Senior Economist

Requirements of the role

We are the UK’s aviation and aerospace regulator and recognised as a world leader in this field. Our activities are diverse, enabling the aviation industry to meet the highest safety standards, and we pride ourselves on our ability to adapt to the constantly evolving aviation environment.

The Role

The Economic Regulation and Competition Policy (ERCP) team is a vital part of the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) Consumers and Markets Group (CMG). It protects consumers by ensuring that airports and air traffic service (ATS) providers do not exploit their market position and 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). It is also responsible for discharging the CAA’s concurrent competition responsibilities relating to the provision of airport operation and ATS.

The team’s remit is expanding to provide economics input and support to the CAA’s wider policies and initiatives, including in relation to shaping new technology markets, airspace modernisation and other competition and consumer issues. Understanding the impact of policy options and our actions is essential in ensuring we protect the interests of consumers while allowing a fair opportunity for investors and supporting wider aviation policy.

As a Senior Economist, you will play an important role in our work in the economic assessment of key policy issues and initiatives across the price controls, developing the regulatory frameworks for airports and ATS, and working on competition and wider policy projects. This includes work on costs and incentives, regulatory investigations, and mechanisms to set regulated charges, as well as assessing economic and consumer impacts in the development of CAA policy and strategy.

You will work across the team to review and challenge submissions from the regulated companies, develop policy options and manage the work of external consultants. You will have the opportunity to drive forward key workstreams, write high-profile policy documents and work effectively with our own external advisors and consultants. Our decisions have the potential to be contentious and need to be robust to legal challenge.

This role is permanent and offers the opportunity for professional development, through working within a highly experienced team, directly influencing and engaging with senior leaders, and working across a wide variety of high profile and interesting economic and policy issues.

We understand that work-life balance is key and would be happy to consider those seeking part time work and/or a job share as well as those seeking a full-time role. We operate (and are committed to) a hybrid working model, with the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week. The team currently requires attendance in the office around one and half days per week for full-time employees (pro rata for part time colleagues) on average and we will keep this under review based on team needs.

Core Accountabilities

As a Senior Economist you will be responsible for:

• Delivering complex economic analysis that supports our work on price controls and other aspects of the regulatory frameworks for airports and ATS.
• Ensuring that the analysis that supports the CAA’s decisions is robust to external challenge and scrutiny and supported by appropriate quality assurance processes.
• Inputting economics advice in relation to wider CAA policy areas typically led by colleagues outside of the ERCP team, such as consumer protection interventions, promoting resilience and sustainability across the aviation sector and delivering airspace modernisation.
• Representing the CAA in meetings with stakeholders on a wide range of economic or regulatory issues.
• Overseeing the work of our technical advisors and consultants and providing a critical review of the analysis provided.
• Reviewing and challenging regulatory business plans and submissions from stakeholders.
• Ensuring key deliverables are provided on time and to a high quality.
• Translating technical economic and other issues into simple explanations, analysis and presentations that will be suitable for non-technical audiences.
• Line management of more junior members of the team.
• Championing CAA values and D&I policy.

You will also be expected to support the delivery of other aspects of the regulatory and price control framework as required and may need to work with other regulators and represent the CAA at external groups, such as the UK Regulators Network (UKRN).

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