Lead Enforcement Officer

at  Department for Business and Trade

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

This is a great opportunity for flexible and ambitious individuals with the energy to make positive change happen within and beyond OPSS.

We are keen to hear from people with varying backgrounds, who can demonstrate:

• Experience in an investigatory role in any of the following fields: regulation, enforcement, or compliance.
• Strategic problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Ability to scope, plan, and guide the delivery of results-oriented, multifaceted work plans.
• Flexibility and ability to clearly set priorities in what can be a changing environment.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to research, understand assess and apply technical information, filtering, and prioritising data to assist in understanding its relevancy in the investigative process.
• A full valid driving licence. If you do not hold a driving licence because of a protected characteristic, please speak to recruitment manager to let them know, and this will be taken into account.

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)

THE ROLE AND OUR TEAM

The Online and Supply Chain Enforcement Team regulates the full supply chain, from ports and borders through to online marketplaces, fulfilment houses and third-party sellers. We are responsible for ensuring that shopping online will be as safe as shopping on the high street.
We have Lead Enforcement roles available in all three of our Enforcement Teams. Please state in your application which role, or roles, you wish to be considered for. Please be aware, all roles are potentially deployable to other teams dependent on organisational and risk priorities.
Ports and Borders Team:
No two days are the same, working in the Ports & Borders Team. We are committed to preventing unsafe and non-compliant products entering the UK supply chain. Our team delivers a programme of activity in which we look for innovative ways of finding the right intervention points to stop bad actors within the supply chain. This can include deployments a ports, proactively monitoring fulfilment centres and inland activity, and targeting resources to deal with prolific offenders. We work with a range of regulators including Local Authorities, Border Force, and HMRC. Our latest activity is preventing unsafe and non-compliant ebike’s, escooter’s, and conversion kits entering the UK supply chain.
As an SEO Lead Enforcement Officer, you will Lead on Ports and Inland deployments, conducting a range of onsite activities throughout the UK, ensuring Officers follow best practice. You will use initiative and be proactive in establishing a programme of regulatory activity, and lead on a range of high profile or challenging work-streams, compiling accurate project reports, operational plans, and case files. You will be at the forefront of building relationships internally and externally and will play a key role in developing, and mentoring Enforcement Officers.
Online Enforcement:
Online Enforcement is a fast-paced team; we select and test purchase high risk products which are being sold online. We get non-compliant products removed from sale, and monitor how well Online Marketplaces are fulfilling their obligations, enabling OPSS to hold them to account. We also explore new approaches to regulation and enforcement in the Online space enforcing the removal of unsafe products.
As an SEO on the Online Enforcement team you will have a portfolio of cases to manage. Working at pace you will ensure quick action is taken to address the issue, help build up our data and intelligence on how the online economy works, and lead follow up work to ensure businesses remain compliant following intervention. This is a developing area, and you may be asked to lead or contribute to the development of new ways of carrying out regulation online.
Incidents and Investigations:
Incidents and Investigations Team takes the enforcement lead on high profile investigations in the Product Safety space. We also deal with nationally declared product safety Incidents. We take immediate corrective action to protect people and places, and carrying out detailed investigation to determine the appropriate enforcement action and/or sanctions.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Undertake both proactive and reactive enforcement work to ensure products placed on the UK market are compliant.
• Take the lead on your own enforcement investigations, provide support to multi-officer investigations and supervise your team’s casework.
• Develop and build relationships with relevant professional and trade bodies in the regulated area.
• Provide guidance and support to businesses and business sectors to enable greater compliance within the industry.
• Develop specialist understanding and knowledge of the legislation you enforce, and the industries and sectors you regulate.
• Undertake regulatory activities in accordance with the Regulators’ Code and OPSS’ Enforcement Policy.
• Actively build and maintain relationships across teams within Enforcement and across the office to identify opportunities to add value to your work, ensuring that our approach to regulation is consistent.