Senior Policy Adviser - Competition and Markets

Senior Policy Adviser - Competition and Markets

Company: Government Recruitment Service Salary: £42,391 - £50,282 Hours: Full-time Location: Belfast Job type: Permanent Posting date: 19 Aug 2026 Closing date: 31 Aug 2026

The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade is a great place to work, with wide ranging responsibilities across the economy that provide the opportunity to make a positive difference to people’s lives and the prosperity of the UK.

The Consumer & Competition Policy Directorate has just over 100 people, with the majority based in London and a small and growing number of colleagues based around the country. We are a welcoming and diverse directorate which exists to promote competition to drive growth and benefit consumers. We strive to deliver high-quality and evidence driven policy and we value and invest in the expertise of our staff and our relationships with partner organisations, companies and other key stakeholders. If you are successful, you’ll join a team of professional, expert and committed people motivated by public service and working collaboratively.

We strongly welcome applications from candidates from all backgrounds, with different experiences and perspectives.

Job Summary

This role would suit someone with the ambition to work in policy and a desire to make a positive impact. It provides an excellent opportunity to gain several core policy experiences. This includes leading on the design of policies right through to implementation, working with a wide range of stakeholders and helping to deliver a Bill through Parliament.

You would join the Markets Team which works to ensure markets deliver for consumers and businesses. We have two key work areas you would play a significant part in. First, we work with other departments to design and implement policies that will increase competition and improve outcomes for consumers. Second, we will be making reforms to the UK’s Competition Regime through a Bill in the coming months.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading on certain reforms to the Competition Regime, including finalising policy positions and parliamentary products. Once the Bill has been introduced you will act as a Bill Lead, steering the passage of your reforms through parliamentary processes. You may have the opportunity to support Ministers in Parliament.
• Designing and delivering pro-competitive policies. You will analyse a range of information and weigh up competing priorities to design and deliver the best solutions to problems. You will need to build good working relationships and collaborate with departments across government. You will be expected to operate with a considerable level of autonomy and take decisions using personal judgement.
• Managing cross-departmental projects. One of the ways we support other departments is by establishing and maintaining project processes. This involves organising meetings, coordinating activities across departments and keeping track of progress to ensure timely delivery.
• Leading for the team on responding to correspondence, briefing requests and other written products.

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