About OPSS
Do you care about the safety of products and want to protect people and places? Can we use your skills, knowledge and experience to enable UK business to thrive? If the answer is yes, then we would like to hear from you!
We are the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), part of the Department for Business & Trade. We are here for the purpose of making regulation work to deliver real world impact. Regulation is a powerful Government tool to address market failures, influence behaviour and promote positive action. Crafted and delivered well, regulation can be an enabler of growth, innovation and efficiency.
Since early 2018 we have been building a positive and creative team that enjoys a position of influence and respect within an organisation that continues to grow.
Our primary purpose is to protect people and places from product-related harm, ensuring consumers and businesses can buy and sell products with confidence.
Further information can be found on our website here.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. We embrace diversity and promote equality of opportunity. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills. There is a guaranteed interview scheme (DCS) for people with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
We are Inclusive
We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible and recognise how important inclusivity is to achieve the best outcomes. We hope to attract applications from all underrepresented groups.
We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation if required to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.
About the Team
Regulatory Design and Governance is a small team reporting to the Deputy Director for Policy and Partnerships.
We play a pivotal part shaping regulation that protects the safety of people and places across a huge range of products, from construction to common household goods, and that protects our environment through the life-cycle of goods from production to disposal. Collaborative working is an essential part of our approach, drawing on the expertise of colleagues in enforcement, science and technical, analytical and legislation roles. We scrutinise new regulatory functions to make sure they fit with OPSS’s strategic direction, purpose and objectives.
The team works in collaboration across government by providing regulatory expertise to other departments and their policy teams. We work with policy teams to ensure that we have effective regulatory obligations and powers in place in order to support the policy objectives, and the team is responsible for the ongoing development of a governance framework to underpin these activities. Our work is often fast-paced and must adapt to new or changing priorities. The role provides the unique opportunity for the ideal candidate to not only make an impact in OPSS by supporting the ongoing development of OPSS’ impact as a regulator, but also to support wider government priorities by providing regulatory expertise to other departments.
The ideal candidate will bring a structured approach to problem-solving and strong interest in tackling new and complex issues in a way that offers pragmatic solutions to regulatory problems.
* Further information on the team is available on their blog:
Key Responsibilities
* Support policy thinking and critical analysis to shape, influence and develop new regulatory roles, powers and supporting legislation. This will include DBT’s own regulations as well as enforcement roles for Other Government Departments (OGDs).
* Contribute towards ministerial advice to DBT Ministers on OPSS’ work for other departments.
* Manage OPSS’ approach to new enforcement roles for OGDs, ensuring a strong and influential relationship with OGD partners, providing advice and robust scrutiny of candidate regulatory roles, and contributing to the development of Memorandums of Understanding with the OGDs.
* Provide policy and analytical support to colleagues, working collaboratively to continually improve OPSS’ regulatory effectiveness, adopting a structured, evidenced and pragmatic approach to problem solving.
* Develop written research, analysis, and advice, including responding to parliamentary business where relevant.
* Develop and improve OPSS’ analysis of regulatory tools, powers and strategy, to ensure a suite of effective and proportionate regulatory powers, working collaboratively with delivery, legal and policy colleagues.
* Support wider DBT and civil-service policy objectives, including playing an active role in supporting cross-office initiatives, such as wellbeing, learning and development.
Please note that this role is open to candidates working in either our Birmingham, London or Teddington office. When you are required to give a preference, Twickenham will appear rather than Teddington, so please be aware that you should choose this option if you wish to be based in Teddington.
Our AI Usage Guidelines
We welcome the use of AI tools during your application process, as they can assist you in crafting your CV and personal statement. However, it is crucial that all submitted information is factually accurate and genuinely represents your own ideas and experiences.
Your application may be rejected, and you could face disciplinary measures if plagiarism is detected. Plagiarism includes presenting others’ ideas and experiences, or content generated by artificial intelligence (AI), as your own.
The information in your CV and personal statement will be verified during both the sift stage and your interview.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident .