Policy Advisor

Almost every part of our lives is now online. As well as bringing many benefits, there are also real risks posed online by harmful or illegal activity – from hate speech to bullying and harassment to child sexual abuse, and more. The UK Government has appointed Ofcom as the new regulator for online safety.. There has never been a more meaningful time to join Ofcom on our mission to create a safer life online.

This specific role sits within the Online Safety Policy Development Team and will focus specifically on policy development relating to tackling online harms relating to child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA). Our Policy Advisors support the development and delivery of our programme of policy work and are central to the success of the regime and delivering improved outcomes for users online.

You will be part of dynamic multi-disciplinary project teams shaping new policy and regulatory approaches to tackling child sexual exploitation and abuse in the online space.   Our Policy Advisors are responsible for supporting and delivering policy work or projects, working with project teams to drive work forward and make sure we deliver against our strategic priorities – to ultimately help Ofcom deliver its mission of making a safer life online for people in the UK.

Please note that this role involves working with policy, research and content related to child sexual exploitation and abuse, which can be potentially sensitive or distressing.

Key responsibilities

• Support the CSEA policy team to develop, deliver and manage Ofcom’s regulatory regime for online safety through working on discrete areas of policy and project management.

• Support the work of Policy Leads as needed to develop policy options to tackle online CSEA and consider their practicality, risks and long-term implications.

• Research and analyse multiple data sources on particular topics and bring these to life for team members and develop clear and focused documents, such as briefings and research reports, for internal use or external publication. Seek input from a wide range of colleagues to inform briefings and reports. Use initiative to think about possible options or considerations as part of wider piece of work that the Policy Lead may undertake.

• Support the team’s stakeholder engagement plan and milestones, including acting as a contact for stakeholder meetings, triaging incoming engagement proposals, identifying policy issues and key stakeholders to prioritise engagement opportunities, and preparing senior colleagues for engagement (such as by providing briefing notes).

• Supporting the delivery of policy projects and the overall project management of the CSEA work portfolio.

• Develop and foster expertise in online CSEA threats and keep across online trends and technological developments.

• Keep abreast of the public policy landscape in relation to online regulation

• Provide practical support to work areas, such as setting up meetings, project planning and management and feeding into wider programme and operational management workstreams.

• Build and maintain relationships with a broad range of internal Ofcom teams and where applicable, online industry and third sector stakeholders.

• Ensure clear communication and information sharing at all levels across stakeholder workstreams and maintain close links with other internal teams, including the CEO’s office, Public Policy; Communications, Online Technology, International and research teams.