Senior Financial Analyst

Cardiff, Glasgow, London

Ofgem works on behalf of energy consumers to ensure that every household and business in the UK can rely on a safe and sustainable energy supply. 
  
What we do matters: making a difference to people’s lives now, and for generations to come. We offer a diverse range of flexible working career opportunities: roles that are stimulating and rewarding. And it’s important to us that we recruit from a wide range of professional and personal backgrounds – bringing different perspectives and experiences to our work. 
  
To promote a financially resilient market, our Financial Advisory team undertake market monitoring activity and provide financial advice and analysis on a wide range of retail market issues. Our team plays a vital part in providing expert financial advice on new market entrants, the financial health of established suppliers, trade sales, market and supplier-specific financial risks and critical policy decisions.  

You will provide input on key corporate finance issues, such as cost of capital and capital structures for regulated entities. More broadly, you will support Ofgem’s corporate and regulatory finance work across all areas of the organisation, providing corporate and regulatory finance advice to policy and other teams. You will also offer technical advice on the cost of debt and equity, gearing, rating agencies and other issues. In this role you will offer expert financial advice on regulated retail and commercial activities. Working with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, you’ll play a critical part in regularly reviewing retail supplier financial information, advising on market health and regulatory interventions.  

 
It’s a role that will suit a part-qualified accountant or an individual with a similar level of commercial or financial expertise. You will ideally have some exposure to, or experience of, economic or energy regulation. You’ll enjoy taking the initiative in your work, and you should offer good all-round communication skills. You should have a good knowledge of project management and analytics and be familiar with data management and basic financial analysis. It’s important that you can build positive relationships with different stakeholders. 

Within Ofgem you will be part of our Analysis Profession which will support you in all aspects of personal and professional development. Whether it is formal or informal training, further education we are here to support you in your career in Ofgem. 

Within Ofgem, this role is known as Senior Financial Advisor.

The current energy market environment is unprecedented. The record increase and volatility in global gas prices has put the market under severe strain and is putting upward pressure on customers’ energy bills. Now more than ever we need to go further and faster in pursuing the country’s climate goals and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels to protect ourselves from similar future price shocks.  

Such challenging times require bold action. We are looking for people to meet the challenges we face head-on, and help us deliver a greener, fairer energy system.  

Team Purpose  

The Financial Advisory sub-profession is a dynamic, friendly, and inclusive team consisting of financial experts with a range of financial skills and backgrounds. It provides advice to the organisation on corporate and regulatory finance issues, has financial oversight of the retail market, as well as leading on the operation and implementation of Ofgem’s RIIO price controls. It has sub-teams in Corporate Finance, Finance Policy, Strategic Planning and Investor Relations, Regulatory Reporting, Commercial Advisory, Retail Financial Monitoring and Financial Modelling.  

After the initial deployment, you will have the opportunity to work flexibly across Ofgem as a member of your Profession, working on cross-Ofgem projects, and/or in teams that require your skills and expertise.  

To support the team deliverables, utilising your expertise to ensure successful outcomes across the team and wider profession: 

• 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.  
• 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.  
• Set clear and transparent work objectives, milestones, and success metrics and lead on successful outcomes.  
• Collaborate closely with other teams to manage interdependencies and risks. 
• Understanding and modifying the Licence conditions, Price Control Financial Instruments and regulatory reporting templates used to gather data from licensees. 
• Lead drafting and preparing of regulatory reporting templates and guidance including reviewing the relevant reported data that feeds into the Price Control Financial Model. 
• Provide a view on the operation of the Price Control Financial Model and the data environment surrounding it. 
• Be the focal point for financial regulatory reporting and the revenue-setting process. 
• Helping develop a systematic approach to handling data to facilitate more efficient and timely processes and higher quality of analysis and decisions.   

Key Stakeholder Relationships  

Internal  

• Team, Workstream and Portfolio Managers  
• Experts/Technical Specialists  
• Professional Development Leads  
• Profession Officers  

External  

• Other Government Departments  
• Other Regulators, including UKRN  
• Energy Sector and licensees  

To book your free ticket to our financial advisory event, please visit Ofgem Open Event – Financial Advisory Registration, Wed 15 Nov 2023 at 12:30 , Eventbrite

Essential Criteria

• Have a recognised finance qualification, e.g. CCAB, CFA, MSc Finance or have relevant finance or commercial experience, that can be demonstrated by proven record of high performance and substantial achievements in past positions (LEAD). 
• Run complex projects with minimal supervision ensuring that financial analysis and other outputs are delivered to a high standard. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to communicate effectively complex issues to non-expert audiences with the ability to process and communicate complex information and data to senior stakeholders. 
• Proven experience of working across organisations and influencing outcomes with extensive experience of working collaboratively within a diverse team.  

Desirable Criteria

• Demonstrable understanding of economic regulation (price controls, energy wholesale markets) and/or the energy sector.
• Demonstrable understanding and experience of regulatory economics and/or finance theory.

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

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.

Alongside your salary of £43,650, OFGEM contributes
£11,785 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Ofgem can offer you a comprehensive and competitive benefits package which includes; 30 days annual leave after 2 years; Excellent training and development opportunities; The opportunity to join the generous Civil Service pension which also includes a valuable range of benefits; Hybrid working (currently 1 day a week in the office but is in review), flexible working hours and family friendly policies. Plus lots of other benefits including clean and bright offices based centrally, engaged networks and teams and an opportunity to contribute to our ambitious and important targets of establishing a Net Zero energy system by 2050. This exciting blend of professional challenge and personal reward identifies career opportunities at Ofgem as something to get excited about.

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

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Job contact :

• Name : Jennifer Hughes
• Email : recruitment@ofgem.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@ofgem.gov.uk