Principal Officer, Multi Academy Trust Inspection
Posted by: Ofsted
Employed By: Ofsted
Job Title: Principal Officer, Multi Academy Trust Inspection
Salary: ££85,000 rising to £85,850 post probation
Contract: Permanent, Full-time
Location: Bristol, Manchester, London
Application Deadline: 11:55 pm, 9 June 2026
About us
Ofsted’s role is to raise standards and improve the lives of children, young people, and learners through intelligent, responsible, and focused inspection and regulation.
We inspect and regulate services that provide care and inspect education and skills training. Every week, we conduct hundreds of inspections and regulatory visits and publish the results. We also report on standards across the country and are accountable directly to Parliament as a non-ministerial department.
Our inspections are independent and impartial, and we work on behalf of children and their families. Our values are professionalism, empathy, courtesy, and respect.
It is the responsibility of all Ofsted employees to ensure the safeguarding of children and students is paramount and always lead by example.
Diversity
Ofsted is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We are always looking to recruit candidates from varied backgrounds and differing experiences.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident – Leader. We continually engage with our staff networks for protected characteristics, and highlight the work of our Equalities, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Group. Our selection processes are fair, impartial and consistent for all candidates. We make our appointments on merit.
The team
The Education Directorate, led by the National Director, Education, is responsible for policy development across education inspection remits, including early years, schools, further education and skills, teacher development and SEND remits. The Directorate is responsible for the continuous improvement and development of Ofsted’s education inspection policy and methodology, driving improvement through the education system with a clear focus on pupils. A significant part of the Directorate’s role includes leading on policy and associated legislative change, including developing inspection frameworks, instruments and guidance.
About the role
The Principal Officer, Multi Academy Trust inspection (MAT inspection), will lead on work to develop relevant inspection frameworks, guidance, and improvement activity. They will initially work to the Senior Responsible Officer for the MAT inspection programme.
The post holder will be responsible for leading, managing and developing a new multi-disciplinary team to help ensure that staff have the skills and capabilities needed to deliver current and forthcoming priorities. Through the PO's leadership, the team will develop, refresh and maintain Ofsted's inspection policy in this remit.
With knowledge of the sector and networks with relevant stakeholders, the PO will proactively identify and implement the changes needed to current and future inspection, in line with the HMCI's vision for Ofsted's work.
Key responsibilities
The key responsibilities of the role are outlined below. However, this is an overview of the role and is not exhaustive. Ofsted reserves the right to assign other duties appropriate to the Principal Officer (PO) grade as required.
▪ To lead the policy work to develop and implement a new multi-academy trust inspection framework.
▪ To lead and manage a multi-disciplinary team of policy professionals in a positive way to ensure a highly effective service is maintained, focusing on the team's key objectives and identifying key strengths and areas for improvement at the level of the team and the individual. The post-holder will need to manage performance of the team effectively, promoting development and improving performance.
▪ To respond rapidly to changing requirements and strategic direction, advise Directors and HMCI on policy options and solutions. To be an authoritative representative of Ofsted and represent the relevant Directors, and HMCI at meetings, conferences and similar events.
▪To lead the team's work on monitoring and evaluation of the impact of policy on inspection practice. To proactively identify opportunities to improve future inspection policy to meet demands, identifying possible statutory change and provide advice to the Inspection Improvement Board, Executive Committee and HMCI on pragmatic, workable options.
▪ To build positive working relationships with key internal stakeholders (for example, Strategy, Research and Data Teams, Regional Inspection Teams, Press Team, Private Office, Legal Team) and external stakeholders (for example, Department of Education, CST, individual multi-academy trusts and school groups), to assist on the development of Ofsted policy.
▪ To work with other remit teams contributing to wider corporate projects and objectives where required.
Eligibility
Only Civil Service employees are eligible to apply. This includes individuals currently employed by Government departments, Executive Agencies, and Accredited Nondepartmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) who were appointed on merit following a fair and open competition or were appointed to a permanent Civil Service post by an exception certified by the Civil Service Commissioners. We will not accept applications which do not meet these criteria.
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)
▪ 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
For more information on job nationality requirements and the right to work in the UK, see the Civil Service Nationality rules and the UK Visas and Immigration rules.
How to apply
Apply at www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk. Log in to your account registered to your Civil Service email address. Go to the home page. Search for this vacancy by entering reference number 462742 into the keywords field. Click on the vacancy, then ‘Apply now.’
We encourage you to discuss your interest in this role with your line manager before applying.
Queries
If you need any support using the online application form or have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact the Ofsted Resourcing team on 03000 131 487 or by emailing jobs@ofsted.gov.uk.
If you have any questions about the role, please contact Shilpa Mehta, Business Manager by emailing shilpa.mehta@ofsted.gov.uk .