Economist - Commercial, Programmes and Business Development

Maritime & Coastguard Agency
Southampton - United Kingdom
S: £38,654

Reference number: 208178
Salary: £38,654
Grade: Senior Executive Officer
Contract type: Permanent
Type of role: Analytical, Economist, Policy
Working pattern: Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time
Number of posts: 1
Location: Southampton

About the job

Summary
We welcome applications from all communities and we don't discriminate against any identity. We're interested to hear from you, regardless of your background.

Would you love to use your economics expertise to make a difference in key areas such as maritime decarbonisation and search and rescue operations?

Are you a strategic thinker capable of providing high quality analysis?

Could you make an impact as an Economist on a small team in a unique commercial delivery role?

If so, we'd love to hear from you!

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) implements the government's maritime safety and environmental policy in the United Kingdom and works to prevent the loss of life and occurrence of pollution on the coast and at sea.

Safer lives, Safer ships, Cleaner seas.

Our vision is to be the best maritime safety organisation in the world.

Find out more about what it's like working at the Department for Transport.

Job description

We have an exciting opportunity for a passionate and motivated individual to join our new Commercial, Programmes and Business Development Directorate as an Economist.

The successful applicant will provide support on a variety of interesting programmes and projects across the MCA in the aviation and UK Maritime remit, providing sound economic analysis and advice that will influence large scale spending decisions and the adoption of new technology.

The role holder will use their expertise and take an 'in house consultant' approach to provide robust and influential economic advice to shape and enable policy and operational delivery within the maritime sector and to take a proactive lead on analytical matters. Reporting to the Lead Economist, the Economist - Commercial, Programmes and Business Development will lead the development of economic business cases, undertake analysis to shape options and provide challenge to ensure effective decision making.

This is a unique opportunity to become an effective Business Partner, working across diverse areas within the business and in collaboration with other analysts both in MCA and other government departments to get to know and understand how the business operates and developing outputs to achieve objectives.

This is a crucial and rewarding role directly contributing to saving lives at sea and on the coast and making a big difference in the maritime sector, creating a more sustainable and greener future.

This role will be based in the Southampton HQ. MCA supports flexible working and operates a hybrid working model between home and office for this role, giving you greater flexibility over where and when you work. Details of the arrangement will be discussed further with your line manager.

There may be a requirement for travel on official duty within the UK, which may involve overnight stays away from home.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Leading the analytical input on Commercial and Programmes and Agency wide projects to guide senior leaders in their strategic thinking and adherence to the Analytical Assurance Framework; and providing, where required, timely analytical input into the decision making on high profile issues, including input to ministerial briefings and Parliamentary Questions.

• Providing robust evidence, appraisal, and evaluation into the MCA's analytical strategy, focusing on improving decision making in the agency.

• Taking a proactive lead on analytical matters within the Commercial and Programmes directorate undertaking robust analysis in accordance with the Better Regulation Framework Manual to influence and enable policy and operational delivery. Working closely with Department for Transport (DfT) economists, acting as focal point to MCA policy colleagues on analytical and economic guidance and advice, using analytical expertise and tools to guide delivery e.g. sourcing of information and research to carry out robust analysis to support the directorate. Ensuring HM Government appraisal and evaluation guidance is followed.

• Applying economics to influence a range of policy issues relating to the maritime sector providing analytical input to influence and underpin the development and negotiation of policies in both the international and domestic arenas, identifying new and novel approaches to meeting Better Regulation initiatives and analytical assurance.

• Leading the analytical contribution in meetings with external stakeholders in the areas of economic expertise and to maintain a positive and proactive role in liaison with appropriate stakeholders including Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), Oil Spill Response, contractors, Department for Transport (Marine Accident Investigation Branch and maritime Divisions) and other Government departments.

For an in-depth insight into the role, please refer to the Role Profile attached to this advert.

About You

We are looking for an enthusiastic individual with a passion for economics and the ability to thrive working flexibly in a fast-paced project environment where priorities can change rapidly as needs dictate.

To be successful in this role you will be a holistic and independent thinker, good at understanding complex intertwining systems and able to pull together information from various sources to inform your analysis.

You will have first class communication skills, confident in your approach and own expertise and comfortable and adept in clearly articulating robust guidance and recommendations to influence policy and decision making. You're able to adapt your communication style to suit diverse audiences, translating often complex data and issues so that it is coherent and understood.

Collaborating and engaging productively comes naturally to you and you enjoy building up strong and trusted working relationships, keeping an open mind and listening to views of others. You are self-driven and will welcome autonomy to your role with this opportunity to really make a mark as the economic expert in this directorate.

This post is open to Government Economic Service members, and applicants who aspire to join the profession, hence the academic requirements of the role are that you either hold a minimum of a 2:1 undergraduate degree in Economics or a related subject with a strong economic component.

Qualifications

A minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree in Economics or a related subject with a strong economic component.

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

Managing a Quality Service
Delivering at Pace
Seeing the Big Picture

Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

GES Technical Framework – Level 2 Practitioner - Application of Knowledge – Applying economic theory and analysis.
GES Technical Framework – Level 2 Practitioner - Analysis of Data – Analysing data.
GES Technical Framework – Level 2 Practitioner - Effective Communication – Communicating to technical and non-technical audiences.

Job summary