Joint Head of the Office of the Chief Economist
| Posting date: | 29 May 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £65,430 to £79,160 per year |
| Additional salary information: | National £65,430 - £73,280 London £70,690 - £79,160 For details of our pay on appointment policy, please see below under the heading ‘Salary’. |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 10 June 2025 |
| Location: | London |
| Company: | Government Recruitment Service |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 405571/2 |
Summary
This role is to jointly lead Defra’s Office of the Chief Economist. The Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) is a team of around twenty economists working on cross-cutting and strategic projects for Defra. The role will be based in Defra’s central, multidisciplinary team, the Analysis and Insight Division (AID). AID has a key, strategic role to play in leading on cross cutting issues and ensuring that high quality analysis is driving Defra’s strategy, policy and ways of delivering, including directly supporting Defra’s Director of Analysis, who is also our Chief Economist. The division also contains expert teams of social researchers and operational researchers, who you will be able to draw on to provide support and input to your work.
You will jointly lead the OCE alongside another G6 economist, but with specific areas of responsibility. These currently include leading the analytical input to Defra’s economic strategy and contribution to the Government’s growth mission, supporting decisions related to organisational change and better understanding Defra’s sub-national expenditure and impact.
Encouraging diverse applicants
We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups.
As the Head of the Office of the Chief Economist, you will be responsible for strategic and cross-cutting analysis across Defra’s portfolio. You will lead a friendly and collaborative team of 7 economists, currently with 4 Grade 7 direct reports. You will also play an active role in the directorate’s senior leadership team, working alongside other G6s to support the Lead Analysts and the Chief Economist.
A major part of the role is to lead the analytical input to Defra’s economic strategy, ensuring that the department plays its full role in the Government’s growth mission. Economic growth is this Government's number one mission, and it's at the heart of everything we do in Defra. We are supporting new infrastructure and development to boost growth, enabling this through modern regulation and planning reform, driving investment in our sectors, and protecting local economies from the threats of floods and animal diseases. Working closely with policy colleagues, as well as analytical colleagues across Defra and other department’s (e.g. DBT, HMT, DSIT) you will build the evidence base to ensure that robust economic analysis underpins the growth work of the department and that the evidence is communicated effectively.
In addition, you will scope and develop the work programme for the OCE to deliver high quality, impactful analysis to support Defra’s strategies, ministerial priorities and cross cutting areas. This currently includes analysis supporting regulatory and organisational change programmes and cross-cutting evidence gathering on sub-national impacts. You will also support the role of the Director of Analysis in assuring departmental analysis meets robust standards, for example as part of the Spending Review. The role includes representing Defra analytical thinking on cross cutting issues in cross-Whitehall forums and with OGDs.
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