Head of Directorate Enablement

Job summary

Across government, effective governance, performance insight and operational coordination are critical to delivering services whilst also undertaking complex digital and technology transformation. As organisations manage increasingly ambitious portfolios of change alongside essential live services, the ability to provide clear structure, robust oversight and high-quality decision support becomes fundamental to success. Ofgem plays a vital role in the UK’s energy system, protecting consumers and enabling a more secure, fair and sustainable energy future, and strong directorate enablement function is central to delivering this mission.

As Head of Directorate Enablement, you will play a pivotal leadership role at the centre of DDSS. You will be responsible for establishing and maintaining the governance, reporting and operational frameworks that enable the directorate to function effectively across both ‘run’ and ‘change’. You will provide the DDSS Senior Leadership Team (SLT) with clear, accurate and timely insight into performance, ensuring that decisions are informed, risks are understood and resources are aligned to priorities.

This is a senior, high-impact role requiring a combination of strategic thinking, operational leadership and strong stakeholder engagement. You will work closely with leaders across portfolio, delivery, finance and change functions, ensuring that governance is not only effective, but adds real value. You will also play a key role in embedding good practice and ensuring alignment with government functional standards.

Job description

You will be responsible for:

• Establishing and leading the governance and reporting landscape for DDSS, ensuring alignment with Ofgem’s wider governance structures and cross-government standards.
• Providing secretariat and coordination support to the DDSS Senior Leadership Team and Formal Boards, ensuring meetings are well-structured, decisions are captured and actions are progressed.
• Designing and implementing performance frameworks, including KPIs and reporting mechanisms, to provide clear visibility of directorate performance across delivery, finance, people and service areas.
• Leading financial oversight, including budgeting, forecasting and spend monitoring, ensuring financial data is integrated into performance reporting and supports effective decision-making.
• Overseeing resource planning and management, ensuring capacity aligns with demand and supports both short-term delivery and long-term strategic planning.
• Embedding effective risk and issue management processes, ensuring risks are visible, understood and actively managed at the appropriate level.
• Leading business planning and contributing to spending review processes, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and government requirements.
• Ensuring alignment with government functional standards (e.g. GovS 002, GovS 005, GovS 007), developing assurance approaches and embedding best practice across the directorate.
• Using data and digital tools to provide insight, improve reporting quality and support evidence-based decision-making.
• Working closely with senior stakeholders, including corporate functions and external assurance bodies, to ensure effective coordination, reporting and compliance.

We are looking for:

A credible, strategic and delivery-focused leader who can bring structure, clarity and confidence to a complex and evolving environment. You will be comfortable operating at senior levels, providing insight and challenge while enabling effective decision-making across a broad range of activities.

You may come from a governance, PMO, portfolio or delivery background, but you will demonstrate:

• Significant experience leading governance, reporting or portfolio enablement functions within complex organisations
• Strong understanding of performance management, financial oversight and resource planning
• The ability to design and implement frameworks that support effective decision-making and delivery confidence
• Excellent stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to influence at senior levels
• Confidence operating in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment with competing priorities

Experience within government or regulated environments, and familiarity with government functional standards, would be beneficial.

This is an opportunity to play a central role in enabling Ofgem’s digital and technology transformation. You will shape how the DDSS directorate operates, ensuring that governance, insight and planning enable the organisation to deliver effectively, sustainably and with confidence at a time when its work has never been more important.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Experience in leading a governance and reporting function – either across a portfolio of projects or an operational business unit or directorate. (Lead Criteria)
• Experience of budgeting and cost management including accurate cost estimation, forecasting, budgeting, and spend control. (Lead Criteria)
• Extensive experience as a Head of Governance, PMO or Delivery.
• Experience of resource forecasting and monitoring.
• Proven ability to identify and amend appropriate frameworks and methodologies to enable a consistent and efficient approach to the orderly running of the directorate.
• Proven ability or experience leveraging digital tools and data analytics, combining an understanding of digital technologies with the ability to manage, interpret and utilise data to make informed decisions.
• Proven ability or experience establishing and developing productive relationships with internal and external stakeholders, bringing people together to benefit the project.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience in a government context

#LI-DNI

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

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

• You will also be asked to prepare a presentation. Full details of the presentation will be included in the invitation to interview.

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, Experience and Technical skills.

When you press the ‘Apply now’ button, you will be asked to complete personal details (not seen by the sift panel), your career history and qualifications.

You will then be asked to provide a 1250 word ‘personal statement’ evidencing how you meet the essential and desirable 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.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application or used during interview, including your CV and any statements or examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Ofgem takes any incidences of cheating very seriously. Please ensure all examples provided are of your own experience. Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant applications will be withdrawn from the process. Please note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

Please refer to Civil Service candidate advice on the acceptable use of artificial intelligence within the recruitment and selection process - Artificial intelligence and recruitment , Civil Service Careers

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].

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Amber Shankland
• Email : amber.shankland@ofgem.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@ofgem.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel there has been a breach of these Recruitment Principles.

In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly via recruitment@ofgem.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission, please visit their website.

Attachments

DDSS Role Profile Head of Directorate Enablement Opens in new window (pdf, 137kB)DDSS Candidate Pack, Head of Directorate Enablement Opens in new window (pdf, 3013kB)Terms and Conditions Opens in new window (pdf, 335kB)