Please note that this role will close at 00:01 on Friday 12th July and therefore we advise getting your application by no later than midnight on Thursday 11th 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

This is an exciting opportunity to join Ofcom's Public Policy team working on wide portfolio of issues. The Public Policy team sits at the centre of Ofcom. We act as the bridge between Ofcom's work as an independent body and the wider public policy, political and regulatory developments that affect the sectors we regulate. We work with teams across Ofcom to ensure that the wider public policy context is properly considered in Ofcom’s work. We co-ordinate and lead Ofcom’s engagement with Government and Parliament.

The team’s role is to support the Board, senior management and the wider organisation to ensure Ofcom acts as an effective regulator which fully understands and participates in public debates about how best to make communications work for consumers. It also supports Ofcom’s work through the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (the ‘DRCF’).

The work of the public policy team is fast paced, collaborative and blends both internal and external stakeholder engagement. Working here offers an excellent opportunity to develop a broad understanding of some of Ofcom’s top priorities.

Purpose of the Role

You will help shape the work of our team under our Networks, Communications and Spectrum portfolio, working closely and collaboratively with colleagues across Ofcom to deliver on our objectives effectively. Ideally, you will have experience of working in or closely with Government or Parliament or a Regulatory body, influencing and communicating policy but most importantly you will have an understanding of the policy making process, be able to work independently and at pace, and be accomplished at building strong collaborative relationships quickly.

The portfolio the post will cover is incredibly varied and includes telecoms, spectrum, post, and consumer matters. We engage directly with stakeholders in Government and Parliament and contribute to internal policy discussions on a diverse range of matters including the security and resilience of the telecoms network, ensuring efficient use of spectrum, and helping consumers who may be struggling with the cost-of-living. 

Your role will see you become the public policy expert on a discrete range of policy topics, helping policy teams to plan and execute Government and Parliament relationships on those topics in a way that helps Ofcom fulfil its independent regulatory role while appropriately demonstrating accountability and providing expert input to policymakers. 

You will work within a friendly and tight-knit branch of 5 or 6 people, in particular working closely with the Senior Associate who leads across your portfolio areas. 

Your key responsibilities

• Work with Public Policy colleagues and other Ofcom teams, including in our offices in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to co-ordinate UK Government and Parliamentary engagement across different policy issues
• Engage directly and confidently with officials in Government and Parliamentarians and be a key point of contact for UK Government departments on work relating to your portfolio, including on policy queries and Parliamentary Questions, working with internal teams to ensure responses are accurate, high-quality and well communicated
• Provide accurate and plain English written materials and briefings to senior internal stakeholders to support their public policy engagement.
• Manage correspondence with MPs ensuring that it is of a consistently high standard.
• Work with Public Policy Managers and other Ofcom teams to co-ordinate UK Government and Parliamentary engagement across different policy issues.
• Contribute to the effective management of Ofcom’s relationship with Parliament by monitoring Parliamentary business, identifying opportunities for engagement with MPs and Peers and recording/reporting on that engagement.
• Contribute to the Ofcom policy-making process by making policy teams aware of relevant external policy developments through regular monitoring, as well as by scanning ahead and spotting opportunities.
• Proactively seek to make connections between areas within and beyond your portfolio, seeking to build your expertise and knowledge and sharing it with the wider team.

The skills, knowledge and experience you will need for success

• Forming Relationship: Experience of reaching out to build collaborative relationships with others, including more senior colleagues and external stakeholders.
• Articulating Ideas: Excellent Written and oral communication skills, including the ability to get complex information across clearly and concisely.
• Executing Plans: An ability to juggle a diverse workload and respond to changing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience, or an interest, in politics and/or policy-making and skilled at cutting through to the essentials on complex policy issues.
• An interest in learning about the regulatory work that Ofcom does, as well as the sectors we regulate.

As part of your application, please tell us in no more than 800 words what skills you feel you would bring to the role, how you meet the criteria and what area/s of Ofcom's work are of interest to you.

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