Assistant Director, Economics

At a time when the UK economy faces unprecedented challenges including the rising cost of living, it is vital the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is able to provide high-quality economic analysis to inform effective interventions in markets, influence policies and protect both consumers and businesses. In order to meet this challenge, we are seeking skilled Assistant Directors of Economics to provide the leadership in our growing team of economists.
In addition to this campaign, the CMA will soon launch an economist returners programme for Economic Advisers (Grade 7), aimed at recruiting professionals who have taken a career break – of two years or more – from working as a professional economist. This position will be advertised separately in March 2024.
As Assistant Director of Economics, you will work in a collaborative and collegiate atmosphere to manage economic input into a diverse case load. This includes investigations into mergers and markets, competition and consumer enforcement cases, regulatory appeals, as well as the work of CMA’s Office of the Internal Market and Subsidy Advice Unit.
It is expected that the government will pass legislation this year, providing the CMA with the powers to implement a new pro-competitive digital markets regime. Consequently, you will be joining the CMA in at an exciting time when the first investigations under the UK’s new digital markets regime will be launched.
With the opportunity to work flexibly across the full range of projects, or to specialise in certain areas, you will play a strategic role in the direction of individual projects, determining the key areas for investigation, the economic analysis required and how to gather evidence and mitigate risk. You will lead a team of Economic Advisers and/or Assistant Economists, providing opportunities for staff to develop their skills through coaching and providing constructive feedback.
To be successful in this role, you must have experience, as professional economist, in applying microeconomic analysis to real world problems. While experience in competition and/or regulatory economics is preferred, it is not essential. You will also need to demonstrate experience of leading and managing teams in the design, development, management, and timely delivery of economic analysis.
The CMA prides itself on being a great place to work and strives to ensure that staff can grow and develop their skills. As well as being in a hugely rewarding, diverse and stimulating environment, you will have an opportunity to work for the public good whilst stretching and developing yourself in doing so.
We offer generous benefits, including an excellent pension scheme, at least 25 days leave (increasing to 30 over five years), and generous maternity/paternity leave provision. The CMA supports flexible working, for example ensuring that staff working on a part-time basis can work on the full range of CMA projects. You can also take advantage of interest-free season ticket loans, a cycle to work scheme and our employee well-being assistance programme. We support a mix of home and cross-office working.
The CMA, like many other organisations, operate a hybrid working model with a mix of office and home working. We believe this supports us to deliver our best work while allowing the flexibility to maintain balanced and healthy lives. We are looking for applicants to be based in our Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Manchester, offices. CMA staff in all of our offices collaborate across the full range of projects, and we support staff wishing travel between offices to work with their colleagues in-person.
To find out more about this opportunity and about working for the CMA, please click on the APPLY button.
Please visit our economist LinkedIn page. Please also have a read of our blog to learn more about being an Economist at the CMA.
Please register using the link below to attend a live Q&A event on ‘working in the CMA’s Economics team’ on the 27th February:
Live Q&A Event: working in the CMA's Economics team Tickets, Tue 27 Feb 2024 at 17:00 | Eventbrite
The closing date for applications is 11.55pm on Wednesday 13th March 2024.
The CMA are an accredited Disability Confident Employer, and we are an equal opportunities employer, welcoming suitably qualified applicants from all backgrounds.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principle.