Head of Regulatory Portfolio

Head of Regulatory Portfolio

Salary £79,498 - £83,299 plus generous Civil Service pension (defined benefit scheme) and London Weighting £3,566 where appropriate

Location: Bristol (or London with regular travel to Bristol)
Contract: Permanent

Responsible to: Head of Regulatory Function

At the Office for Students (OfS), we’re proud to be the independent regulator of higher education in England. Our mission? To ensure every student - whatever their background - has a fulfilling experience of higher education that enriches their life and career.

Are you a strategic thinker with a passion for regulation and policy development?

The Office for Students (OfS) is looking for a dynamic and experienced individual to join our team as the Head of Regulatory Portfolio. This is a fantastic opportunity to lead a team dedicated to ensuring the compliance and quality of higher education providers.

About the Role:
As the Head of Regulatory Portfolio, you will be at the forefront of delivering the core regulatory work of the OfS. You will lead a team responsible for monitoring compliance, developing assessment and risk approaches, and implementing policies related to conditions of registration. Your role will be pivotal in shaping the regulatory landscape and ensuring that higher education providers meet the highest standards.

Key Responsibilities:

- Leadership: Provide effective leadership within the directorate, modelling OfS behaviours and values, and fostering collaborative working across teams.
- Compliance Monitoring: Lead a team in monitoring the compliance of registered providers and managing case work related to ongoing conditions of registration.
- Policy Development: Develop and implement assessment, risk assessment, and monitoring approaches for various conditions of registration, including access and participation, quality and standards, consumer protection, financial viability, provider governance, and free speech.
- Strategic Advice: Advise and support the director, ensuring that the OfS’s statutory functions are effectively discharged.
- Continuous Improvement: Drive continuous improvement in the service provided by the team, ensuring high-quality service delivery and system performance from the provider’s perspective.
- Communication: Engage with government, sector, and student bodies to communicate the OfS’s approach to regulation and ensure understanding of regulatory requirements.

We are recruiting to the following portfolios within our regulatory framework:

- Enforcement. Leading and delivering the OfS’s expanding enforcement work - across all conditions of registration.
- Monitoring & Compliance. Leading the existing Core Regulatory Team (CRT) model and approach, monitoring activity, and leading across the OfS on regulatory burden.
- Quality and Standards. Leading our work relating to conditions B1, B2, B4, B5, B7 and B8; and for the infrastructure needed to support that work, including for any designated quality body.
- Student Outcomes. Leading condition B3 and the TEF; and for our policy relationship with the designated data body, and our data requirements delivered through that relationship.
- Higher Education Market. Leading the OfS’s work relating to the operation of the higher education market: registration; degree awarding powers (DAPs) and university title; financial sustainability of higher education providers and the analysis that underpins this; market exit.
- Provider Governance. Leading the management and governance conditions; fraud; Prevent; the C conditions; funding assurance; exempt charities.
- Freedom of Speech. Leading the OfS’s new free speech functions: conditions of registration; student unions; complaints scheme. It will also have responsibility for any new condition of registration relating to harassment and sexual misconduct.
- Pathways and Funding. Leading the OfS’s work on skills, pathways and funding.
- Equality of Opportunity. Leading our work on access and participation plans, equality, mental health, student information and engagement.

Person Specification:

- Essential:

- Ability to understand and interpret complex regulatory and legal frameworks.
- Capability to develop case strategy and make reliable, legally-robust judgements.
- Comprehensive technical knowledge of the areas regulated by the OfS.
- Intellectual credibility and analytical capability to understand the broader impact of issues.
- Desirable:

- Experience influencing external stakeholders through complex issues.
- Experience delivering organisational change.
- Ability to lead a team of multi-disciplinary experts in a complex environment.
- Innovative thinking about regulation theory and practice.

Why Join Us?

At the OfS, we are committed to fostering a flexible and supportive work environment. We offer opportunities for professional development and the chance to work on diverse portfolios, ensuring that your role evolves to meet both individual and organisational needs. Join us in making a