Programme Director

Requirements of the role

The economic regulation and competition policy team is a vital part of the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) Consumers and Markets Group (CMG). The focus of the team is to protect consumers by ensuring that airports and air traffic service (ATS) providers do not exploit their market position. Understanding the impact of policy options and our actions is essential in ensuring we protect the interests of consumers while allowing a fair investment opportunity for investors.

The team has responsibility for the economic regulation of Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL), Gatwick Airport Limited (GAL) and the monopoly air traffic services provider for the UK, NATS (En Route) Plc (NERL). This includes the development, oversight and enforcement of price control arrangements and other licence obligations. The team is also responsible for discharging the CAA’s concurrent competition responsibilities relating to the provision of airport operation and air traffic services.

We are looking for a Programme Director to play a critical delivery role in the CAA’s economic regulation of airports and ATS. Working closely with the Chief Economist and alongside other Programme Directors, this role will oversee the design and delivery of key programmes of work for the next price control reviews for HAL and NERL.

Reporting to the Chief Economist, the Programme Director will oversee the work of senior managers and senior regulatory experts in the delivery and implementation of our work programmes to discharge our statutory duties through our economic regulation activities. As a Programme Director you will be responsible for:

• ensuring the delivery of high quality, appropriately resourced, programme plans.
• managing the engagement with senior internal and external stakeholders, including Board level interactions.
• the production of robust, evidence based and assured regulatory outputs, to relatively tight and demanding timetables, in the context of multi-billion-pound decisions on price controls and the intense legal and stakeholder scrutiny that is associated with these decisions.
• the production of high-quality documents for publication, including key consultation and decision documents. Excellent drafting and editing skills are an essential requirement of the post; and
• making sure there are appropriate governance arrangements and steering key deliverables and decisions through the CAA ExCo and Board.

Our decisions have the potential to be contentious and are likely to be subject to appeals and/or legal challenge. As a Programme Director you will be responsible for ensuring our high-quality deliverables are informed by compelling analysis, are robust and produced to a high standard.

Core accountabilities

The Programme Director will be responsible for:

• The leadership of and driving forward the price control programmes for airports and ATS. These programmes involve multi-billion-pound decisions and come under intense scrutiny from external stakeholders and are subject to stakeholders having full appeal rights.
• Developing the price control strategy and ensuring the delivery of robust economic and financial analysis that supports our work on price controls and other aspects of the regulatory frameworks for airports and ATS.
• Ensuring key deliverables are clear, on time, produced to a high quality, robust to external challenge and scrutiny, and supported by appropriate quality assurance processes. This includes reviewing and drafting consultation and decision papers that cover difficult technical issues as well as issues with the potential to generate intense media and stakeholder interest. It also includes the drafting and quality assurance of CAA Board papers.
• Overseeing the work of a range of senior managers, economists, and policy advisors, and providing advice to the Chief Economist, the CAA Executive Committee and the CAA Board.
• Developing the overall approach to engagement at a senior level with key stakeholders on the range of price control issues, including Board level interactions with external stakeholders and in the CAA.
• Developing the strategy for using external technical advisors and consultants and ensuring the that their work is fit for purpose, dovetails with programme requirements and meets appropriate quality standards.
• Working closely with the Chief Economist and other Programme Directors to ensure work is fully coordinated across the wider ERCP work programmes.
• Developing and empowering team members, through opportunities to develop skills and training, as a senior leader in the team.
• Championing and demonstrating CAA values and D&I policy.

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