Senior Behavioural Scientist in Cardiff

Join Ofgem and play a pivotal role in shaping the future of Great Britain’s energy system. Working within our established and growing Behavioural Science function, you will help ensure that every household and business can rely on a safe, affordable, and sustainable energy supply. You will lead the design and delivery of high‑quality behavioural research, including online experiments and potentially field trials, generating robust empirical evidence that directly informs regulatory decisions and supports Ofgem’s strategic priorities.

In this influential role, you will work closely with policy teams across Ofgem to diagnose behavioural barriers, develop impactful interventions, and translate complex insights into clear, actionable recommendations. You will build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders including government departments, academia, regulators and energy suppliers to maximise innovation, collaboration and the real‑world application of behavioural insights.

This is an exciting moment to join the organisation, with technological change, new business models and the transition to Net Zero driving significant behavioural challenges across the energy sector. Your expertise will help shape consumer engagement and future market design, contributing to one of the most important policy areas of our time.

You will be part of an inclusive, multidisciplinary team that values diversity, innovation and continuous learning in an environment where you can develop your expertise, raise the visibility of behavioural science, and represent Ofgem as a leader in the field. Ofgem has a culture of inclusion that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our colleagues. It fuels our innovation and helps ensure we can best represent the consumers and the communities we serve. Everyone is welcome - as an inclusive workplace, our employees are comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work.

Key Responsibilities and Outputs:

• Delivery: Lead the delivery of high-quality behavioural research/projects, including online experiments and potentially field trials, to provide evidence that helps Ofgem to deliver on its strategic priorities, ensuring effective project and people management and quality assurance.
• Stakeholder engagement/influencing: Build strong, effective relationships, collaborating with policy teams across Ofgem to identify and deliver on opportunities for behavioural science and/or economics to support in answering complex questions. Build relationships with external stakeholders to maximise partnership and collaboration opportunities.
• Communication/impact: Draft clear and concise documents, including briefings, reports, and presentations and present work at internal forums. Help build capability and raise visibility of Behavioural Science in Ofgem.
• Innovation: Keep abreast of advances in the field of Behavioural Science and how this can be applied in Ofgem.

Person specification:

• Hands-on experience of behavioural research methods including experimental and quasi-experimental methods, with proven experience of personally delivering online/lab experiments.
• Extensive experience of applying behavioural science to real-world problems in a regulatory, government, academic or consultancy role.
• Advanced knowledge and understanding of behavioural science and/or behavioural economics with an up-to-date understanding of the key literature.
• Ability to distil complex subject matter into relevant messages for different audiences – both orally and in writing, combined with excellent drafting skills.
• Well-developed skills in collaboratively leading people and projects and working with diverse stakeholders.
• Strong statistical analysis skills e.g. econometrics, causal inference, use of statistical software.
• Specialty in one or more of the following areas: Applied experience of wider qualitative and quantitative research approaches; Experience of programming online/lab experiments.