Principal Economist

We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales.

We have an opportunity for a Principal Economist to join our Chief Economist's Team within the Office of the Chief Executive Directorate.

The water sector is entering a new chapter. The government has set out a bold new direction, bringing together expertise from across the sector to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment. We are collaborating with fellow regulators to respond to recommendations in The Independent Water Commission Report, the Welsh Government’s response to the Green Paper, Shaping the Future of Water Governance in Wales, and the Government’s White Paper, A new vision for water.

Ofwat is working with the government and other regulators to help create a new body for England, bringing together our strengths with those of the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency and Natural England. We are also continuing to work with the Welsh Government to support decisions on the future arrangements 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.

You can find out more about why you should join Ofwat, our strategy, values and our framework for success in the attached Information for Candidates Pack.

The Chief Economist's Team (CET) is part of the Office of the Chief Executive Directorate, which is a group of cross cutting teams, including our legal, communications, corporate governance, secretariat, investor relations and information governance teams that work with and support teams across the whole of Ofwat. The CET's goal is to ensure that the quality of Ofwat's economic analysis is the best it can be.

The CET reports directly to the Chief Executive of Ofwat and plays an important role across all areas of Ofwat's work. It leads on the economic input into a number of strategic work programmes, including the transition to the new regulatory framework for the sector. It also leads on mergers and competition work, one-off research/analytical pieces as well as leading on our approach to impact assessments and evaluation. It supports other teams across Ofwat, for example by scrutinising proposals on price reviews, supporting teams focused on developing markets and supporting regulatory policy development across several areas such as the environment, customers and innovation.

We are looking for a Principal Economist to join us in the Chief Economist's Team.

You 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.

Key deliverables:

In this role you will be expected to:

• Lead on the delivery of economic and/or quantitative analysis projects.
• Provide economic advice on economic and/or quantitative issues across areas at Ofwat.
• Develop economic frameworks to assess policy options.
• Make recommendations to improve our regulatory approach.
• Assess the impact of our policies and interventions.
• Present economic analysis to colleagues internally and stakeholders externally.
• Draft reports and publications to a high standard.
• Manage and develop senior associate economists and graduate economists.

An undergraduate degree in economics or a discipline with significant economic content.

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)

How to apply

Apply through the Civil Service Jobs website where you’ll be asked to create an account and complete an application form (CV and personal statement). If you’re unable to make an electronic application, please contact recruitment@ofwat.gov.uk and we will support you in completing your application.

Please see the candidate guidance on our website for more detail and tips on how to best make your application and prepare for interview.

Please ensure you have submitted your application in full ahead of the deadline listed below. Unfortunately, we won't be able to consider late applications.

Selection timetable

• Closing date: 23.55 on 6 September 2026
• Sifting: Week commencing 7 September 2026
• Interview date(s): Week commencing 14 September and w/c 21 September 2026

Assessment process

Sift Stage - Blind Sifting

We operate a blind sifting model to eliminate bias. All candidate identifying information will be removed from applications.

At sift stage we will assess your application (CV and personal statement) against essential criteria 1 to 4 listed above. Please ensure you provide enough evidence in your application form to demonstrate how you meet the criteria.

Use your personal statement to address the below 4 criteria and tell us how your experience, skills and knowledge meet them:

• 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.
• Lead Criterion 2: An undergraduate degree in economics or a discipline with significant economic content.
• Experience of managing the design, development, and delivery of economic projects.
• 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.
• Please note that in the event of receiving a large number of applications, a pre-sift will take place on just the two lead criteria.
• * If a high volume of candidates meet the minimum pass mark at sift stage, we will only progress the highest scoring candidates to interview. Candidates not invited to interview, who have achieved the minimum pass mark, will be placed 'on hold' until the final stage of the assessment process is completed. Should the role/s remain unfilled, candidates placed 'on hold' may be invited to interview in merit order.

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

Interview Stage - Transparent Interviews and Presentation

At interview stage we will test against essential skills, experience, knowledge and attributes set out above.

Our transparent interview process involves candidates receiving a selection of attribute-based questions in advance. This has been proven to help neurodiverse candidates and others to perform better at interview and is part of our inclusive culture.

You can read more about attributes and our Framework for success here.

Please note that the interviews will be conducted via video conferencing software (Microsoft Teams).

As part of the interview process, we will require a short presentation. Further details will be provided to candidates upon invitation to interview.

Please ensure anything you present in your interview answers is factually accurate, and you are not presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by AI, as your own. You may expect follow up questions.

It may be necessary for a second stage interview, which will be communicated to the successful candidates, if required.

If the assessment process identifies more appointable candidates than roles available, a reserve list will be created for 12 months from which further appointments in merit order can be made. The appointments can be at the same grade or a grade lower.

'Near-miss' candidates (candidates who have performed well at interview stage but haven’t scored high enough for the advertised Principal band) may also be considered (in merit order) for a Senior Associate grade post – a band lower than Principal. Further details will be provided to candidates as needed.

If you have any queries about any aspect of this role, selection process, or you require any reasonable adjustments, please email recruitment@ofwat.gov.uk.

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