Principal Financial Advisor - Retail Special Projects

The energy market is continuously changing. At Ofgem, we are here to protect consumers now and in the future by working to deliver a greener, fairer energy system.

As Ofgem’s Principal Financial Advisor Special Financial Projects, you will be responsible for leading on complex special projects involving bespoke retail market financial and commercial analysis. By operating as Ofgem’s internal retail finance expert, you will provide expert advice on suppliers’ business models, financial performance or market trends to internal teams and senior leadership, as well as wider Government departments. You will also be the focal point and expert in a multi-disciplinary Financial Monitoring team as well as being a leader in a wider Financial Resilience function across Ofgem.

With a financial qualification and/or relevant experience in finance or commercial, you will be using your expertise to understand the complexities of the energy retail market, licence conditions, and reporting frameworks used to collect and analyse financial and operational information from licensees. With extensive experience in financial or economic analysis or data analytics, you will be able to advise and oversee colleagues and team members to provide robust analysis and challenge suppliers' compliance with financial resilience rules.

This role is a great opportunity for someone keen, ambitious and seeking a new challenging, yet exciting role. If you are an individual who is looking for your next challenge and have the core skills of leadership, collaboration and management and can demonstrate the above experience, please apply.

Ofgem offers incredibly flexible working practices, enabling you to manage your work/life balance successfully. There is also a great culture, with an approachable and friendly senior leadership team who are there to support you in your role.

Ofgem also 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.

Job Description

As the UK’s regulator for the energy industry, 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. Record increases and volatility in global prices have put the energy market under severe strain, and pricing is the subject of intense interest from retail consumers, stakeholders and government alike.

We are looking for a financial expert with a background in analysis, modelling and forecasting, to provide economic or financial expertise and analysis to other teams on policy, regulatory and strategic decisions lead on the financial oversight of the retail market and in line with Ofgem’s Financial Responsibility Principle rules, which is a set of requirements upon energy suppliers to minimise the extent of costs to be mutualised in the event of their failure.

Your role will be to benefit consumers by providing financial or economic expertise (such as analytical or modelling support) on retail market decisions. This could include for example assessing suppliers’ business models, their growth and recapitalisation strategies or wider market trends to support on a variety of special projects. Further information on Ofgem’s financial resilience proposals can be found in our Statutory Consultation on Strengthening Financial Resilience.1

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.

Purpose

• Lead on complex special projects involving bespoke retail market financial and commercial analysis.
• Operate as Ofgem’s internal retail finance expert, providing expert advice on suppliers’ business models, financial performance or market trends to internal teams and senior leadership as well as wider Government departments.
• Be the focal point and expert in a multi-disciplinary Financial Monitoring team as well as being a leader in a wider Financial Resilience function across Ofgem.
• Plan, oversee and deliver a set of work deliverables on time and to a high standard through effective project management and support of multidisciplinary team members.
• Provide inclusive leadership, using your expertise to provide comprehensive knowledge sharing, support and development that demonstrate commitment to Ofgem values.

Person specification

Key Responsibilities:

To support the team deliverables, that utilise your expertise to ensure successful outcomes across team members and collaborating teams

• Use your financial expertise to lead on the monitoring of supplier financial resilience.
• Use your expertise to understand the complexities of the energy retail market, licence conditions, and reporting frameworks used to collect and analyse financial and operational information from licensees.
• Advise and oversee colleagues and team members to provide robust analysis and challenge of supplier's compliance with financial resilience rules.
• Review data relating to the financial position and performance of licensees under different stress-testing scenarios and the financial projections submitted by new licence applicants.
• Collaborate closely with other teams to manage interdependencies, risks and resourcing to support portfolio delivery.

Essential Criteria

• Have a recognised finance qualification (e.g. CCAB, CFA) and/or relevant financial/commercial experience, that can be demonstrated by proven record of leading multifunction teams or implementing complex work programmes or projects. (LEAD)
• Extensive experience in financial or economic analysis or data analytics, that can be demonstrated by proven record of high performance and substantial achievements in past positions. (LEAD)
• Extensive experience in financial performance analysis, credit analysis & scenario modelling.
• Prior experience in being able to assess, manipulate and meaningfully analyse complex data sets.
• Extensive experience of managing a range of internal and external stakeholders and working collaboratively with diverse colleagues.
• The ability to prioritise numerous workstreams to meet challenging deadlines.