Senior Expert Lawyer

Job summary

Join the fight for fairness, integrity and impact at the heart of the UK’s energy regulation. Ofgem is looking for a number of Senior Expert Lawyers to join us and take the legal lead on some of the most complex and high-impact matters shaping the future of energy regulation.

Ofgem is Great Britain’s independent energy regulator. Our primary responsibility is to protect energy consumers, especially the most vulnerable, while at the same time working with government, industry and consumer groups to deliver a clean, more affordable and secure net-zero energy system at the lowest cost to consumers, and drive economic growth.

We’re offering permanent opportunities that provides the chance to work at the interface of government, markets and the law. In this impactful legal role, you’ll have the chance to influence regulation and policy across some of the most complex and pressing legal issues of our time. You’ll play a central part in delivering confident, expert legal advice on projects that matter for the public good and helping to shape the sector’s transition to a net zero, consumer-focused future.

You’ll be joining a high-performing and inclusive legal function during a period of transformation across the energy sector. The work will challenge you, stretch your capabilities, and position you as a trusted expert on issues of public importance. You’ll work closely with colleagues across professions and disciplines, and you’ll be part of a legal culture that thrives on integrity, collaboration and expertise.

Ofgem relies on having a workforce that reflects the society we serve, so we welcome candidates from all backgrounds, and especially those from underrepresented groups. Flexible working patterns and job shares are welcome. We will also support you with excellent training and development opportunities, plus a competitive benefits package.

We are holding a virtual recruitment event on Thursday 10th September 2026 at 17:00 – 18:00 with the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the role and team. To register for the event please click here - Senior Expert Lawyer - Recruitment Event

Read on to find out more!

Job description

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and deliver the highest priority, high risk and complex legal projects across Ofgem.
• Although these expert roles would not usually include direct line management, senior expert lawyers may be expected to lead multi-disciplinary teams in a specific work area.
• Plan, oversee and deliver a set of work deliverables on time and to a high standard through effective project management and support of multi-disciplinary team members.
• Provide inclusive leadership by supporting and coaching legal colleagues particularly in their area of expertise and demonstrating commitment to Ofgem values, including by leading on corporate matters through cross-OGC working groups.
• Build high-quality relationships with internal stakeholders and support Ofgem engagement with external stakeholders.

Key Outputs and Deliverables

Communications

• Exemplar communication style and technique (written and verbal), with an ability to lead and tailor communications to persuade an audience and senior stakeholders, to resolve tensions and ambiguity.

Leadership

• Actively support the General Counsel and other members of the legal management team in the leadership of the OGC within Ofgem.
• Demonstrate exemplar legal leadership skills, behaviours and team participation.
• Proactively develop and implement cross-cutting initiatives to successfully build capability.
• Lead cross-cutting and complex projects that involve senior stakeholders.
• Coach individuals and teams in a highly engaging way, pro-actively developing people using their expert knowledge and skills.
• Innovate and drive forward wide-ranging improvements to OGC’s service offering, delivering noticeable efficiencies and value for money.

Legal advice

• Deliver strategic, solutions-focused, high-quality, timely and succinct legal advice, working effectively with minimal supervision on complex matters.
• Exercise sound legal judgement including the effective management of legal risk.
• Proactively develop subject-matter expertise and capability across OGC.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

Qualifications and experience as a lawyer in the UK:

• Qualified to practise as a barrister or solicitor, in England and Wales or an advocate or solicitor in Scotland; or
• An overseas professionally qualified lawyer demonstrating evidence of preparedness to sit the SQE or BTT on, or soon after, appointment.
• Chartered Legal Executives are eligible to apply where (i) a Qualifying Law Degree (QLD) is held; or (ii) the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)/CPE has been completed; or (iii) where exams have been passed and a score of 50% or above was achieved, at CILEx Level 6, in all of the following foundation subjects:
• • Contract Law
• Criminal Law
• Equity and Trusts Law
• European Union Law
• Land Law
• Public Law
• Law of Tort
• Post-qualification experience as a lawyer of at least 4 years at date the application closes
• Demonstrable experience of practising as a lawyer in the UK

Experience:

• Ability to lead on highly complex and large legal matters and analysis (lead criterion) .
• Exemplar legal expertise and capability as subject matter expert, as demonstrated by a proven record of high performance and substantial achievements in past positions giving legal risk-based advice in any one or more of the following: • energy law;
• economic regulation;
• consumer protection;
• competition law;
• Commercial, insolvency or complex projects;
• Public Private Partnerships/PFI;
• public law or regulatory law;
• litigation in a context similar to that in which Ofgem operates, for example advising a government department, economic regulator or highly regulated industry participant.
• Demonstrable and proactive commitment to the development of subject-matter expertise and capability across a legal function.
• Strong communication skills (verbal and written) with the ability to present findings of analysis in a clear and compelling manner to technical and non-technical audiences, and defend findings, based on evidence.
• Resilient and able to work under pressure and on demanding and challenging projects.
• Extensive experience working collaboratively with diverse colleagues.

Qualifications

Candidates will be sifted out if they do not meet the minimum qualifications for the role or the condition that they have practised as a lawyer in the UK as set out in the Essential Criteria in the Role Profile. These matters must be clearly evidenced in the application. Candidates may be sifted out if they are not evidenced in a clear way.

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Leadership

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £63,443, OFGEM contributes

£18,379 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

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 this is kept under 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.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

When you press the ‘Apply now’ button, you will be asked to complete personal details (not seen by the sift panel), qualifications and upload a copy of your CV, no more than 2 pages anonymising all personal details such as name/age/contact details. Please do not remove names of previous employers.

You will then be asked to provide a 1250 word ‘personal statement’ evidencing how you meet the essential skills and capabilities listed in the role profile. Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your supporting statement, how you meet each of the criteria listed in the role profile. In the event of receiving a large number of applications, an initial sift may take place on just the lead criteria indicated in the essential criteria.

The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected, you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found by [ https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn ].

At Ofgem, we expect our staff to carry out their roles with honesty, fairness and openness. They should follow the Civil Service code and be free from any influence or bias. We are committed to making sure interests are recognised, declared and managed appropriately so that we can fulfil our duties as an energy regulator. Our Conflicts of Interest policy outlines the types of interests Ofgem staff must declare before onboarding, and the rules they must follow throughout employment so that we can clearly demonstrate that our decisions are not influenced by private interests.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.

The Civil Service embr