Senior Associate, Online Safety Supervision

ofcom; Manchester; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Ofcom is seeking Senior Associate roles within the Online Safety Group for two fixed-term positions expected to last 12 months. The role focuses on supervising key online services, building relationships with industry, and ensuring protection measures align with the Online Safety Act 2023.

The team supports governance, risk assessment and programme delivery across a range of services. You will supervise service providers, develop supervision strategies, and collaborate with cross-functional

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain strong relationships with relevant online services
• Develop deep expertise in supervised services and the online safety programme
• Understand and drive improvements in user protections and obligations under the Online Safety Act
• Identify and drive research and analysis on the services you supervise
• Produce clear, concise documents for internal or external publication
• Oversee and manage workload of junior and cross-functional colleagues
• Coordinate with Ofcom teams to ensure updates, involvement and feedback are heard
• Support and deliver initiatives across the Supervision Team, e.g., cross-regulatory engagement
• Provide updates on services supervised and align engagement with Ofcom's strategic aims

Job description

Closing Date: 28/09/2026

Group: Online Safety Group

Management Level: Senior Associate

Job Type: Fixed Term (Fixed Term)

We have two fixed-term positions available, we expect them to last for 12 months.

About the Team

The Online Safety Group's purpose is to ensure UK citizens have a safer life online by implementing and overseeing the requirements under the Online Safety Act 2023. The Group is responsible for delivering online safety policy, supervising online services, and building technical expertise to meet the regime's aims.

This role sits within Ofcom's Supervision Team. The Supervision Team provides close, structured engagement with specific services in scope of the online safety regime, alongside an approach to promoting compliance across many thousands of services. This role will consider industry practices in good governance and standards in online safety risk assessments, working closely with other specialist teams in Ofcom and the supervision team to identify improvements.

Purpose of the Role

Our Supervision Senior Associates manage our engagement with some of the online services people use every day. You will directly supervise key tech firms, building healthy relationships so we can understand their user protections and, where necessary, encourage them to do better. As you grow into the role, we'll support you in building your knowledge of online safety measures and the services you supervise, so you can become an expert in protecting users from harmful and illegal content.

You will be working as part of a team to supervise a portfolio of key services. You will develop supervision strategies for each service and report on progress against them to the wider Online Safety Group. You will be Ofcom's main point of contact for your services, ensuring that all of Ofcom's engagement and requests for information align with its strategic aims while balancing proportionality.

Senior Supervision Associates also play a role in compliance delivery programmes across key harm areas, which align with Ofcom's strategic priorities. This activity involves driving programme management across several services.

Content information and safeguarding

Applicants should be aware that whilst these roles should not involve direct exposure to illegal content, they could include working time spent on distressing content, material, and themes. Ofcom is committed to safeguarding our colleagues who undertake this type of work and offers a range of tailored support options, including training, annual psychological assessments for those regularly doing this work and 24-hour access to counselling services.

Your key responsibilities

• Build and maintain strong relationships with relevant online services
• Develop deep expertise in your supervised services and across Ofcom's online safety programme, keeping across online safety, markets and tech developments
• Understand, assess and, where necessary, drive improvements in protections offered to users and other obligations under the Online Safety Act
• Identify and drive research, information gathering and analysis about the services you supervise and ensure analysis and outputs are drawn together for the wider team
• Ensure the delivery of clear, concise and focused documents, such as briefings and research reports, for internal use or external publication
• Oversee and manage the workload of junior and cross-functional colleagues as needed to ensure we deliver against our strategic priorities
• Build and maintain effective relationships with teams across Ofcom that work with us, ensuring they are updated, included and feel heard
• Deliver or contribute to initiatives across the Supervision Team to support our strategy, e.g. international or cross-regulatory engagement or developing expertise in specific markets
• Ensure clear communication and information sharing at all levels with the rest of the Online Safety Group and deliver clear updates on the services you supervise when requested.
• Drive effective programme management of compliance delivery for a strategic priority, including developing OKRs, effective prioritisation of issues, and supporting and working with relevant supervision teams to help them meet deadlines.