Policy Manager

Job Title: Policy Manager – Illegal Harms Team

Job Level: Senior Associate

Job Type: Flexible

Contract Length: Temporary (4-5 months)

Location: London/Manchester/Belfast/Cardiff/Edinburgh

Team overview

Almost all of us use online services every day of our lives, enjoying the wide array of benefits that the internet has to offer – from the free flow of news and information, opportunities for self-expression and global community, to commercial opportunities for businesses. However, online services also have the power to lead to significant harm to users. Almost all of us have also experienced harmful content or behaviour online.

The Online Safety Act was passed in October, bringing Ofcom new powers to protect UK citizens from harm online.

Our client have also recently published the first two of four major consultation on how to protect users from illegal content, and children from other harmful content, online. There has never been a more meaningful and exciting time to join Ofcom and help deliver one of the most rewarding programmes in the history of the organisation.

This role sits in the Policy Development team within the Online Safety Group.

Purpose of the Role

OfCom are recruiting for a number of roles in the Illegal Harms Team. As noted above, they have recently published proposals on how they will protect users from Illegal harm.

This consultation sets out the approach to implementing the new online safety regime and establishes the first building blocks of OfCom's regulation of the online sector. It focuses primarily on addressing the risk of harm from illegal sources (‘illegal harm’) across all in-scope online services.

There are a broad range of illegal harms covered, such as terrorism, hate, and child sexual exploitation and abuse.

OfCom are looking for candidates who are policy generalists, ideally from a regulatory background, who have experience of policy development, can apply analytical skills, can draft policy documents, and have a strong track record of delivery. Having particular sector knowledge or expertise is not crucial to these roles.

Some of these roles may involve exposure to distressing content, while all may involve working with policy, research and content related to types of content that can be potentially sensitive or distressing.

These roles will play a pivotal role in landing their Statement, a publication which will set out OfCom's decisions for how they will protect users from illegal harm, having taken consultation responses on their proposals from a wide range of stakeholders into account.

The successful candidates will support the successful delivery of the publication documents to a high standard, in an efficient and timely manner.

The successful candidates will need to intelligently harness individual strengths and support the co-ordination of a diverse set of colleagues from within the Statement Policy team and other cross functional areas, facilitating cross team working, encouraging practical delivery schedules, unblocking issues, and reporting an honest assessment of progress.

Requirements of the Role

• There are a mix of policy roles available.
• Some will either lead or provide support to the day-to-day management, delivery, and development of a Statement workstream, working closely with the Policy Manager and Principal leading the work.
• Others will have a roving brief, to provide policy / delivery support and trouble shoot on different areas across the Statement.
• Areas of responsibility will cover some or all of the following:
  • Support additional policy development required to land proposals.
  • Helping to provide project management / delivery support to a workstream area.
  • Being able to articulate to internal governance bodies, the arguments for and against different policy positions, including your own recommendation for why OfCom should take a particular course of action, while working effectively with the relevant Policy Manager and Principal to address challenges. 
  • Make sure to work to the Illegal Harms team’s milestones and deadlines and be proactive in responding to feedback and questions on the workstream.
  • Work effectively, flexibly, and collaboratively with the Illegal Harms team and other cross-functional areas.
  • Hold the pen on the relevant areas of the Statement and other regulatory documents, ensuring that there is clear rationale, in line with the analytical framework, as to how they have reached their decision.

Skills, knowledge, and experience

The successful candidate can demonstrate:

• Excellent written communication skills – demonstrable ability to communicate complex concepts in simple and accessible terms for the regulatory documents you will be leading.
• Policy development skills - A proven background in managing successful policy projects.  
• Experience of communicating key policy proposals to senior / non-technical audiences to get a decision.
• Innovative and solutions-focused with the ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines. 
• Able to manage and handle competing demands within a varied and changing workload, using own initiative to plan, organise, prioritise, and recognise when to escalate risks. 
• Have strong attention to detail and accuracy and take pride in making sure your work is of the appropriate quality.
• Able to work independently, demonstrating flexibility and adaptability and supporting a culture of collaboration and trust. 
• Have strong interpersonal and communication skills, and the ability to build and maintain relationships with a diverse group of stakeholders and colleagues.
• Appreciation of and desire to promote Ofcom's values of excellence, agility, empowerment, collaboration, and respect.

Competencies 

• Ability to draft in a clear and logical manner.
• Can communicate clearly and persuasively. Shows resilience in the face of challenge.
• Delivers as promised, on time - consistently delivers work to agreed expectations (e.g., time, quality)
• Proactive, creative, and flexible approach to identifying and taking forward opportunities, shaping new ideas and partnerships.
• Strong analytical and policy development skills. Demonstrating an ability to collate, synthesise and summarise information from various sources.
• Identifies practical options for discussion and agreement when more than one solution available.
• Shows flexibility and responsiveness to changing priorities.
• Ability to influence, negotiate and facilitate both internally and externally as necessary to secure progress towards goals.
• Reaches out to build collaborative relationships with others.
• Shares ideas, information, and knowledge to support team effectiveness.