Project Manager

Ofgem is dedicated to protecting UK energy consumers, ensuring they have access to a reliable, affordable, and eco-friendly energy supply. Our work is essential in the transition towards a Net Zero carbon-neutral energy system, a goal that is universally supported. Each member of our team plays a vital role in crafting innovative energy solutions that are beneficial for both consumers and the environment.

As the UK intensifies its focus on decarbonisation, it's imperative that our energy networks evolve to meet new patterns of energy supply and consumption. This transformation aims to ensure networks fully support the shift towards sustainability without compromising affordability. This role is crucial in steering Ofgem's regulatory framework to oversee network operations and promote broader changes that align with the net zero goals for 2035 and 2050.

Within the Infrastructure Group, our teams take the lead on policy and regulation across various energy sectors, overseeing significant regulatory initiatives that include managing network monopolies and developing advancements in electricity networks, low-carbon technologies, and cybersecurity. This ensures a robust regulatory foundation for the future.

This role, based in the Network Price Controls directorate, is central to establishing and monitoring price controls for energy networks, focusing on the creation of price control frameworks and ensuring companies meet their performance commitments. It plays a significant part in the RIIO-3 and ED3 projects, setting price controls for the next crucial years.

Responsibilities include maintaining Ofgem's project management standards, developing detailed plans, managing resources, and implementing risk management strategies. The role also involves ensuring transparency in decision-making, providing timely reports to senior management, and building stakeholder engagement. Key outputs include maintaining project and quality control frameworks, resource plans, and comprehensive logs for risk management.

The role emphasises the importance of internal collaboration with senior managers and team leaders across various departments, as well as external engagement with network company managers and stakeholders.

At Ofgem, we pride ourselves on our inclusive culture that celebrates the diversity of our team, encouraging innovation and ensuring we effectively represent the interests of the consumers and communities we serve. Our commitment to inclusion means we welcome everyone, enabling our staff to feel confident in being their authentic selves at work.

Ofgem works on behalf of energy consumers to ensure that every household and business in the UK can rely on a safe, affordable and environmentally sustainable energy supply. We are playing a vital part in accelerating the transition to Net Zero and a carbon neutral energy system – a goal that everyone wants to achieve. Whatever your role, you’ll be playing your part in creating new energy solutions that are great for customers, and great for the environment.

The renewed urgency in the UK’s decarbonisation goals underlines the need for our energy networks to be ready for new patterns of energy supply and energy use. As we embark on a deeper and faster transformation of our energy system, we need to ensure that networks play a full role in that whilst ensuring we protect consumers by ensuring they benefit from a low-cost energy system. This role will play a key part of that process, ensuring Ofgem’s regulation of the energy networks and beyond enables a wider transformation in the coming decades, helping to achieve net zero targets for 2035 (a net zero clean power system) and 2050 (a net zero economy).

The directorates within the Infrastructure Group lead on policy and regulatory issues covering the various energy systems. They are responsible for a range of high profile and complex regulatory programmes, including the regulation of some of the UK’s largest network monopolies, facilitating major projects in electricity networks and low carbon technologies, engineering, and cyber regulation.

This role sits within the Network Price Controls directorate, which is responsible for designing and implementing price controls for network monopolies (Price Control Setting) and then holding these companies to account for performance and commitments during the operational period of the price controls (Price Control Operations). Specifically, this role will be within the Price Control Setting team and playing a key role for the RIIO-3 and ED3 projects, which are tasked to set the upcoming price controls for electricity transmission, gas transmission and gas distribution networks for 2026-2031 (RIIO-3) and for electricity distribution for 2028-2033.

Successful candidates will be deployed as a Project Manager in the PMO which will support the delivery of the RIIO-3 and RIIO-ED3 price controls. They will work to the Project Director, who in turn supports the Senior Responsible Owner and Deputy Directors in delivering the price controls.

Ofgem has a culture of inclusion that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our colleagues. It fuels our innovation and helps ensure we can best represent the consumers and the communities we serve. Everyone is welcome - as an inclusive workplace, our employees are comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work.

Key Responsibilities

• Responsible for ensuring the organisation’s project management processes and standards are followed and all required project documentation is maintained.
• Work with team managers to establish and maintain up-to-date delivery plans, identifying and managing milestones, creating visibility of key decision points and dependencies within the central project plan.
• Ensure there is a clear up to date picture of resourcing across the projects by maintaining a central resourcing plan.
• Ensure effective risk management and assurance processes are in place, and a drumbeat for the regular review of risk across the projects feeding into and adhering to central risk processes.
• Ensure that teams maintain clear audit trails for decisions taken in setting the price controls.
• Deliver accurate and timely reporting for the SRO and other senior colleagues and provide reporting to the portfolio team as required.
• Co-ordinate preparation of advice to governance boards, including GEMA, on decisions and project delivery progress.
• Co-ordinate stakeholder engagement and external communications with the central communications and stakeholder engagement team.
• Manage change control and lessons learned processes for the projects.
• Actively engage with the wider Project Management and Delivery professional network to ensure sharing of best practice, building of capability, and promote continuous improvement.

Key Outputs and Deliverables

Review and maintain:

• Project Control Framework
• Quality Control Framework
• Project Plans
• Resource Plan
• Risks, Issues and Dependencies Log
• Decision Log
• Progress trackers
• Project status reports
• Co-ordination of input for governance meetings

Key Stakeholder Relationships

Internal

• SRO & Deputy Directors
• Project Director
• Policy, Cost, Regulatory Finance, Engineering, Legal Team Managers working on RIIO-3/RIIO-ED3
• Infrastructure Portfolio Team
• Central Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Team

External

• Network company programme managers
• Price control stakeholders

Role Criteria

In the event of receiving a large number of applications an initial sift may take place on just the identified lead criteria indicated below.

Essential

• Experience of project managing on a large project or programme, and able to utilise a range of project management techniques [LEAD]
• Has demonstrated ability to clearly communicate required ways of working to enable multiple teams to align to organisational intent through excellent organisational, written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience of generating and adapting plans, monitoring delivery and prioritising action in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience of managing and reporting on risks, issues and dependencies and ensure they are being effectively managed.
• Experience of performance reporting to maintain stakeholder awareness of project delivery and escalate issues where required.
• Has demonstrated an ability to build effective relationships with a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders.
• A recognised project/programme management qualification (e.g. PRINCE 2, Managing Successful Programmes, APM).

Desirable

• Experience of working in a regulatory environment and/or the energy sector.

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Please refer to the Candidate Pack and Role Profile attached for full details.

Job contact :

Name :
Deborah Oniha
Email :
Recruitment@ofgem.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email :
Recruitment@ofgem.gov.uk