Assistant Director, Energy, National Infrastructure Commission

About the National Infrastructure Commission

The National Infrastructure Commission was established in 2016 to provide government with impartial, expert advice on major long-term infrastructure challenges. The Commission advises government on all sectors of economic infrastructure (energy, transport, water and wastewater, waste, flood risk management and digital communications), as well as on cross-cutting issues, including planning, regulation and financing/funding.
 
The Commission’s objectives are to:

• support sustainable economic growth across all regions of the UK
• improve competitiveness
• improve quality of life
• support climate resilience and the transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2050
  

In fulfilling our purpose and objectives, we:

• set a long-term agenda – identifying the UK’s major economic infrastructure needs, and the pathways to address them
• develop fresh approaches and ideas – basing our independent policy recommendations on rigorous analysis
• focus on driving change – building consensus on our policy recommendations, and monitoring government progress on their delivery

The Commission is an Executive Agency of HM Treasury. It is chaired by Sir John Armitt, with nine other Commissioners currently in post. The Commission is governed by a Charter and Framework Document.

The Commission’s core tasks are:

• Producing a National Infrastructure Assessment once every five years, setting out the Commission’s assessment of long-term infrastructure needs with recommendations to government on how to meet them. We recently published the second National Infrastructure Assessment.
• Carrying out in-depth studies – commissioned by the Chancellor – into the UK’s most pressing infrastructure challenges and making recommendations to government. Recent studies have covered planning reform, surface water flooding, rail infrastructure for the North and Midlands and greenhouse gas removal technologies.
• Monitoring government’s progress in delivering infrastructure policy recommended by the NIC. We published our latest annual assessment in March 2023.

The Commission is based in London and Leeds.

About the job:

This role will lead the team responsible for formulating advice to Commissioners on energy policy. The energy sector is in transition moving, at pace, from a system reliant on fossil fuels to one powered by low carbon energy. Energy policy needs to keep pace so that barriers do not become blockers to the changes needed and the Commission’s advice to government can support this to happen effectively. Knowledge of the energy sector and an understanding of the energy transformation needed to get to net zero will therefore be beneficial. This role offers the opportunity to set the Commission’s energy policy agenda as it starts to plan its work for the next National Infrastructure Assessment.

In the near term the work itself will likely include leading studies directly commissioned by the Chancellor, managing projects to build on and drive forward the recommendations in the second National Infrastructure Assessment, and engaging and influencing to embed existing recommendations into government policy. You will need to build productive working relationships with key Whitehall departments, Ofgem and across industry, whilst protecting the Commission’s independence. Management will be one of your strengths. You should be able to inspire the best in people to deliver and to develop their skills and care about their welfare.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and proactive candidate, with the ability to put structure around big questions, to develop plans to deliver evidence-based answers to them and who wants to test ideas and approaches outside the constraints of current policy frameworks. We will give you the space, support and challenge required to think through some of the most complex and high-profile issues facing the UK today.

Key responsibilities for the post holder will include:

Manage a portfolio of energy policy projects, including studies, and produce high quality outputs that help shape energy policy in the UK.

• Provide thought leadership and direction, supporting the team to apply a range of approaches to evidence gathering, analysis and modelling.
• Apply rigour in deciding what is and isn’t of highest importance to the Commission to help it further the debate on energy policy and the achievement of carbon emission reduction targets.
• Support and develop a multi-disciplinary team, making the best use of their existing skills and ensuring their ongoing development is central to decision making on resourcing plans.
• Present convincingly and clearly to Commissioners achieving buy-in for the work of the team and dealing with challenges raised with confidence.
• Maintain and develop relationships across the energy sector through individual engagement and by representing the Commission at events.
• Play an active role in ensuring the Commission is a great place to work, by encouraging an open culture and providing input and challenge across the Commission’s work programme.

Essential behaviours, experience and technical skills:

Behaviours

• Seeing the Big Picture. A strong analytical mindset gained through assessing the evidence, including through building an awareness of emerging issues and trends which might impact or benefit the Commission’s work. Ability to use this analysis to effectively influence the Commission’s future strategies. A firm understanding of the broader political and strategic context, and the development and implementation of strategies to manage, influence and shape that context.
• Making Effective Decisions. Use a range of techniques and establishes sound processes to analyse the evidence to drive decisions even when faced with ambiguity. Dedication to creating a team environment that encourages both innovative suggestions and challenge from others, to support effective decision making.
• Leadership. Inspire and motivate teams to be fully engaged in their work and dedicated to their role. Promote diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity. Tackle difficult issues with care and sensitivity where required.
• Communicating and Influencing. Ability to build and manage effective relationships. Demonstrate confidence and credibility in meeting and influencing senior stakeholders. Excellent presentation skills (both written and verbal), and experience of presenting policy analysis and ideas to a senior audience.

Experience and technical skills

• Experience of working in a regulated infrastructure sector: Evidence of knowledge of one of the infrastructure sectors, gained through working in government departments, expert bodies, regulators or industry. Knowledge of the energy sector and an understanding of the energy transformation needed to get to net zero is desirable.
• Technical skills in policy development: Evidence of your ability to articulate the objectives of policy programmes, to develop and implement plans to achieve them, to draw conclusions from complex and often conflicting evidence and to win the support of senior stakeholders for your proposed approach.

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing

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

• Experience of working in a regulated economic infrastructure sector: evidence of knowledge of one of the economic infrastructure sectors, gained through working in government departments, expert bodies, regulators or industry.
• Technical skills in policy development: Evidence of your ability to articulate the objectives of policy programmes, to develop and implement plans to achieve them, to draw conclusions from complex and often conflicting evidence and to win the support of s

Benefits

• 25 days’ annual leave (rising to 30 after 5 years), plus 8 public holidays and the King’s birthday (unless you have a legacy arrangement as an existing Civil Servant)
• Flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours)
• Access to a generous Defined Benefit pension scheme with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme, season ticket advances and payroll giving
• Access to a retail discounts and cashback site
• A Rental Deposit Advance Scheme to help meet the total costs of deposits for privately rented homes

Job contact :

• Name : Bev Pool who will arrange a conversation with the line manager (Margaret Read) and/ or the current post-holder (Jo Campbell)
• Email : Beverley.pool@nic.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : hrrecruitment@hmtreasury.gov.uk