Senior Engineer

Ofgem works on behalf of energy consumers to ensure that every household in the UK can rely on a safe and environmentally sustainable energy supply. We are playing a vital part in accelerating the transition to Net Zero and a carbon neutral energy system - a goal that everyone wants to achieve. Whatever your role, you’ll be playing your part in creating new energy solutions that are great for customers, and great for the environment.

We offer a diverse range of flexible working career opportunities: roles that are stimulating and rewarding, where you can get involved in ground-breaking work. And it’s important to us that we recruit from a wide range of professional and personal backgrounds – bringing different perspectives and experiences to our work.

This is an ideal opportunity for an experienced engineer to play an involved role in the regulation and development of the energy system and to offer expert technical advice on how effective regulation can support the transition to a net zero supply. You’ll be directly involved in providing technical support to key areas within Ofgem, with one of the key focus being innovation and net zero strategy. The post holder will review and provide technical perspective to a significant portfolio of innovation energy projects, as well as having the opportunity to provide engineering input for a diverse range of strategic projects and board papers related to the energy transition to net zero. We expect that you’ll hold a degree in a relevant engineering discipline or have developed significant expertise through industry experience. This should include several of the following areas: energy innovation, energy strategy, of Eelectricityal Ttransmission, or Ddistribution such as, : network or system operations, digitalisation, system design and planning, Off-shore system design and planning, network codes, smart grids and network innovation, asset management, performance and quality of service issues. You should be comfortable working with both quantitative and qualitative analysis, and it’s important that you offer highly developed communication skills, in writing and in person, and that you can bring complex, technical subject matter to life for different audiences.

Ofgem is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All employment is decided on the basis of open and fair competition, merit and business need.

Job description

Our Engineering Hub is seeking a senior engineer to fulfil a key role in our regulation of the energy system and in providing technical insights into the transition to Net Zero. We play a key role in facilitating the decarbonisation of the energy sector, whilst ensuring that our regulatory functions have strong technical input, for example for price controls, innovation funds, system operability, etc.

The role is to provide engineering and policy support across Ofgem, with Innovation and Strategy as one of the focus point. The post holder will have direct engagement in different areas within Ofgem with great teams, including policy and strategy. For innovation, the post holder will review and provide technical perspective to a £450m portfolio of energy projects, many at the cutting edge of network innovation. This will provide you with great exposure to innovation projects across gas and electricity and new emerging sectors within the energy transition, such as hydrogen and digitalisation.

In the strategy front, you will have the opportunity to provide engineering input for a diverse range of strategic projects and board papers related to the energy transition to net zero.

The role holder will also have the opportunity to get involved in other areas outside innovation and strategy, for example networks price control reopeners, OFTO policy, and technical codes.

Person specification

Key Responsibilities

• Responsible for high quality and timely engineering analysis of options and recommendations to policy teams.
• Lead on technical support to innovation and strategy areas within Ofgem.
• Provide support to other policy areas directly managed by the Engineer Hub such as technical codes.

Essential Criteria 

• Educated to degree level in a relevant engineering discipline or equivalent industry experience
• Chartered Engineer,or in the process of gaining registration – note, we will support you in this process 
• Relevant experience or knowledge in several the following areas: energy innovation, energy strategy, electricity transmission or distribution such as, network or system operations, digitalisation, system design and planning, network codes, asset management, performance and quality of service issues. 
• Expertise in both quantitative and qualitative analysis
• Ability to deliver key projects to challenging timescales 
• Excellent communication/interpersonal skills including the ability to explain technical issues to non-technical people and report writing. This also include the ability to produce high-quality outputs, such as policy papers, decisions, internal papers, all backed by evidence.

Desirable Criteria 

• Demonstrable grasp of one of our key areas of work: policy development, energy economic principles, regulatory cost assessment, either through academic qualifications or previous posts 
• Familiarity with key concepts of economic regulation

Behaviours

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

• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

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

• Please refer to the Candidate Pack and Role Profile attached for full details.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £45,614, OFGEM contributes £12,316 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Ofgem can offer you a comprehensive and competitive benefits package which includes; 30 days annual leave after 2 years; Excellent training and development opportunities; The opportunity to join the generous Civil Service pension which also includes a valuable range of benefits; Hybrid working (currently 1 day a week in the office but is in review), flexible working hours and family friendly policies. Plus lots of other benefits including clean and bright offices based centrally, engaged networks and teams and an opportunity to contribute to our ambitious and important targets of establishing a Net Zero energy system by 2050. This exciting blend of professional challenge and personal reward identifies career opportunities at Ofgem as something to get excited about.

Things you need to know Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

When you press the ‘Apply now’ button, you will be asked to complete personal details (not seen by the sift panel), your career history and qualifications.  

You will then be asked to provide a 1250 word ‘personal statement’ evidencing how you meet the essential and desirable skills and capabilities listed in the role profile. Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your supporting statement, how you meet each of the essential and desirable skills and capabilities. 

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

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