Policy Theme Lead

About the role

This is an exciting time to join The Pensions Regulator (TPR). Our corporate strategy outlines a bold and challenging vision of how pensions regulation should evolve to keep pace with a change in the scale and nature of the industry. There is a clear three-to-five-year plan to deliver pension reform that recognises savers interests, implements efficient and effective regulation and delivers government intent to introduce a more consolidated and productive private pension landscape through pension legislation, including the current Pension Schemes Bill and government commissions.

Your primary responsibility will be to help support government in the development of legislation which evolves the regulatory framework. That involves a deep understanding of the policy intent, legislative process and the proactive production and analysis of the pros and cons of different policy approaches to inform government's thinking.

As part of this you will lead the development and delivery of agile policy interventions across a broad policy theme - including, but not exclusively, the production of Codes and guidance. You will be required to work across TPR to make sure that interventions are rooted in practicality and sequenced to ensure the regulator and market can capitalise on the opportunities pensions reform offers.

You will lead a small, flexible team of policy professionals encouraging multi-disciplinary problem-solving and collaboration across professional practices and topics to deliver consensus-based policy. Informed by strategic steers, and emerging issues, your area of focus may flex or pivot based on the priorities of the organisation and the risk picture. Within the team you will also be responsible for fostering a culture where, policy leads can work collectively with one another to provide additional capacity - sometimes leading, sometimes supporting - with clear documentation which promotes optionality in any policy response, and clear governance and context to support decision-making to enable colleagues to get to speed with issues from the get-go.

As part of this you will be required to deliver a systematic approach to engagement with key external stakeholders to co-create high-impact policy positions and practical interventions. This means ensuring that their views are considered and assessed as part of effective policy development, requiring you to develop effective relationships internally and externally up to Ministerial or CEO-level.

This role requires a deep understanding of policy and legislative process and the economic and social impacts of pension systems, as well as implementation and regulatory impacts.

The Role Criteria

• In-depth knowledge of the pensions regulatory framework, broader financial services and political landscape, and how to anticipate future developments /trends.
• Significant experience of delivering complex policy change within a government or similar regulatory policy-making environment, including complex delivery.
• Experience of managing and co-ordinating multi-disciplinary teams of experts and industry working groups to test ideas, and ensure that policy positions are consensus-based and rooted in practical implementation
• Demonstrable experience of building strong internal and external relationships and ability to leverage these to deliver policy objectives
• Significant experience in developing approaches and tactical tools to achieve strategic objectives including the development of operational and regulatory strategies.
• Strong leadership skills - to think broadly across a number of policy areas, join the dots and deploy limited resources to deliver impactful policy interventions tasking and directing colleagues effectively
• Excellent ability to partner and influence across the most senior levels within TPR, across government partners and external stakeholders to deliver policy objectives, as well as understand other's views and adapt.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills- written and oral - to a range of internal and external audiences. Comfortable with presenting at major conferences.

The Pension Reform directorate is a new division of TPR is responsible for supporting the development of the regulatory framework in savers' interests and supporting evidence-based policy making which delivers good saver outcomes.

It works within and leading multidisciplinary teams across TPR. The team works closely with the teams in our evidence and risk directorate to ensure our policy are evidence based, with our Digital and innovation teams to support flexibility, innovation and to advance our data strategy for TPR and savers; and with our market oversight and compliance and enforcement directorates to ensure our polices are rooted in practical implementation considerations and deliver impact.

We offer 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, a hybrid working model, 35 hour working week (full-time), flexible working patterns, and flexitime. We also provide competitive…