Enforcement Principal in Birmingham

Join Ofwat’s Casework and Enforcement Team as an Enforcement Principal. We have 3 Permanent contracts available Office Location: Birmingham (B5 4UA) with hybrid working.

About Us

We’re Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority – a non‑ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales. As the economic regulator of water and wastewater companies in England and Wales, our role is to enable, incentivise and hold companies to account for providing the very best for customers, communities and the environment. We also oversee the markets in the water sector to ensure they’re working for customers.

The Role

As a Principal, you will provide expert management, support, and leadership in the delivery of Ofwat’s statutory enforcement functions. This will include leading the effective and efficient delivery of enforcement investigations and compliance monitoring activities (under the Water Industry Act 1991 and/or Competition Act 1998). As required, you may also sponsor the delivery of smaller scale customer dispute cases and policy work delivered by colleagues in our wider team.

In this role you will be expected to:

• Successfully manage the delivery of enforcement investigations (under the Water Industry Act 1991 and/or the Competition Act 1998), compliance monitoring activities, and/or policy projects.
• Outstanding analytical and problem‑solving skills that enable you to understand and apply relevant legal and policy frameworks.
• The ability to develop and deliver at pace against project plans to meet agreed deadlines.
• Managing multi‑disciplinary teams.
• Understanding and managing the interdependencies, strategic links and stakeholders relevant to your project delivery.
• The ability to identify, mitigate and manage relevant issues and risks and to elevate these where appropriate.
• Excellent writing and presenting skills to clearly and concisely present evidence‑based conclusions and recommendations to a range of audiences (ranging from individual customers to the Ofwat Board).
• Independently managing your own varied workload as well as making day‑to‑day operational decisions within our delegations and decision‑making framework.

Provide visible leadership and guidance to members of the Casework and Enforcement team to help develop the skills and experience of its junior members and to support all team members’ professional development. Act as a People Leader and/or Project Manager, taking on budget management responsibilities and people management responsibilities where appropriate, in line with Ofwat’s Governance Framework. Create and champion an inclusive working environment that supports growth, well‑being, and continuous improvement in our delivery. Listen to, influence and work with complex, and sometimes difficult, external stakeholders to optimise the impact of our work, including water companies, other regulators, representative bodies, Government departments, and customers. You must be able to establish and maintain these relationships and operate independently of senior management where necessary and appropriate. Engage effectively with internal stakeholders to share insights and expertise from and for our casework and enforcement activities, so that we are managing interdependencies and effectively focusing our combined efforts to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment. Role model our values and ways of working and be an active contributor to the corporate activities that make Ofwat a great place to work.

About You

Below are some of the key essential experience, skills & knowledge required for this post:

• Proven track record of applying legal and analytical frameworks to deliver successful outcomes on large and/or complex regulatory investigations or compliance projects, under sector‑specific legislation and/or competition law.
• Experience of effectively and efficiently planning, prioritising and managing the delivery of large projects and programmes of work, including through leadership of multi‑disciplinary teams.
• Degree level qualification in an analytical discipline or demonstrable relevant experience in an analytical / legal / economics‑focused role.
• Experience of identifying, analysing and interpreting a range of qualitative and quantitative data and insights (including via data manipulation in Excel or other software) to enable evidence‑based decisions on complex problems.
• Experience of communicating complex information in writing and verbally, so that it is clear and persuasive to a range of audience types.
• Experience as a line manager and/or project manager, with responsibilities for managing people and supporting growth, inclusion and well‑being.
• Experience of appropriately identifying, mitigating and managing risks and issues and their implications for project outcomes.
• Experience of building and maintaining constructive working relationships with internal and external stakeholders to understand their needs and expectations, and to influence and collaborate effectively to deliver desired outcomes.

Why You Should Join Us:

• People Centric: Our people are at the heart of Ofwat and everything we do - we ensure all voices are heard and treat each other with respect; you'll be given the autonomy and the support to do your role in the best way.
• Innovative Work Environment: We embrace agile and new ways of working and have a culture build on trust, flexibility, and collaboration.
• Development Opportunities: Gain valuable experience and develop your skills in a supportive and dynamic setting.
• Work‑Life Balance: Enjoy the flexibility of working from home combined with the benefits of in‑person collaboration in our Birmingham offices.
• Good employer pension contributions.
• 25 days’ annual leave, increasing to 30 with each year of service, plus bank holidays and an extra 2.5 days of privilege leave.
• Access to exclusive discounts on a variety of goods and services, including retail outlets, theatre tickets, holidays, insurance, and a gym membership.
• Fees paid for membership of relevant professional bodies.
• Up to 3 volunteering days per year.
• Generous shared parental leave and pay supporting your family life.

Follow the link to apply for full details about the role, please ensure you have submitted your applications in full before the below deadline.