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Whether connecting with loved ones, accessing trusted information, working and educating remotely, or viewing entertaining content, almost every part of our lives is at least now partly online. At the same time there are real risks posed online by harmful or illegal activity – from hate speech to terrorist content, and from bullying and harassment to child sexual exploitation and abuse. In light of the scale of these challenges, the Government has appointed Ofcom as the regulator for online safety in the UK.
This role co-leads the new Online Safety Policy Development unit. Policy Development leads the development and delivery of policy and all regulatory tools related to the Online Safety regime and Video Sharing Platform regime and leads relevant partnerships with non-regulated stakeholders, working with the Online Safety Strategy Delivery unit. The Policy Development unit focusses on the key online harms and areas of risk ensuring effective translation of the legislation into codes of practice, guidance, reporting and research to ensure the rights of citizens are upheld.
Key Responsibilities
- Co-lead the Online Safety Policy Development Unit and working within the Online Safety Group plan of work, identify, shape, and set the direction of the Policy Development team
- Lead on shaping the development of Ofcom’s Online Safety and Video Sharing Platform regulatory work and tools in relations to codes, harms and rights, identifying gaps or opportunities and horizon-scanning developments
- Lead on understanding in-scope online harms and developing strategies to reduce them, setting the agenda across the full spectrum of online harms, ensuring the right resources are in place to deliver these
- Build approaches for tracking and communicating the prevalence and the impact of online harms for different user groups and across supervised firms working closely with Research and Intelligence, Economics, Technology, Data and Innovation and wider Online Safety Group, drawing on relevant insight and knowledge to inform strategies for reducing harms
- Oversee risks and issues in relation to harms, leading research requests, information requests, specific deep dives to understand the risk of harms and/or lack of compliance
- Develop and own external relationships working with charities and non-regulated stakeholders to support in understanding policy developments and set the strategy and priorities for online safety
- Act as a role model for Ofcom values of Excellence, Agility, Collaboration, Empowerment and Respect, advocating their importance across the Online Safety Group and broader organisation and act as an ambassador for the Online Safety regime across the business
Skills & Experience:
- Highly experienced policy expertise – proven track record of leading teams to develop and deliver complex, high profile and potentially contentious policy areas
- Strong track record of leadership and project management skills, with the ability to motivate and lead teams of experts drawn from across the organisation
- Experience of leading multi-disciplinary project teams and ensuring that they have the resources and skills needed to deliver a high-quality end product on time
- Excellent interpersonal skills, with proven ability to influence and persuade
- Excellent judgement and reasoning skills with an ability to build a strong evidence base to support recommendations and balance strategic policy thinking with hands-on delivery insight into external stakeholder views and likely reactions, and proven ability to form effective relationships with them
- Ability to build and maintain effective internal and external working relationships; along with proven ability to gain the respect and trust of stakeholders and colleagues of all levels
- Excellent written and oral communication skills with the ability to explain complex arguments in a straightforward manner to a variety of audiences