Economic Advisor

Salary : £47,750 + £3,250 Economist Allowance

This role is for an economist to act as the lead economist on a range of cases, as well as contributing expertise to cases of other members of the team.
Main responsibilities

• Investigate and provide oral and written economic advice on a range of merger cases.
• Provide economic input to cases being considered by the European Commission, including contributing to development of a UK view for Advisory Committee meetings.
• Where appropriate, supervise the work and development of our Assistant Economists, including potentially a formal staff management role in due course.

Typically there are two people responsible for any given case, an economist and case officer. The economist has the lead role in the research and analysis. The level of responsibility is therefore high.
Cases are dealt with according to tight statutory timetables and economists can be working on between three and five cases at any one time. Key tasks for the case economist are:

• reviewing the written submission provided by the merging parties
• identifying further questions to ask them
• identifying questions to ask of third parties such as customers and competitors
• drawing together available research on the relevant markets
• analysing responses to questions and following-up as necessary
• writing an economic advice paper setting out findings.

In cases where significant competition issues may arise the case team present their findings for discussion at a Case Review Meeting involving senior staff from across the OFT. This then informs the final decision as to whether or not to refer the case to the Competition Commission.
The economist's written advice provides a key input to the published paper setting out the OFT's decision and the reasoning behind it.

How to apply

Download an application pack (Word 214kb). Please use the reference number OFT992a in all correspondence.
Closing date: 21 October 2012
The Office of Fair Trading is an equal opportunities employer.
Contact details:
email: recruitment@oft.gsi.gov.uk