Position type: Permanent
Job reference: 480605
Location: Birmingham (B5 4UA) or London (E14 4HD) based with hybrid working
Salary: £40,024 - £52,000
Closing date: Thursday 1st October 2026 at 23:55
Job title: Economist - Business Retail Market: apply via Economist - Business Retail Market - Civil Service Jobs - GOV.UK
Join Ofwat’s Business Retail Market Team as an Economist
*Office Location: London (E14 4HD) or Birmingham (B5 4UA) with hybrid working*
About Us
We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales.
The water sector is entering a new chapter. The government has set out a bold new direction, bringing together expertise from across the sector to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment. We are collaborating with fellow regulators to respond to recommendations in The Independent Water Commission Report, the Welsh Government’s response to the Green Paper, Shaping the Future of Water Governance in Wales, and the Government’s White Paper, A new vision for water.
Ofwat is working with the government and other regulators to help create a new body for England, bringing together our strengths with those of the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency and Natural England. We are also continuing to work with the Welsh Government to support decisions on the future arrangements for Wales.
While these changes take shape, our mission remains the same: to hold water companies to account, drive performance, and ensure the sector delivers real value for customers, communities, and the environment. If you’re passionate about making a difference, this is a unique moment to join us and help shape the future of water, and together we can continue to make a positive impact.
The Role
We are seeking an Economist join our Business Retail Market team at Senior Associate level. The team has a multi-faceted programme of work aimed at improving the Business Retail Market so that it delivers better outcomes for customers, society, and the environment. We aim to do this through setting initiatives on regulatory customer protections, improving company performance, and monitoring and enforcement work, and working with industry to identify and implement improvements to market functioning. All our work here involves extensive engagement with external stakeholders.
Now is a particularly exciting time to join the team as we are at an important juncture in the development of the market – we have recently established revised customer protections. Work is underway to improve supplier of last resort arrangements in the market and to review retail price caps for the Business Retail Market. We are also stepping up our market monitoring and work to ensure companies comply with their obligations with respect to customer protections.
This role has an important and valuable contribution to enable us to deliver on our goals and regulatory commitments. As an Economist, you will lead or support projects across a range of impactful work areas. A key work strand will be our review of price cap restraints, including cost assessment and benchmarking work, where you will help drive a number of workstreams and provide support for others. Your role will also include developing our further understanding of the development of competition in the market and how it is delivering for customers alongside monitoring company compliance with market codes. This will involve analysing company and market performance data for the water industry and other comparator sectors.
As you will be part of a small and dynamic team, you will enjoy the flexibility of contributing to various functions across the team relating to the Business Retail Market. Your role will also involve high levels of stakeholder engagement, where you will represent Ofwat on industry Committees and Working Groups as appropriate.
About You
Below are some of the key essential experience, skills & knowledge required for this post:
- An undergraduate degree in economics and/or a discipline with significant economic/numerate content or equivalent experience.
- Relevant experience of microeconomic analysis and/or markets, competition and regulation, and the benefits they can deliver for customers. This includes the identification and application of relevant economic, legal and policy frameworks and requirements.
- Professional experience of developing, managing and implementing policy.
- Experience of building and maintaining constructive working relationships with a diverse set of internal and external stakeholders to understand their needs, expectations, and priorities, and to influence and collaborate effectively to deliver desired outcomes.
- 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.
- Ability to effectively plan, prioritise and deliver multiple projects and programmes of work at the same time.
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 and London offices.
- Excellent employer pension contributions of up to 30%.
- 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.
Follow the link to apply for full details about the role. Please ensure you have submitted your application in full before the below deadline.
Closing date: 23.55 on 01 October 2026
