Full time
Salary: £55,591 to £62,974 pa, with potential for further progression to £70,907 pa with our pay progression scheme.
Location: Flexible hybrid working across the UK
Contracted to our Wilmslow, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast office, however, through hybrid working we offer flexible home and office-based working opportunities. There will be times when you will be expected to attend the office to collaborate with colleagues or travel due to business need.
About us
The ICO is the UK’s independent regulator for information rights, promoting data privacy for individuals and openness in public bodies. We regulate under a wide range of legislation, including responsibilities for data protection and freedom of information.
With economists located across the UK (Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, Wilmslow), we offer an inclusive environment and provide flexible working conditions and a range of training and development opportunities. This includes:
- a structured economics profession including targeted learning and development opportunities, and visibility of career development pathways;
- membership of the Government Economic Service (GES);
- structured pay progression framework that provides tangible rewards for sustained progress and contribution;
- networking opportunities and a mechanism for social learning, sharing insight and good practice; and
- opportunities to do work to enhance diversity and inclusion within economics.
The ICO’s work is interesting and immensely rewarding – it is of national importance and increasingly in the public eye, covering areas such as biometrics, AI, and the all facets of the digital economy. We are at the forefront of information rights policy development, providing direct advice to the public, and enforcing the UK’s data protection and freedom of information laws. We hold a unique position as a regulator across the whole of the private, public and third sectors.
As an employer, we are passionate about making a positive difference to the lives and careers of our people, and we empower you to be curious, impactful, collaborative and respectful. We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to pursue a fulfilling and engaging career, able to acquire new skills and enjoy a supportive working environment.
Further details about being an economist at the ICO can be found on our website Economic Analysis | ICO
About the role
Do you want to be part of the team that produces economic analysis and research to support decision making, via options appraisal, impact assessment, ex-post evaluation, and other analytics (eg geospatial mapping)?
We have an opportunity for a Principal Economist to join our team to take a leading role in our work related to understanding, measuring and driving regulatory intervention and policy impact, including the interaction of data protection with economic growth, competition, and innovation. The team’s work includes:
- supporting policy development by aiding understanding of the impact of our policies, programmes and projects using approved models and methods following principles from the Green and Magenta Books aligned with the ICO’s impact frameworks;
- supporting the provision of advice to clarify the economic, social and public costs, benefits, and trade-offs of our policy decisions;
- engaging and collaborating across the organisation to provide expert guidance, research and analysis on economic matters. Examples include scoping the market for biometric technologies, or understanding how artificial intelligence could impact the labour market;
- providing learning resources and training across the organisation to ensure there is awareness and common understanding of appraisal, impact assessment, evaluation, and related areas of economic thinking;
- engaging and developing relevant external stakeholder networks, via interaction with UK and international regulatory counterparts and government, academia, conference attendance, etc.
Whether the issue is understanding how we enable businesses in the UK economy, the interaction of privacy and competition or the impact of measures to protect children’s privacy online, economics is vital to our understanding of data and privacy issues. As a Principal Economist you will support the ICO’s work across the full range of our responsibilities, ensuring that our actions are underpinned with high quality economic analysis.
- Reporting to the Head of Economic Analysis you will provide robust and impartial economic outputs, collaborating with other experts in multidisciplinary teams (see examples of our outputs here).
- You will work flexibly across a range of projects, identifying the key economic issues, producing high quality economic analysis and research, and anticipating and considering alternative points of view and counter-arguments.
- You will communicate your findings to a range of internal and external audiences (including non-technical stakeholders) using a variety of approaches and tools.
- You will be responsible for supporting more junior members of the team through line management and work management, helping to motivate, set direction, and pushing forward high-quality performance and professional development.
- This is a fast-paced job with very tight deadlines and varying demands. You will need to be comfortable working under uncertainty and adapting quickly to new demands.
About you
To succeed in this role you will need experience as a professional economist and be able to demonstrate the application of economics in unfamiliar circumstances. You will be a problem solver and an effective written and oral communicator, able to take responsibility for workstreams, leading delivery and managing conflicting demands on your time.
Essential criteria assessed at application stage
- Experience relevant to the role requirements, as described in the role responsibilities and person specification, and accumulated through any combination of academic or vocational qualifications or experience
- Strong academic background in economics. A degree (postgraduate desired but not essential) in economics with significant professional experience.
- Knowledge and experience of applying the principles of the HMT Green and Magenta Books.
- Experience of providing high-quality economic advice on regulation and/or public policy matters.
- Experience in carrying out economic analysis, using a range of statistical tools.
- Experience of drafting and organising reports and briefings for publication and/or senior leadership.
Essential criteria assessed at interview stage
- Strong stakeholder engagement skills, with an ability to develop innovative solutions to user needs.
- Ability to engage and collaborate effectively with internal and external stakeholders, developing strong working relationships.
- Strong communication skills with the ability to convey often technical information in a way that non-technical audiences can understand using a variety of approaches and tools.
- Experience in leading delivery of analytical projects and line management.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-moving environment, maintaining pace and quality of analysis and support.
- Demonstrable evidence of a strong personal impact, persuading with well-reasoned arguments and challenging where appropriate.
- Commitment to self-awareness and learning.
Why work for the ICO?
- Pay progression scheme.
- Hybrid and flexible working options.
- 25 days paid holiday per year, plus privilege and public holidays.
- Flexi leave (up to 26 additional days leave per year).
- CS Pension (employer contribution around 26.6%).
- Online discount scheme to save money at major supermarkets, retailers, gyms, restaurants, insurance providers and many more.
- Health Cash Plan.
- Fantastic development opportunities to learn and progress.
Further details can be found on the benefits section of our website .
Equality, diversity, and inclusion
The ICO is committed to promoting and enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion. We are focused on developing a workforce that is representative of the communities we serve and together we are building an inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference. We are championing this through our Equality Diversity and Inclusion Board together with a number of staff networks. Read more about our commitment on our website.
If you have a disability or impairment and have difficulty using our online application system, please email the HR team at recruitment@ico.org.uk who can arrange for you to submit an application via an alternative method.
Closing Date
Please submit your CV and cover letter by 23:59 on Sunday 15th June 2025
We reserve the right to close this vacancy before this date should we receive sufficient applications. Please apply as soon as possible to ensure your application is considered.
