Principal Economist - Chief Economist Team

OFWAT
Birmingham or London - United Kingdom
S: £52,661 - £80,550

Location
Birmingham, West Midlands (England), B5 4UA : London, London (region), E14 4HD

About the job

Job summary
Ofwat (The Water Services Regulation Authority) is a non-ministerial government department. We regulate the water sector in England and Wales.

Our role is to help build trust and confidence with customers, the environment and wider society. Ofwat has an ambitious -Time to act, together strategy and as a regulator we are setting ourselves up to achieve and equal the ambition of this strategy. It matters to us that things on the ground really change so that our impact on customers, the environment and the future of water is tangible and meaningful.

Our work is high-profile and fast-moving, within a dynamic and agile environment. The work that you'll be involved in every day will be about helping us to deliver our strategy, and helping the sector to deliver outcomes that matter to customers and society.

We are forward-thinking, creative, innovative and ambitious. We actively encourage autonomy, collaboration and innovation and there's a real adult culture fostered by trust, flexibility and respect. We strive to ensure our people feel connected and valued, where their voice matters. You will be provided with the space and support to shape your future while taking greater control of your own growth and development.

Job description
We are looking to recruit a Principal Economist to work in the Chief Economist Team (CET). The CET reports directly to the Chief Executive of Ofwat and plays an important role across all areas of Ofwat's work. It leads on the economic input into on strategic work, such as developing our future regulatory strategy, mergers and competition work, as well as research pieces and our approach to impact assessments and evaluation. It also supports other teams across Ofwat, for example by scrutinising the decisions on price reviews, supporting teams focused on developing markets and other thematic policy areas such as the environment, customers and innovation.

The Principal Economist will have responsibility for leading on key areas of CET's work by providing rigorous economic thinking and advice to inform our policies and help Ofwat deliver its strategic objectives. We are looking for candidates with excellent analytical skills, significant experience in regulatory economics, and experience managing the design, development and delivery of economic projects.

Key deliverables

- Leading on the delivery of economic and/or quantitative analysis projects
- Providing economic advice on economic and/or quantitative issues across areas at Ofwat
- Developing economic frameworks to assess policy options
- Making recommendations to improve our regulatory approach
- Assessing the impact of our policies and interventions
- Presenting economic analysis to colleagues internally and stakeholders externally
- Drafting reports and publications to a high standard
- Managing and developing senior associate economists and graduate economists

Person specification

Essential Experience, Skills and Knowledge:
- An undergraduate degree in economics or a discipline with significant economic content
- Excellent analytical skills
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to understand and concisely explain complex issues in non-technical language
- Significant knowledge of microeconomics and regulatory economics
- Significant experience in applying economic analysis in economic regulation and/or competition policy
- Experience managing the design, development and delivery of economic projects
- Experience working in multidisciplinary teams
- Experience engaging with senior staff and external stakeholders

Essential Attributes and Behaviours:
- Delivering outcomes
- Creating clarity
- Making relationships count
- Committed learned

You can read more about Attributes and Behaviours in the attached Framework for Success

Benefits

- A generous Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
- Access to our package of benefits via our 'Edenred' scheme. This is a voluntary benefits scheme where staff have access to exclusive discounts on a range of goods and services such as retail outlets, theatre tickets, holidays, insurance and gym membership;
- Cycle-to-work scheme;
- Season ticket loan for travel between home and office;
- Flexible working arrangements;
- Fees paid for membership of relevant professional bodies;
- Regular professional development;
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- Health and well-being initiatives

Job summary