Overview

Join Ofwat’s Chief Economists Team as a Principal Economist

We have 4 permanent roles available but are also open to loans and secondments of up to 2 years.

Office Location: London (E14 4HD) or Birmingham (B5 4UA) with hybrid working

About Us

We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales. Following the Independent Water Commission’s final report, the UK government has set out a bold new direction - one that brings together expertise from across the sector to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment.

We are working in collaboration with the government and other regulators to help establish a new body for England, combining our strengths with those of the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency, and Natural England. We’re also continuing to engage with the Welsh Government to support future decisions for Wales.

While these changes take shape, our mission remains the same: to hold water companies to account, drive performance, and ensure the sector delivers real value for customers, communities, and the environment. If you’re passionate about making a difference, this is a unique moment to join us and help shape the future of water, and together we can continue to make a positive impact.

The Role

The Principal Economists will have an important and valuable contribution to enable us to deliver on our regulatory commitments for customers and the environment. This includes responsibility for leading on key areas of CET's work by providing rigorous economic thinking and advice to inform our policies and help Ofwat deliver its strategic objectives, including the transition to the new regime. You will have excellent analytical skills, significant experience in regulatory economics, and experience managing the design, development and delivery of economic projects. You will be supported by an economics director, and have responsibility for managing more junior members of the team.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone seeking a varied role that draws upon a range of skills – from providing economic advice, leading on economic and/or quantitative analysis projects and assessing the impact of our policies and interventions to stakeholder engagement and managing and developing senior associate and graduate economists.

About You

Below are some of the key essential experience, skills & knowledge required for this post:

1. Lead Criterion 1: Significant knowledge of microeconomics and regulatory economics, as well as significant experience in applying economic analysis in economic regulation and/or competition policy and an understanding of the benefits this can deliver for customers and the environment.
2. Lead Criterion 2: An undergraduate degree in economics or a discipline with significant economic content.
3. Experience of managing the design, development, and delivery of economic projects.
4. Excellent analytical skills including experience of identifying, analysing and accurately interpreting a range of data and insights to inform evidence-based decisions and solutions on complex problems.
5. Experience of building constructive working relationships and engaging with internal and external stakeholders.
6. Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to understand and concisely explain complex issues in non-technical language.

Why You Should Join Us:

• People Centric: Our people are at the heart of Ofwat and everything we do - we ensure all voices are heard and treat each other with respect; you'll be given the autonomy and the support to do your role in the best way.
• Innovative Work Environment: We embrace agile and new ways of working and have a culture build on trust, flexibility, and collaboration.
• Development Opportunities: Gain valuable experience and develop your skills in a supportive and dynamic setting.
• Work-Life Balance: Enjoy the flexibility of working from home combined with the benefits of in person collaboration in our Birmingham offices.
• Excellent employer pension contributions of nearly 29%.
• 25 days’ annual leave, increasing to 30 with each year of service, plus bank holidays and an extra 2.5 days of privilege leave.
• Access to exclusive discounts on a variety of goods and services, including retail outlets, theatre tickets, holidays, insurance, and a gym membership.
• Fees paid for membership of relevant professional bodies.
• Up to 3 volunteering days per year.
• Recognition vouchers scheme rewarding your hard work.
• Generous shared parental leave and pay supporting your family life.

Closing date: 23.55 on 12 October 2025.