Principal Financial Supervisor in Cardiff

Successful candidates may be based in any of our office locations – Cardiff, Glasgow or London. We especially welcome applicants from Cardiff and Glasgow.

Ofgem is at the forefront of the fight to strengthen the financial resilience of the energy sector, combating market instability and helping protect consumers from the impacts of supplier failure and global price volatility. We’re looking for a Principal Financial Supervisor to join us and play a leading role in shaping a more resilient, sustainable and secure retail energy market.

Ofgem is Great Britain’s independent energy regulator. We’re delivering positive changes 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 influence some of the most significant financial resilience challenges facing the energy sector today. This is a highly visible and strategically important role operating at the centre of regulatory supervision, where your expertise will help shape how Ofgem responds to evolving market risks and strengthens confidence across the industry.

You’ll contribute to work that supports a resilient, investable and competitive market capable of delivering long-term benefits for consumers. This role offers exposure to complex and high-profile issues across the energy landscape, with the opportunity to engage directly with senior industry stakeholders and influence critical decisions. Working within a collaborative and forward-looking environment, you’ll help drive proactive approaches to resilience, risk management and regulatory oversight during a period of significant sector transformation.

You’ll be part of a dynamic and supportive directorate that values strategic thinking, sound judgement and constructive challenge. The role combines leadership, analysis and stakeholder engagement, giving you the opportunity to lead our delivery of both firm-level supervision and wider market resilience priorities.

We’re looking for someone with a strong background in finance, insolvency, risk management, corporate finance or financial supervision, alongside the ability to analyse complex issues, operate with autonomy and influence senior stakeholders effectively. You’ll bring excellent judgement, strategic thinking and the confidence to navigate ambiguity within a fast-paced regulatory environment.

In return, you’ll join an inclusive and purpose-driven organisation that offers hybrid working and the opportunity to work alongside highly experienced colleagues across regulation, policy and analysis. We have a critical purpose to strengthen financial resilience across the retail energy market. Join us to help combat instability, reduce the risks and costs of supplier failure, and support a more secure, sustainable and consumer-focused energy system.

Key Responsibilities and Outputs

• Identifying risks to financial resilience and proactively drive regulatory response.
• Using data for strategic planning – the process of developing and managing a range of options and decisions that aligns with Ofgem’s priorities.
• Acting as lead supervisor or deputy lead for a portfolio of Ofgem‑regulated suppliers, developing and delivering the supervisory strategy for your assigned supply licensees throughout the year.
• Supporting oversight of the portfolio of FRC supply licensees in aggregate, along with other senior leaders in the FRC Directorate.
• Identifying emerging financial resilience risks and systemic themes across firms, applying expert judgement to determine materiality of risks and appropriate supervisory responses.
• Supporting or leading decisions on intensification of supervision where firms deteriorate including SoLR and SAR.
• Leading senior‑level engagement with firms, delivering robust technical and financial challenge, especially on capital adequacy, liquidity and governance, influencing firm behaviour to remediate weaknesses before defaulting to formal enforcement.
• Leading the preparation of high quality documentation of all analysis and decisions and presenting confidently to Ofgem senior stakeholders and external HMG stakeholders, communicating complex information to a wide range of stakeholders along with an ability to articulate key findings.
• Scoping projects to ensure timely delivery of clear aims, coordinating closely with colleagues across the directorate to understand the impact of your work in terms of resource and output.
• Operating with significant autonomy, demonstrating critical thinking and a strategic approach. Assessing and managing risks.
• Bringing experience in governance and leadership, with an ability to proactively prioritise, plan and schedule complex tasks, solve problems, and deliver high quality outputs under time pressure.
• Developing professional competence in others. Building 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.
• Managing a team.
• A proven background in finance, insolvency, risk management, corporate finance or financial supervision, demonstrated by a record of high performance and substantial achievements in past positions.
• Leading firm-level supervision and/or major risk workstreams. Ability to operate in ambiguity and using judgement rather than rules.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills that effectively communicate complex issues to non-expert audiences.
• Analytical, with the ability to interrogate and analyse qualitative and quantitative data and evidence to arrive at conclusions and recommendations to mitigate risks.
• Experience of interpreting and applying complex legislation, regulation, rules and processes to deliver effective compliance.
• Ability to build effective relationships and successfully influence challenging external stakeholders.
• An understanding of market dynamics and credit risk, ideally within the setting of a regulated and/or commodities market.