Assistant Head of Legal Services
Office for Students - Bristol, South West or London
Fixed term: Up to two years, full time
Salary: £91,697 - £100,461 + £12,000 additional allowance (and London allowance of £3,566 where relevant) Generous Civil Service defined benefit pension
Application Deadline: Feb 11, 2024
Play a key senior managerial role in an organisation that’s shaping policy and regulation
About the OfS
Make a real difference to the lives of students by bringing your legal skills to the Office for Students (OfS). As the independent regulator of higher education in England, we ensure the best experience and the best value – for students, for taxpayers, for the economy and for the public good. This is an opportunity to grow your legal expertise by working across our diverse and rapidly evolving organisation on a wide range of regulatory and corporate issues.
About the role
We now have an exciting vacancy for a senior regulatory lawyer with team management experience to perform a leading role within OfS’s legal function. This fixed term position provides a unique opportunity for an experienced regulatory professional to gain experience of another regulated sector, at a particularly interesting time, where you will be leading on the provision of legal advice in novel areas of law and setting the precedent for a new approach to regulating higher education providers.
Utilising your extensive experience of working in a regulatory body and managing other lawyers on legal support for multiple and complex projects, the successful candidate will assist the Head of Legal Services in operating the OfS’s legal function and managing the delivery of first-class legal advice throughout the organisation, with personal responsibility for the ongoing management of multiple major portfolios of work. This will include managing and leading on advisory work on a broad range of regulatory matters, handling litigation/appeals, and dealing with more practical tasks relevant to the ongoing management of a large team of lawyers.
The role will also involve providing parental leave cover for the Deputy Head of Legal Services for a period of six months, which may include providing managerial oversight of OfS’s team responsible for data protection, freedom of information and records management matters.
About you
The successful candidate will be a qualified solicitor or barrister with significant managerial experience. They will have a proven track-record of taking a proactive and hands-on approach to the delivery of legal tasks, as well managing the delivery through others. They will be able to demonstrate a sensitivity to politics, the ability to adopt an innovative approach to legal issues and to influence and negotiate, as well as excellent verbal and written communication skills.
In particular, the successful candidate will have significant legal experience from previous roles, dealing with many legal practice areas, including:
Public law matters
Litigation cases involving judicial review and/or regulatory appeals
Consumer protection law
The interpretation of regulatory rules such as licence conditions or equivalent
The interpretation and application of sector specific legislation which relates to a regulatory body;
Information law matters, such as data protection, freedom of information and record management; and
Investigation and enforcement in a regulatory context.
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, sexual orientation and socio-economic background.
At the OfS, we recognise that flexibility 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. To attract the widest possible field of qualified applicants, flexible working and part time working apply to this role.
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.
Closing date for applications: Sunday 11 February