Principal Economist

Principal Economist – Competition and Research

Full time/Part Time

Salary:          £55,591 - £62,793 pa, with potential for further progression to £70,907 pa with our pay progression scheme. ​

Location:     Flexible hybrid working across the UK

Contracted to our Wilmslow, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast office, however, through hybrid working we offer flexible home and office-based working opportunities. There will be times when you will be expected to attend the office to collaborate with colleagues or travel due to business need.

Why work for the ICO?

• Pay progression scheme.
• Hybrid and flexible working options.
• 25 days paid holiday per year, plus privilege and public holidays.
• Flexi leave (up to 26 additional days leave per year).
• Pension (employer contribution around 26.6%).
• Online discount scheme to save money at major supermarkets, retailers, gyms, restaurants, insurance providers and many more.
• Health Cash Plan.
• Fantastic development opportunities to learn and progress.

Further details can be found on the benefits section of our website .

About us

The ICO is the UK’s independent regulator for information rights, promoting data privacy for individuals and openness in public bodies. We regulate under a wide range of legislation, including responsibilities for data protection and freedom of information.

With economists located across the UK (Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, Wilmslow), we offer an inclusive environment and provide flexible working conditions and a range of training and development opportunities. This includes:

• a structured economics profession including targeted learning and development opportunities, and visibility of career development pathways;
• membership of the Government Economic Service (GES);
• networking opportunities and a mechanism for social learning, sharing insight and good practice
• opportunities to do work to enhance diversity and inclusion within economics.

The ICO’s work is interesting and immensely rewarding – it is of national importance and increasingly in the public eye. We are at the forefront of information rights policy development, providing direct advice to the public, and enforcing the UK’s data protection and freedom of information laws. We hold a unique position as a regulator across the whole of the private, public and third sectors.

As an employer, we are passionate about making a positive difference to the lives and careers of our people, and we empower you to be curious, impactful, collaborative and inclusive. We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to pursue a fulfilling and engaging career, able to acquire new skills and enjoy a supportive working environment.

Further details about being an economist at the ICO can be found on our website: Economic Analysis | ICO

About the role

Do you want to be part of the team that produces economic analysis and research to support decision making and regulatory policy development?

We have an opportunity for a Principal Economist to join our team to take a leading role in our work related to understanding and measuring economic growth, competition and innovation and their interaction with data protection, in the markets we regulate. The team’s work includes:

• Using economic principles and theories to identify and measure existing and emerging markets, including exploring barriers to entry and barriers to growth;
• Developing and carrying out research and providing inputs to estimate the economic, social and public costs, benefits, and trade-offs of our policy decisions;
• Applying behavioural economics thinking to explore consumer decisions and preferences about use of their personal data;
• Developing economic models to inform and support legislative changes;
• Providing Quality Assurance for analysis, following the Aqua Book;
• Providing learning resources and training across the organisation, to ensure there is common understanding of the interactions between economic growth, competition and innovation and data protection, and increase awareness of the role of analytical Quality Assurance;
• Engaging and developing relevant external stakeholder networks, via engagement with regulatory counterparts, government and academia.  

Whether the issue is understanding the value of data, the interaction of privacy and competition or the impact of measures to protect children online, economics is vital to our understanding of dat