Senior Director, Mergers

Salary:               £123,648 – £135,000 per annum plus benefits (SCS PB 2)

Location:          London or Edinburgh

Contract:          Permanent

Hours:               Full time / Part time / Flexible

As one of the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) two Senior Directors, Mergers, you will join the CMA at a critical juncture, as our global role in promoting competition and protecting consumers expands following the end of the EU Exit Transition Period. What this means for our mergers portfolio, is greater responsibility for investigating bigger trans-national mergers which would previously have been reviewed exclusively by the European Commission. We’ve invested in required people, skills and infrastructure to ensure that we continue to deliver high quality decisions that make a real impact for consumers, businesses and the UK economy, and we will achieve great outcomes by being bolder and more innovative than ever before, whilst ensuring that interventions are justified and our procedures are sound.

This is a pivotal and high-profile leadership role in which you will lead on the development of the CMA’s strategy and policy on mergers, providing coherent and inspiring leadership and development to the talented Mergers Group (c. 80 staff), whilst making a broader contribution to the strategic direction of the CMA as a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Specifically, you will:

• be accountable to the Executive Director, Markets and Mergers, the CEO, and the Board for the quality and timely delivery of merger cases. Your remit will include acting as the Decision Maker in relation to Phase 1 mergers.
• ensure the delivery of robust, high quality and timely work within the Mergers Group, working closely with the Legal Service as appropriate.
• be accountable for adherence to strict statutory deadlines and the high quality and robustness of this very publicly visible work.
• maximise the impact of the CMA’s merger activities through a strategic, prioritised and targeted approach to the casework programme in line with the procedural guidance.

You will also be an effective advocate for the CMA in the field of mergers policy and engage openly, professionally and proactively with key external stakeholders, representing the CMA externally, nationally and internationally, ensuring that the CMA enjoys a high reputation nationally and internationally for its mergers work.

For this high profile and influential role, you will possess:

• a proven track record and extensive experience of strategic leadership relevant to merger policy, including knowledge and understanding of Phase I & II merger law within the UK or EC framework.
• an extensive track record of successful delivery of a portfolio of merger cases with varying and stretching challenges, complexities and delivery timescales.
• outstanding leadership skills, including the ability to provide direction and deliver results which meet demanding quality and deadline requirements.
• evidence of having worked with senior decision makers and having influenced, at a high level, decisions on issues with economic or legal implications.

The role of Senior Director, Mergers is high profile, challenging, demanding, and rewarding. If you’re passionate about helping to make markets work better for the benefit of consumers, please click on the APPLY button for further details about this important role.

Closing date:   11:55pm on 31 January 2022.

The CMA are an accredited Disability Confident Employer, and we are an equal opportunities employer, welcoming suitably qualified applicants from all backgrounds. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.