Risk and Governance Supervision Manager

Please note that this role will close at 00:01 on Monday 18 November, and therefore we advise getting your application in no later than midnight on Sunday 17 November.

How to Apply

Please submit your CV, along with a covering letter of no more than 2 pages in length, outlining how you meet the essential skills, knowledge and experience required for the role. You should submit your CV and covering letter as one document at the point where you are asked to upload your CV.

About Ofcom

Ofcom is the regulator for the communications services that we use and rely on each day. We make sure people get the best from their broadband, home phone and mobile services, as well as keeping an eye on TV and radio.

Our culture is clear – we live by our values: Empowerment; Excellence; Collaboration; Agility and Respect. These define how we work to deliver our purpose, now and in the future. The behaviours which support these values set the path for a fully inclusive and innovative culture at Ofcom.

About the team you’ll be part of

The Online Safety Group’s purpose is to ensure UK citizens have a safer life online, by implementing and overseeing the requirements under the Online Safety Act 2023. The Group is responsible for delivering online safety policy, supervising online services, and building the technical expertise to ensure the aims of the regime are met.

This role sits within Ofcom’s Supervision Team. The Supervision Team provides close, structured engagement with certain services in scope of the online safety regime, alongside an approach to promoting compliance across many thousands of services. Next year, services will be completing their first illegal harms and children’s risk assessments after Ofcom publishes the first edition of codes and guidance.

This role will consider industry practices in good governance and standards in online safety risk assessments, working closely with other specialist teams in Ofcom and with the supervision team to identify where improvements can be made.

The purpose and scope of the role

We are recruiting a Supervision Manager role to lead projects relating to corporate governance and risk assessment strategy and standards within Supervision.

This role involves effective project management, understanding Ofcom’s Online Safety codes and guidance, problem-solving, delivering clear communications, and managing stakeholders proactively. You will work closely with other members of the Supervision team and wider Online Safety Group, including with Ofcom’s Enforcement team on matters of compliance and other experts such as policy leads, economists, lawyers and technologists.

Your Key Responsibilities

We are at an exciting start to implement the Online Safety regime, and your role will evolve over time in line with team priorities and business needs. This will allow you to gain a broad range of opportunities and expertise to further your career at Ofcom, and could include managing operational projects on governance and risk assessments; creating an analytical framework for risk assessments, evaluating governance practices; and more.

Key responsibilities may include:

1. Developing and managing cross-team workplans for projects on governance and risk assessment strategy and standards, in collaboration with teams across Ofcom.
2. Developing and overseeing core operational processes to support the Supervision team’s work on corporate governance and risk assessments and ensure it is efficient and effective.
3. Acting as an expert internal advisor on corporate governance and risk assessment, identifying internal needs and training for teams.
4. Assessing, evaluating and synthesising service risk assessments for illegal harms and content harmful to children, working closely with other technical experts.
5. Assessing, evaluating and synthesising corporate governance practices of regulated services.
6. Working with Supervision teams and others to identify and drive improvements in regulated services on risk and governance related issues.
7. Ensuring the delivery of clear, concise and focused documents, such as briefings and research reports, for internal use or external publication.
8. Overseeing and managing the workload of colleagues and delivering through others across the OS programme. Supporting and coaching junior colleagues.
9. Building and maintaining effective relationships with teams across Ofcom that work with Supervision, ensuring they are updated, included and feel heard.
10. Delivering and contributing to initiatives across the Supervision Team to support our strategy as a whole, e.g. international or cross regulatory engagement, or developing expertise in specific markets.

We will allocate work based on business need, skillset, and interest.

The skills, knowledge and experience you’ll need for success

We welcome people with a keen interest or practical knowledge of Online Safety regulation and our mission to create a safer life online for people in the UK. We are specifically looking for people with:

Job based skills:

1. Understanding of risk management and governance approaches, whether in relation to online safety, technology, or other sectors.
2. Experience in research and analysis of complex risk registers or risk assessments in technology, finance or other sectors. Ability to do this with accuracy and attention to detail, drawing out key points for colleagues to help solve problems.
3. Experience in drafting and producing clear, concise documents for internal use or external publication.

Grade based skills:

1. Articulating Ideas: Strong interpersonal and communications skills, including experience in confidently presenting complicated issues to non-specialist audiences.
2. Building solutions: Ability to identify and solve complex issues, using evidence-based methods to gather insights and develop well-founded solutions based on thorough analysis.
3. Executing plans: Ability to organise tasks and set clear goals, managing resources wisely, while keeping an eye on progress.
4. Forming relationships: Ability to build and nurture positive relationships with people inside and outside the organisation.

Although we welcome people from all backgrounds to apply, we are particularly interested in hearing from people with previous experience in: online safety research and risk management, expertise evaluating corporate governance; or the preparation of risk assessment frameworks or evaluation of company risk management processes. These are not essential criteria.

To note: some of the areas being researched relating to online harms are likely to be on sensitive or challenging subject matters. Ofcom has in place an enhanced resilience and well-being package for colleagues working in an area where they may come into contact with content that is potentially harmful to online users.

Inclusivity Statement:

At Ofcom we prioritise inclusive and diverse recruitment in order to truly reflect the society we represent.

Where positions are listed as full time, we remain open to reduced hours, part-time arrangements, job shares and other flexible working options from day one of employment. We warmly welcome applications from candidates returning to work after a break – for whatever reason.

As a disability confident employer, we offer interviews to any disabled applicant who meets essential criteria for advertised roles. Learn more about the scheme here.

If you need information in an alternative format or have specific preferences, please contact our recruitment team.