Head of Regulatory Compliance

Job summary

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) is separate from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) (which is the statistical production arm of the UK Statistics Authority). Recruitment arrangements and employment terms and conditions are applied consistently across the UK Statistics Authority.

Do you want to be at the heart of leading the UK’s independent statistical regulator, enhancing our impact and standing up for the public’s right to access statistics and data that serve the public good?

As the independent regulator of statistics, OSR’s role is to enhance public confidence in statistics. What we do matters now more than ever. We are seeing a surge in use of and interest in data and statistics, and big shifts in the role of data in policy and political debate.

In this environment, it’s not enough for information to be available to decision-makers. To serve the public good, statistics must also be accessible, clearly explained and fairly presented to the public.

Our work involves stepping in to uphold these principles, being agile and evolving our approach to support a fast-changing statistical environment.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and committed individual to join our senior leadership team. This is an opportunity to join and lead our friendly, experienced, and dynamic team in an organisation that promotes work-life balance, flexible working, and self-development. We are a unique organisation full of exceptional and impressive people, drawn from a range of backgrounds and professions, to make up a high-performing team who are passionate about what we do.

In November we published our strategy: How we will strengthen trust and confidence in statistics: 2026 - 2029

For more information about working at OSR please visit our Careers Page on our website https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/osr-careers/.

Job description

Key Responsibilities

• Act jointly with the other Grade 6 postholder to lead OSR’s regulatory programme, with shared accountability for the coherence, effectiveness and impact of OSR’s regulatory tools, frameworks and overall regulatory approach. Work collaboratively to set strategic direction, prioritise activity, allocate resources and ensure alignment across assessment, compliance, systemic and other regulatory activities.
• Hold clear individual responsibility for the leadership of specific regulatory topics, teams and / or programmes. Provide authoritative professional leadership for these areas, including setting objectives, overseeing delivery, managing risks, and representing OSR internally and externally.
  
• As a member of the Senior Leadership Team you will be jointly responsible for the development of OSR, in terms of culture, capability and regulatory approach. The role may also include leadership of one of our primary office sites. This would include day to day management of one of our offices, representing your office within the Senior Leadership Team and leading on engagement in your geographic area.
• Build relationships within and beyond the statistical community, including heads of profession in Government departments and lead statisticians in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These relationships are fundamental to OSR's ability to influence change, by building OSR's profile and gathering intelligence.
• You will be responsible for development and oversight of your regulatory programmes, projects and functions and their rolling programme of work, and will draw upon resource from within your team and from across OSR to ensure delivery.
• You will have line management of Grade 7 led domain teams.
• Matrix management of staff working on projects and programmes.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• You are experienced in developing and leading demanding programmes of work, with competing priorities, using programme and project management disciplines. You set and track performance measures at the output, outcome, and impact level.
• You inspire and motivate teams to deliver, build their capability and innovate. You welcome and respond to challenge and respect the different perspectives individuals can offer. You can shape corporate decisions and articulate and advocate those decisions as a role model within and outside the organisation.
• You can quickly weigh up and draw insights from a range of information, consider our impact on societal issues alongside any associated political risks, and form sound judgements about critical statistical issues.
• You write clearly about often complex and sensitive issues and are skilled in communicating effectively to a range of audiences, including listening, developing relationships, and convening discussion.

Qualifications

An undergraduate or postgraduate degree (minimum 2:2) predominantly in statistics, the social sciences, economics and/or a related discipline with significant analytical content.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £68,199, UK Statistics Authority contributes £19,757 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The OSR is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At OSR we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

OSR are committed to flexible ways of working that support a healthy work-life balance. OSR has already considered how this job could be right sized for applicants working flexibly and we are happy to explore options with you about working part time, in a job share or flexibly, in line with our hybrid working policies.

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.

Security Clearance

For OSR the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records

OSR can offer visa sponsorship as part of this recruitment campaign. However, applicants must still hold valid right to work in the UK at the point employment commences.

If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.

Application Process

Number of Stages: 2

Stage 1 – Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, CV, skills, experience, and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum wordcount allowed is 1000, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

In instances where a high number of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted, and candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

Stage 2 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert and any required technical skills.

You will be required to provide a 5 minute presentation at interview (slides not permitted). The presentation topic will be emailed to candidates who have passed the initial online application stage, 1 week prior to interview. This presentation will assess candidates against the Success Profiles Behaviour.

Interviews will be via Microsoft Teams.

Our main locations are Newport (South Wales), Titchfield, Edinburgh, Manchester, London and Darlington.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.

The Sift will be conducted from 11/06/2026

Interviews will be conducted from 06/07/2026

Dates are subject to change.

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.

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.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 : Rob Kent-Smith
• Email : robert.kent-smith@statistics.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : ons.analytical.resource@ons.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact recruitment.complaints@ons.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission

Attachments

2721 Advert 1A Permanent - ONS London Inclusive v1-00 Opens in new window (pdf, 83kB)