JOB DESCRIPTION
REFERENCE
NUMBER
OFT834
JOB TITLE Economic Adviser
GRADE
7
AREA M&P
GROUP
Mergers
LOCATION
Fleetbank House
DATE
March 22nd 2010
RESPONSIBLE TO G6
RESPONSIBLE FOR— PEOPLE
Potential for supervision of an Assistant Economist
RESPONSIBLE FOR – BUDGET
none
JOB PURPOSE
The Office of Fair Trading role is to make markets work well for consumers. Its Mergers team
investigates up to 150 individual merger cases each year to assess whether they may harm
consumers by significantly reducing competition. Where this may be the case it either accepts
undertakings from the merged firm to resolve the problems identified or refers the case for
further review by the Competition Commission.
The 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. It is an excellent opportunity
for an economist to apply economic knowledge in a very practical way. The caseload is
diverse and offers first-hand experience of commercial issues across many sectors, involving
regular contact with senior business people and their advisers. You would be part of a 10-
strong economics team.
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES/KEY DUTIES
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