Regulation Managers

Regulation Managers Salary: £45,536 – £ 46,701 plus generous Civil Service defined benefit pension

Fixed term contract: 18 months

Location:

Bristol We are the independent regulator of higher education in England. We aim to ensure that every student, whatever their background, has a fulfilling experience of higher education that enriches their lives and careers.

The higher education sector in England is complex and diverse and the OfS’s approach to regulation recognises this. Our strategy signals a shift from an organisation in a start–up phase to an established regulator that understands its regulatory tools and how best to use them to shape incentives across the sector we regulate. We work to ensure that students in England enjoy higher education provision that is high quality;

that their access to opportunity, success and progression is not limited by background, location or characteristics; and that providers are well and sustainably led.

About the role

We are looking for a number Regulation Managers to work across the Regulation directorate on a wide range of projects, building breadth and depth of regulatory experience over time. This is one of a number of agile roles that supports the OfS’s statutory functions and plays a key part in protecting the interests of students through proportionate, evidence–based regulation.

You may be involved in:managing and assessing provider applications for registration, degree awarding powers, and university titlemonitoring and investigating provider compliance with registration conditions, using regulatory intelligence to assess risk and intervene where neededmanaging and delivering quality and standards assessments and contributing to policy developmentleading work on financial sustainability, market exit, and student protectiondelivering funded programmes and initiativesimproving internal systems that support provider services supporting complaints–handling work, including a future free speech complaints scheme.

You will work collaboratively within and across teams and portfolios to deliver the OfS business plan, respond to urgent work requests, and support shared objectives. The role involves clear communication with internal and external stakeholders, managing complex relationships with professionalism and sound judgement. You will produce robust, evidence–based assessments and recommendations to support effective decision–making and consistent regulatory delivery.

As part of this you may engage with providers to better understand their work and gather evidence, with some portfolios requiring a willingness to undertake 4–6 site visits per year (typically over two consecutive days).How we do things is as important to us as what we do, and your approach will be grounded in our strategic attitudes – being ambitious, collaborative, vigilant, and vocal.

To find out more about the OfS and the type of work you may get involved in, visit Home – Office for Students About you While you don't need previous experience of working in a regulator, you will bring strong transferable skills and be ready to apply them confidently in a role that helps protect students and supports confidence in the higher education sector.

Person specification (essential skills)
Ability to:
1. work as part of a flexible team and work closely with colleagues to support the delivery of the OfS’s regulatory functions
2. understand and interpret the OfS’s regulatory framework and to use this to undertake assessments, risk assessments, and interventions; to implement and communicate aspects of the regulatory framework and support teams to do this
3. reach and convey reliable and robust judgements on the basis of complex and, at times, imperfect information and articulate the OfS’s approach clearly to providers
4. work with high levels of complexity and ambiguity
5. think broadly about the theory and practice of regulation
6. adopt a systems approach to service design and delivery
7. work collaboratively and flexibly to deliver the team’s functions
8. effectively communicate policies and requirements clearly when working in teams and teams that include external members
9. produce clear written documentation…