Associate Director Policy

Job summary

Ofqual is the independent qualifications regulator for England. We currently regulate 200+ awarding organisations, and approx. 11,600 certified qualifications.

These include GCSEs, AS and A levels, and a broad range of vocational and technical qualifications.

For more information about the work we do please visit our website and our Careers Pages https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofqual and
https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/ofqual-hub/

About the team

We are looking for an outstanding Associate Director, Policy to join our busy Policy Directorate as a senior leader. We are in an intensive period of shaping high impact regulatory policy on major areas including large-scale qualification reform, on-screen assessment, and AI.

Job description

You will be one of the leaders managing the development of Ofqual's policy positions on complex issues. Using your excellent oral and written communication skills, you will engage with senior stakeholders at the Department for Education and representative organisations, as well as engaging with regulated awarding organisations to inform policy development.

You will manage consultation processes through a strategic lense from development of proposals, through to the analysis of feedback and confirmation of final decisions.

Your ability to maintain a clear strategic overview of issues in a pressurised environment will be essential. This role will offer challenging and highly rewarding work and development opportunities.

Person specification

Please refer to the job description attached for a full list of essential criteria to support your application.

Qualifications

Degree level or equivalent.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £69,524, Ofqual (Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation) contributes £20,141 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

As a Civil Servant, you will benefit from a leading, modern employment offer which includes flexible working arrangements that support people at different stages in their lives, and pensions among the best available in the UK, as well as generous annual leave entitlements.

Other benefits you can enjoy include:

• Organisational performance related bonus
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Regular professional development
• Health and wellbeing initiatives such as mini-medicals, flu vaccinations
• Employee assistance programme and occupational health
• Free eye tests and contribution towards lenses/spectacles for VDU users, if appropriate
• Family friendly policies
• Interest free rail season ticket loan
• Access to exclusive discounts
• Free car parking

We are committed to promoting Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing throughout the organisation. We are proud of the action we are taking to support this. We welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds to support our ethos of creating a diverse culture that is reflective of both our employees and the learners we support.

Due to our continued commitment and focus in relation to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, our inclusion and fair treatment score based on the Civil Service 2024 annual people survey ranks us joint 5th out of 104 participating departments.

Ofqual is a rewarding, dynamic place to work. We offer employees the opportunity to develop within their role and progress through the organisation via a number of Learning and Development opportunities and activities.

Ofqual has a highly engaged workforce. Our 2024 Civil Service People Survey score on engagement was 71%, against 64% for the whole Civil Service, and was the joint 12th highest of the 104 participating CS departments.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Please note that Ofqual does not offer Visa sponsorship.

You will be assessed on the Behaviours shown above at interview stage.

Ofqual has adopted anonymised recruitment. This means that your name, date of birth and other personal details will not be seen by the sift panel. You’ll be asked to remove all personal details from your CV when you apply.

When you press the ‘apply now’ button, you will be asked to complete personal details (not seen by the shortlisting panel), your career history and qualifications.

You will then be asked to provide a personal statement evidencing how you meet the essential criteria shown on the job description attached to this advert. Once this job has closed, the job description will no longer be available. You may wish to save a copy for your records.

Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your personal statement, how you meet these requirements as this will form a key part of your evidence when the panel is scoring your application, against the requirements of the role.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift will be undertaken using the work history and personal statement against the lead essential criteria, which is strong judgement, including in a politicised context and to identify and develop policy responses to complex issues.

During the interview process, this vacancy will include a presentation and/or task.

We reserve the right to offer a second interview, if required.

Please submit your application by 16 August 2026 at 23:55pm.

Interview dates 14 September 2026 – (subject to change).

We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or at a lower grade than they applied for, we may extend an offer without the need to go through a further selection process, providing the role has comparable behaviours and essential criteria.

As part of our positive action commitment, if you are from an ethnic minority background and would like to discuss the role in more detail ahead of submitting your application, please email [email removed] and we will arrange for a call to take place with one of our senior team.

Ofqual works flexibly, with a hybrid office/home based working model. Employees will spend a minimum of two days per week working from our office in Covent