Senior Technical Advisor

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Please note this role will close at 00.01 on the 9th July so we advise making your application by midnight on the 8th July.

About the Team:

Almost every part of our lives is now online: we use online spaces to learn, play, make connections, do business and keep in touch. Alongside the many benefits, users face real risks from harmful or illegal content - from fraud, hate speech, bullying and harassment, child sexual exploitation, and more. Ofcom is the new regulator for online safety in the UK and there has never been a better time to join us on our mission to create a safer life online.  

Ofcom’s role will be to hold online services to account for the steps they take to protect their users from harmful content, in order to ensure a safer life online for UK internet users. These roles provide an opportunity to help create a safer online environment and leave a lasting legacy for future generations. 

This role will be part of Ofcom’s Online Safety Group, whose broader purpose is to lead our work in ensuring UK citizens have a safer life online. The Group consists of five teams – Policy Development, Supervision, Strategy Delivery, Tech Policy and Online Safety Tech. This role sits within the Online Safety Tech team.

About the team you’ll be part of:

The Online Safety Technology team conducts research to build knowledge and understanding in subject areas fundamental to online safety. This includes, for example, AI and machine learning, digital identity, privacy enhancing technologies, decentralisation, user experience, gaming, network infrastructure, and digital forensics. The team provides technical expertise to policy, supervision and enforcement colleagues in the wider Online Safety Group, and others in Ofcom, during policy development processes and industry engagement activities.

The purpose and scope of the role

The successful candidate will play a leading role within the Online Safety Technology team to help design and deliver a programme of work that will develop and share fundamental understanding of the technologies that underpin online services to help meet Ofcom's Online Safety objectives.

We are looking for somebody who will act as an authoritative ‘go to’ subject matter expert on the changing landscape of specific areas of technology related change, diffusing relevant insight from applied research and experimentation and raising stakeholders’ understanding of technology trends having an impact on online trust and safety.

Your key responsibilities

• Provide expert guidance to policy, supervision and enforcement colleagues in the wider Online Safety Group and across Ofcom during policy development processes and industry engagement activities, on the technical aspects of online safety.
• Analyse the technical feasibility of regulatory proposals and assess their potential impact on online platforms, users and other stakeholders.
• Lead the design and delivery of complex research projects, often in partnership with specialist third parties and other policy/functional specialists (e.g. strategists, economists, lawyers, data scientists etc.), ranging from desk-based reviews to the delivery of practical experimental and technical demonstration projects.
• Manage and support projects to explore in detail aspects of the systems, platforms and standards which are of concern to Ofcom; create an evidence base for the application of a technology or combination of initiatives to tackle particular challenges relating to online safety; explore new
• technologies that present significant opportunities in areas where existing regulation may be incomplete; and help develop new regulatory mechanisms; to brief senior management and to build the knowledge and understanding of the Online Safety Technology technical team.
• Monitor developments in the tech industry, including innovations in AI, machine learning, encryption, and data management, to anticipate and advise on future regulatory challenges.
• Proactively manage internal relationships to help define business-relevant research programmes and maximise the application of findings, including by effectively communicating with non-technical audiences.
• Strengthen external relationships with industry, academia, and public bodies to jointly define and deliver research programmes successfully.
• Represent Ofcom and advocate for the role of technology across a range of external industry and policy working groups, in order to shape the technology debate, the regulatory landscape and inform national policy.

Skills, knowledge and experience:

To be successful in this role, you will be able to demonstrate:

• Practical and theoretical expertise in the architectures, integration strategies, deployment models and operation of online networks and systems
• Understanding of key concepts in Safety by Design, cybersecurity, encryption standards and data privacy practices with practical knowledge of how these areas affect online safety.
• Practical knowledge of the operation of technical tools and techniques used in online content moderation, including AI-driven systems for text, image and video analysis, methods such as hash matching, keyword detection and rule-based filters, and user access control.
• Knowledge of assessment techniques to evaluate the performance and scalability of technology systems related to content moderation and user safety.
• Experience of working in a technical advisory role, with a focus on online safety, digital security, or internet governance is desirable.
• Articulating Ideas: The ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for non-technical audiences, including internal and external stakeholders, consumers, and policy areas.
• Harmonising work: The ability to work across organisational boundaries in multi-disciplinary project teams of policy professionals, technologists, data specialists and lawyers to understand requirements and their mapping to technical specifications and delivering business outcomes.
• Forming relationships: Strong interpersonal skills and evidence of an ability to interact effectively with, and influence, a range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Scanning Horizons: The ability to take a strategic view by identifying emerging trends, risks and opportunities and aligning decisions and actions with long-term goals to inform effective policy and delivery outcomes.

Qualifications

Educated to at least degree level (or equivalent) in a relevant engineering or science subject but candidates with evidence of equivalent demonstrable skills and experience in required specialist knowledge areas will also be considered.

Inclusivity Statement

Ofcom has a clear mission: to make communications work for everyone.  To be able to deliver on this, we want our organisation to reflect the diversity of background, experience, upbringing and thought that exists across the UK.  We aim to recruit from the widest pool of candidates possible – no matter your social background, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, or disability. 

Where positions are listed as full-time, we remain open to reduced hours, part-time arrangements, job shares, and other flexible working options. From day one, we champion flexible work arrangements to accommodate individual needs.

We also warmly welcome applicants who are returning to the workforce after a break – for whatever reason. If you have taken time away and are ready to rejoin, we look forward to reviewing your application.

Our recruitment processes prioritise accessibility and inclusivity. If you need adjustments, information in an alternative format, or prefer to apply in a different way, please contact us at [email protected] or call 0330 912 1378.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we offer interviews to disabled applicants who meet essential criteria for advertised roles. Learn more about this scheme here.  https://careers.ofcom.org.uk/careers/how-we-hire/