Director of Policy & Governance

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 Director of Policy & Governance to join our Policy & Governance Team within Sector Performance Directorate.

This Director post sits within the Policy & Governance team, which is one of six teams within the Sector Performance directorate. The SP Directorate supports Ofwat’s objective to be an assertive voice in strategic and investment decision-making for the sector, working with other regulators and governments by shaping the future direction and transformation of the sector through alignment with government and other stakeholders, and leading innovation. The Directorate drives up sector and company performance by regularly, visibly, and proactively challenging companies on their performance, using data and operational expertise.

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 Role

As Director of Policy and Governance, you will shape and deliver a range of key policies across the organisation and to monitor and oversee company performance against key governance obligations and guidance.

We have an exciting expanding policy agenda that requires strategic leadership to go with corporate governance expertise. You will build on the Board Leadership, Transparency and Governance approach developed by Ofwat for the water sector, strengthening our approach in areas, and further developing our approach to regulation in related topics.

Reporting to Ofwat’s Senior Director for Sector Performance, you will lead a team of eight and are likely to be involved in the following areas of work:

• Developing our regulatory framework to further shape the role of boards, executive teams and senior managers in driving public trust and transparency, and ensuring firms act in the best interests of customers and the environment.
• Developing our approach to ensuring that all companies within the sector are developing executive pay and reward strategies, policies and mechanisms that are demonstrably aligned to service delivery for customers and the environment and reflect overall company performance.
• Bringing experience and expertise from comparative regulated sectors of established or emergent corporate governance practices that may be relevant to the future design or implementation of Ofwat’s board leadership, transparency and governance work.
• Oversight and monitoring of companies in the sector in relation to their duties and responsibilities on governance, the makeup and composition of boards, and making recommendations on courses of action to drive compliance and improvements.
• Developing an engagement function with water companies to support wider sector performance

Key deliverables: