Heads of Regulatory Portfolios - Office for Students

Job summary

Heads of Regulatory Portfolios

Fixed term: 18 months

Salary: £82,082 - £86,006

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.

As part of the continuing expansion of our regulatory work, we are now looking for a number of vital ‘Head of Portfolio’ roles within our regulation directorate. These roles are responsible for delivering our core regulatory work for a particular aspect of the regulatory system. As a Head of Regulatory Portfolio, you can expect to be leading a team delivering case work, monitoring and leading the assessment of compliance of providers, and developing our regulatory approaches. Although you may be working in any area in the Regulation directorate, these roles are likely to be focused within one to two of the following areas:

• Registration of new providers

• Quality and standards assessment

• Investigation and enforcement

​

Job description

Key to success in these roles will be your ability to understand and interpret complex regulatory and legal frameworks, regardless of whether or not you have previous experience working in a regulator, in order to reach fair, evidence-based judgements on complex issues. You will be equally adept at quickly adapting to working within higher education and able to learn and understand the key issues and challenges facing the sector. You will be people focused, committed to our mission of driving positive outcomes for students, and able to work at pace within complex and ambiguous environments.

Regardless of the focus of your portfolio, you will be an experienced leader of people and able to demonstrate an ability to motivate, develop and deliver exceptional results through people across an organisation. You will understand the role and value of a regulator and, regardless of your professional background, show an understanding of how effective regulation works in practice.

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.

We are interested in hearing from candidates with experience of working in relevant roles in the higher education sector, as well as those who have experience of other regulators or regulated environments. We are particularly interested in hearing from candidates with previous experience in regulatory investigations and in assessing quality and standards within higher education.

If you would like an informal conversation about the role, please get in touch with our Recruitment team (Recruitmentteam@officeforstudents.org.uk) to arrange.

Person specification

Person specification – essential criteria

1. Demonstrable ability to understand and interpret complex regulatory and/or legal frameworks to develop strategic and operational approaches.
2. Demonstrable ability to develop case strategy and reach and convey impartial, risk-based, reliable and legally robust judgements on the basis of complex and imperfect information, and in novel and ambiguous circumstances.
3. Demonstrable ability to develop quickly a comprehensive technical knowledge and understanding of the areas in which the OfS regulates individual providers.
4. Demonstrable intellectual credibility, analytical capability with the ability to take a broad view of issues, events and activities and understand their likely impact or wider implications.
5. Demonstrable ability to lead a team of multi-disciplinary experts to work flexibly in a complex and ambiguous environment.

Shortlisting will be carried out using criteria 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 within this person specification. Applicants should ensure they address these points fully in their application.

Person specification – desirable criteria

1. Demonstrable ability to influence a diverse set of external stakeholders through complex and contentious issues.
2. Demonstrable experience delivering organisational change to processes, culture and delivery.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £82,028, Office for Students contributes £23,763 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

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

Working for us

The OfS regulates the higher education sector on behalf of all students. We value diversity and the wealth of perspectives, experience and ideas that it brings to our work, and we strive to embed equality of opportunity in everything we do.

We recruit based on fair and open competition and welcome applications from candidates regardless of age, disability, race and ethnicity, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Flexibility is important to the OfS, as we recognise that it can enable people to work more effectively. A set of organisation-wide principles shape our approach to flexible and hybrid working, which our teams then use as guidance on how they deliver their business goals. This would usually mean working from the office for two to three days in a typical week.

To attract the widest possible field of qualified applicants, flexible working, for example job share and part time working, apply to this role.

As this is a fixed term role, we are open to secondment arrangements from other regulatory or public sector bodies. For more information, please contact recruitmentteam@officeforstudents.org.uk

In addition, our Total Reward Framework offers a range of benefits to suit your way of life. These include comprehensive learning and development, annual leave starting at 25 days’ per year (plus public holidays), access to the highly regarded Civil Service pension scheme and a variety of health benefits.

To find more about the OfS and our work, visit Home - Office for Students

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to everyone. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support you through the application stage, please contact us at recruitmentteam@officeforstudents.org.uk and we will be happy to help.

Application Process

When applying for the role, you will be required to submit a CV and a covering letter. Your covering letter should be no more than 1,500 words and must demonstrate how your skills and experience align with the person specification criteria 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Closing date for applications: Noon Monday 20 April

Interviews: From 18 May

For information: the OfS does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a 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

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.

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

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 : Recruitment Team
• Email : RecruitmentTeam@officeforstudents.org.uk
• Telephone : 0117 931 7444

Recruitment team

• Email : RecruitmentTeam@officeforstudents.org.uk

Further information

Careers - Office for Students

Attachments

Why work for the OfS Feb 2026 Opens in new window (pdf, 425kB)