Technical Policy Manager

Job Description

Ofcoms Spectrum Group regulates the radio waves (or "spectrum") in the UK, which are used to provide wireless services for people and businesses. This includes mobile phones, TV, satellites, global position systems (GPS), contactless payment cards, Bluetoothdevices, and the wireless devices increasingly found in homes.The Spectrum Awards team is responsible for allocating radio wave licences via a bidding process where there is more demand than radio wave licences available. This is to make sure that licences go to those who value it most, ensuring that people and businessesget better communication services. Our latest auction was in the news, when we auctioned spectrum that will be used to offer 5G services, for a total of £1.4bn.We are looking for someone to join the delivery side of our team, to manage the build for our auction software and to design the processes we use to run our live auctions. You would be supported by the rest of the team, and we will train you about auctions.Therefore, no prior auction knowledge or software experience is needed. Instead, we are looking for someone who is curious to learn, wants to work with colleagues from different specialisms, has good organisational skills and is good at problem-solving.More information on our teamWe are a dynamic and multi-disciplinary team, responsible for the development and running of spectrum auctions. We have recently formed, bringing together colleagues who have auction experience or are interested in developing how Ofcom runs auctions.The team has four core areas of responsibilities, set out below. As the spectrum awards team is a small team with a large remit, we all work in support of each other to deliver across four areas.

• Policy - Develop overall policy approach to spectrum auctions to fulfil Ofcoms policy objectives.
• Design - Designing the rules and mechanics of the auction.
• Build - Overseeing the build of solutions for the day-to-day running of the auction, including development of auction software (which we generally procure from external contractors), tools, and operational processes.
• Operations - Ensuring the physical and ICT security of auctions, manage project budget and risk, and co-ordinate audit processes.

Your core responsibilities would be in relation to the Build work area, for which we will train you to have a solid understanding of auction policy and mechanics. There will also be opportunities to feed into the Policy or Design workstreams as well.Responsibilities of the roleThe core Build responsibilities of the role are set out below.Support the procurement of auction software, including feeding into the development of procurement strategy, drafting invitations to tender and liaising with colleagues from the commercial team throughout the procurement process. Co-ordinate the developmentand testing of auction software to ensure the software implements the auction rules correctly, gathering requirements from in-house auction specialists, working with external software developers and software testers. Design the teams processes for conductingan auction, ensuring they are fit for purpose, seeking input and iterating collaboratively across team members. Produce clear process documentation and guidance for internal training and external audit purposes. Design and deliver internal training on auctionprocesses for the team, which would also include key members of finance and IT. Be a core member of the team running live auctions. Contribute to other work areas in the team. The specifics of this will depend on your interests, and could involve:

• Policy: Work on specific auction policy issues, defining options to tackle challenging problems. Contribute drafting for public facing auction documents, including policy consultations and statements.
• Design: Contribute to the design of the mechanics of the auction and the translation of these mechanics into legislation, working with internal and external experts in auction design.
• Operations: Support the development of security policies, ICT procedures, documentation for audit, and contract management with external suppliers. Working closely with colleagues from ICT, facilities management, and risk management.

You should apply if you:

• Are able to build effective relationships with colleagues across a multitude of disciplines, enabling you to co-ordinate colleagues and provide guidance to them.
• Can pick up new concepts quickly (which could be related to policy, software, and/or processes), identify possible implementation issues relating to policy proposals, and specify workable solutions to these issues.
• Have strong organisational skills, and able to create detailed project plans, manage own and others time, and hold people to account for delivery
• Are confident with ICT, technology, and processes, with the ability to quickly pick up new software and bespoke ICT solutions.
• Develop pragmatic solutions to problems across both policy and practical operational issues, taking into account the practicality and risks of solutions.
• Communicates technical information clearly to a range of audiences in writing and orally
• Present confidently and knowledgably to a wide range of audiences, leading meetings to reach consensus across colleagues with different views.

To apply, please send us a CV and a cover letter covering the following:

• Why you are interested in joining the Spectrum Awards team.
• How your skills or previous experience would help you perform in this role.
• Something that you are interested in or that you have been proud to achieve in a non-work environment.

Keyskills :
ConceptsDraftingFacilities ManagementSpectrum