Salary: £36,918 - £52,000
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Hybrid
Office location: either Birmingham (B54UA) or London (E14 4HD)
Join Ofwat's Price Review Directorate as a Financial Economist or Corporate Finance Specialist!
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 now and in the future. We also oversee the markets in the water sector to ensure they’re working for customers.
The work that you’ll be involved in every day will help us to deliver our strategy, to make us the regulator we want to be and help the sector to deliver for customers and society.
The Role
We are looking for an experienced Financial Economist or Corporate Finance Specialist to join our Risk & Return team within the Price Review Directorate.
Our aim for PR24 is to align the interests of companies and investors with those of customers, so that the sector is attractive to investors - but companies can only earn high returns from great performance.
Companies will in early 2025 decide whether to accept our final determinations or appeal to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for a redetermination. As a member of the Risk & Return team, the successful candidate will play a key role in assisting Ofwat in responding to the CMA panel's enquiries. This will involve explaining Ofwat's judgments and policy decisions, and scrutinising disputing companies' alternative proposals.
Once the PR24 appeals process is concluded there are several workstreams to which financial issues are highly relevant, and which we expect would be a good match for the successful candidate:
- Major Projects: Providing support on financing issues for new delivery models to commission large infrastructure projects outside of the price review process.
- Financial Resilience: Supporting Ofwat's ongoing programme to monitor companies' financial health; identifying and seeking to resolve areas of fragility.
- PR29: Shaping policy around financing issues for the forthcoming price review governing the 2030-35 period.
Why Join Us
- Meaningful Impact: Contribute to our purpose to drive water companies to deliver more for customers and the environment.
- Innovative Work Environment: We embrace agile working and a culture of 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 meaningful collaboration in our London or Birmingham offices.
Other Benefits
- Excellent employer pension contribution ranging from £10,659 to £14,485 per annum.
- 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.
- Recognition vouchers scheme rewarding your hard work.
- Generous shared parental leave and pay supporting your family life.
What you bring
Experience, skills and knowledge
- Undergraduate (or higher) degree in economics or a numerate discipline (e.g. STEM subjects, Accountancy, etc.).
- Understanding of financial economics and/or corporate finance theory and its application to economic regulation.
- Experience in applying economics and/or financial analysis in a public sector setting (e.g. regulator or competition authority), or a commercial one (e.g. consultancy or regulated firm).
- Strong Microsoft Excel skills.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including experience of identifying, analysing and accurately interpreting a range of data and insights to inform evidence-based decisions and solutions for complex problems.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to understand and concisely explain complex issues in non-technical language.
- Experience of building and maintaining constructive working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, by understanding their needs, expectations, and priorities, and evidence of ability to influence and collaborate effectively to deliver desired outcomes.
Attributes
- Committed Learner
- Makes Relationships Count
- Delivers Outcomes
- Creates Clarity
Attributes as per Ofwat’s Framework for Success for Senior Associate Grade. You can read more about our attributes here.
To read more about the role and selection process, please follow the link to apply.
Applications Deadline: 23.55 on 20 October 2024
