JOB SUMMARY

At the forefront of the fight to protect energy consumers, Ofgem is holding energy companies to account and ensuring a fair, affordable and sustainable energy market. We’re looking for a Senior Enforcement Investigator to join us and help tackle non-compliance, champion consumer rights, and uphold the integrity of the energy sector.
Ofgem is Great Britain’s independent energy regulator. We’re at the forefront of change across the energy sector, driving toward Net Zero whilst protecting energy consumers - especially vulnerable people.
We’re offering a permanent opportunity with the chance to work in a high-impact area that’s central to our mission. This is a rewarding role where you’ll help safeguard consumers and drive forward lasting change in the energy system. You’ll be part of a collaborative and fast-paced team, contributing to bold action on some of the most pressing challenges in the sector today.
You’ll gain exposure to cross-cutting issues while developing your professional network across policy, compliance, and legal functions. The role also gives you the chance to shape and improve enforcement approaches, working closely with senior stakeholders, both internally and externally.
We’re looking for someone with a sharp analytical mind, strong communication skills, and the ability to deliver confidently in a fast-moving regulatory environment. You’ll need sound judgement, a collaborative attitude and a passion for making a difference for energy consumers.
You’ll benefit from being part of a growing Compliance and Enforcement Profession that supports continuous development and career growth whilst providing flexible working arrangements, a superb benefits package, and access to career development support through our profession-led framework. We’re proud of our inclusive culture and offer a welcoming, values-led workplace where everyone can thrive and be themselves.
We have a critical purpose to investigate and enforce compliance in the energy market, ensuring companies play by the rules and consumers are treated fairly. If you’re ready to use your skills to influence real change in a vital sector, this is your chance to step up.

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.

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)
• 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

PURPOSE

The record increase and volatility in global gas prices has put the energy market under severe strain and is putting upward pressure on customers’ energy bills. We need to shield consumers from excessive price increases and make sure suppliers are doing what they can to support their customers.
Such challenging times require bold action. We are looking for people to meet the challenges we face head-on, and help us deliver a greener, fairer energy system.

You will be someone who:

• Has a proven background of delivering positive change for consumers, communities, or society in a role across: regulation and enforcement, compliance, risk management, strategy, operational delivery or policy development.
• Enjoys developing new skills, capabilities and expertise and being engaged across a broad range of diverse activities, including stakeholder engagement, analysis, policy development and project management.
• Is interested in the energy sector in the broad sense, passionate about ensuring good outcomes for current and future consumers, protecting consumers, and eager to help drive Ofgem’s contribution to delivering Net Zero.
• Champions our culture of inclusion and encourages, supports, and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our colleagues, fuelling our innovation and ensuring we best represent the consumers and the communities we serve.

Enforcement:
In the Enforcement Team we investigate & enforce energy companies’ compliance with the terms of their licence, energy regulations, Competition Law & Consumer Protection Law, following procedures laid out in our published enforcement guidelines. We also work closely with legal and policy colleagues on the development of proposed new licence conditions and regulations, to ensure they are enforceable. Working closely with compliance teams, we prioritise cases based on issues where we see the greatest scope for consumer harm across a range of high profile areas such as; consumer vulnerability, decarbonisation (smart metering ), cyber security, financial resilience and controls and the emerging area of heat networks.
This role provides an exciting opportunity to support Ofgem, as we work to protect energy consumers, especially vulnerable people, by ensuring they are treated fairly and benefit from a cleaner, greener environment.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND OUTPUTS

Specific responsibilities will vary depending on the role and team in which you will be placed in, but are likely to include:

Investigation and Case Management:

• Leading or contributing to compliance or enforcement activity in relation to energy suppliers, scheme participants and other regulated companies, producing high quality, timely, and robust analysis of potential issues.
• Making evidence-based recommendations: identifying & escalating key issues as well as assisting in the management of risk.
• Leading, organising and project managing significant pieces of project work, coordinating closely with colleagues across the directorate to understand the impact of your work in terms of resource and output.
• Engaging with internal and external stakeholders to gather and document intelligence on compliance to inform casework, including engaging with whistle-blowers when relevant.
• Build capability in the team by driving continuous improvement of our processes and practices, identifying, and embracing opportunities for change, and championing these across the team.

Stakeholder Management:

• Effectively communicating the benefits, challenges, and trade-offs of potential compliance or enforcement actions to senior colleagues.
• Working collaboratively across team boundaries and engaging with key Ofgem functions, developing close links to manage risks and issues.
• Representing Ofgem externally and building constructive stakeholder relationships to ensure challenges and issues are identified and resolved in consumers’ interests.
• Ensuring that guidance given to external stakeholders including suppliers is accurate, legally robust and reflective of the relevant legislation or licence conditions.

ROLE CRITERIA

Essential:

• Experience of interpreting and applying complex legislation, regulation, rules and processes to deliver effective enforcement investigations [Lead criteria].
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills that effectively communicate complex issues to non-expert audiences.
• Experience of collecting, investigating and analysing qualitative and quantitative data and evidence to arrive at conclusions and recommendations.
• Ability to build effective relationships and successfully influence challenging external stakeholders.
• Ability to proactively prioritise, plan and schedule complex tasks, demonstrate problem solving skills, and deliver high quality outputs under time pressure. Able to monitor and report on progress as well assessing and managing risks.

Desirable:

• Experience working in a compliance, enforcement or regulatory role.
• Experience working in the energy sector.