identified fields of online technology relevant to Ofcom’s regulatory remit. – These fields are Content Management/Moderation, Cloud and Modern Processes & Online Security, Foundations of the Internet and Data and Identity.
• Manage and support projects to explore in detail aspects of the systems, platforms and standards which are of concern to Ofcom; to brief senior management and to build the knowledge and understanding of the Online Safety Technology technical team.
• Where relevant, work with government departments, internet industry, industry associations and internal Ofcom colleagues to ensure a ‘joined up’ approach to the technological aspect of our online regulation regime. 
• Identify and recommend practical work within Ofcom to explore technological capabilities, and to develop new approaches and techniques.
• Provide technical input and support for cross-departmental projects and initiatives relevant to Ofcom’s role regulating online safety.
• Recommend ways in which to improve Ofcom’s visibility of the online industry and its underlying data to be in line with best practice worldwide.
• Develop relationships with relevant external stakeholders.
• Promote and deliver specialist training to colleagues and, more generally, to improve the capability of all colleagues in the organisation to understand online technologies.
• Work with our ICT team to ensure that the team’s activities are aligned with Ofcom’s ICT Strategy.
• Work with our Public Policy Team to explore and implement efficient and secure ways for us to share data about online services with government and other policymakers.

Skills, knowledge, and experience

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

• Sound understanding of the architecture and standards of the Internet; in the structure, systems and technologies employed by both large and small-scale online media platforms; and an understanding of the harms that such platforms can present to consumers.
• Experience working in at least one of the following fields: Content Management/Moderation, Cloud and Modern Processes & Online Security, Foundations of the Internet and Data and Identity.
• Operational experience within a trust and 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.