nhs interpreting jobs

440790

£38,085 - £42,505

Applicants new to the civil service will be recruited at the minimum of the pay band for the grade of the position into which they are appointed. Only in exceptional circumstances will a salary above the minimum be considered, based on skills, knowledge, experience and qualifications demonstrated through the recruitment process, and also equity with staff internal to the CMA.

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Permanent

Economist

Flexible working, Full-time, Part-time

5

Edinburgh, London, Manchester

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is one of the world's top competition and consumer agencies. At a time when the UK economy faces unprecedented challenges and the UK Government is focussed on its growth mission, it is vital the CMA is able to provide high-quality economic analysis to inform effective interventions in markets, influence policies and protect both consumers and businesses, presenting new opportunities for skilled Assistant Economists.

Economics is at the heart of the CMA’s work. We have a number of exciting opportunities that call for enthusiastic economists keen to work on investigations within a diverse, inclusive and international organisation dedicated to making a positive societal impact by promoting competition for the benefit of consumers.

As an Assistant Economist, you will have the opportunity to work on diverse cases across the full range of projects the CMA undertakes. Such cases have recently included:

• Assessing the potential impact on consumers of high profile mergers such as Microsoft/Activision and Vodafone/3;
• Taking action against pharmaceutical companies accused of over-charging the NHS;
• Undertaking major market investigations into vets and cloud computing;
• Investigating concerns over the pricing of Oasis concert tickets on Ticketmaster.

You can read more about working at the CMA in our candidate pack

Information about the working as an Economist at the CMA can also be found here.

Further details on the CMA can be found on the CMA’s YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X pages.

Learn more about the CMA, have the opportunity to ask questions and get tips on how to apply in our Intern/Assistant Economist webinar on 17 December 2025 at 17:00. In this webinar you will hear from a panel of CMA economists about their career journeys, what makes the CMA a great place to work, the roles available, the application process, and tips and tricks for how you can ensure your application showcases your skills. Please complete this form to register your interest by 17:00 on 16 December 2025 - CMA economics recruitment webinar

Key responsibilities will include;

• Work with senior economists to develop the economic analysis in their projects, including developing economic theories to explain how competition can be affected, gathering evidence (for example, drafting data or other information requests and survey questionnaires), and identifying how the economic analysis contributes to the CMA’s projects.
• Deliver economic analysis under the guidance of more senior economists. Responsibilities may include carrying out industry research, compiling datasets and analysing them; assessing and interpreting evidence and submissions; identifying relevant academic papers or other sources of publicly available information; and forming judgments as to how the analysis can be used in an investigation.
• Communicating, both orally and in writing, in particular by drafting sections of working papers and published reports. This includes presentation of economic analysis to both technical and non-technical audiences (economists and non-economists).
• Manage own time to ensure work is delivered to the agreed timescale, ensuring managers are kept informed of relevant analysis and potential risks or limitations.
• Establish effective working relationships with colleagues across different professions in the CMA and with external stakeholders (such as parties to the investigation/inquiry).
• Develop own skills, knowledge and career in the CMA in conjunction with line manager. The CMA provides a structured training programme covering technical, economic training and more general training.
• Whilst the role holder will typically not have staff or work management responsibility, they may, on occasion, manage Economic Interns.
• Contribute to the wider intellectual development of the team of professional economists, for example presenting at staff seminars/workshops and providing feedback from conferences or courses attended.

The CMA is also home to the Digital Markets Unit; a new body established by the UK government to promote greater competition and innovation in fast-moving digital markets. In addition, CMA economists ensure the competition implications of policies are considered through the work of the Subsidy Advice Unit and the Office for the Internal Market. The CMA’s Microeconomics Unit, located at the Darlington Economic Campus, leads economic research into competition, innovation, productivity and related issues. Economist positions in the Microeconomics Unit will be advertised separately.

You will join a diverse community of economists, working in a collaborative, supportive and collegiate atmosphere. You will work in agile, dedicated and friendly teams undertaking economic analysis to assess competitive effects in a variety of markets with your work directly benefiting consumers.

You will be ideally placed to identify and benefit from opportunities for career progression across the organisation and you will discover a working environment where there is a real emphasis on learning and development. Our structured training, as well as the wider Civil Service training programme, provides a range of opportunities for continuous learning to develop your economic expertise and includes training courses, lunchtime seminars and discussion groups. We will also support and encourage you to develop your wider skills, such as communication, drafting, or management.

We welcome applications from candidates that have, or are in their final year working towards (on track to graduate with the required qualification by September 2026), a 2:1 undergraduate degree in economics or a joint economics degree with a strong microeconomics component or a postgraduate economics qualification.

It is essential that you can provide evidence and examples for each of the following selection criteria in your application. If you do not meet the lead selection criteria in your application, the panel will not be required to score your application against the remaining essential criteria of the role.

For tips on how to make the most your application, please have a look at our guidance document.

• Post-graduate degree in economics OR at least a 2:1 undergraduate degree in economics or a joint economics degree with a strong microeconomics component (or be in your final year of studies and on track to graduate with the required qualification by September 2026) (Lead Criteria; to be answered using the ‘Personal Statement’ within the application – you only need to state the title of your degree(s) and grade(s)).
• Knowledge and understanding of microeconomics and the ability to communicate technical economic analysis to non-technical audiences (Lead Criteria; to be answered using the ‘Role Specific Question’ within the application).
• Ability to research, design, develop and deliver economic analysis to tight deadlines with experience of gathering, summarising and presenting information to a high standard (to be answered using the ‘Personal Statement’ within the application).
• Sound verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to produce documents that can be tailored to a wide variety of audiences (to be answered using the ‘Personal Statement’ within the application).
• Ability to establish and manage working relationships and to work in teams to deliver successful outcomes (to be answered using the ‘Personal Statement’ within the application).

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Knowledge and understanding of microeconomics
• Economic research and analysis skills

Alongside your salary of £38,085, Competition & Markets Authority contributes £11,033 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

You’ll also get:

• 25 days leave (increasing to 30 days over five years), plus 8 public holidays and an additional day off for the King’s birthday. In addition, you’ll be able to access a wide range of other types of leave as and when you need it, including generous maternity, paternity, shared parental leave and adoption options, as well as paid special leave for volunteering
• Season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, flu vaccinations and eye tests
• Access to the Civil Service Sports & Leisure, giving discounted gym membership, high street discounts, free access to UK wide attractions and a free Tastecard
• A range of wellbeing benefits, including an employee assistance programme, flexible working options and family friendly policies, regular networking events and professional learning opportunities at work

You can read more about our benefits in our candidate pack.

Our Values

We are Ambitious and Evidence-based, and always strive for Excellence. We treat everyone with Respect and are Collaborative and Inclusive.

Everything we do is underpinned by the Civil Service values: Honesty, Integrity, Impartiality and Objectivity.

You can read more about life at the CMA in our candidate pack.

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Job contact :

• Name : Tom Skidmore
• Email : recruitment@cma.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@cma.gov.uk