student support officer jobs

440799

£31,085 - £33,323

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%

Fixed term

Up to 12 months (minimum 3 months)

Economist

Flexible working, Full-time, Part-time

4

Edinburgh, London, Manchester

The Competition and Markets Authority has a number of exciting Economics Intern opportunities for enthusiastic economics graduates and students who are keen to develop their knowledge, technical skills and experience within a diverse, inclusive and international organisation dedicated to promoting competition for the benefit of consumers.

Economics is at the heart of the CMA’s work and the work of our economists really matters and makes a difference to people’s everyday lives. Recent cases have included:

• Assessing the potential impact on consumers of high profile mergers such as Microsoft/Activision and Vodafone/3;
• Undertaking a major market study into veterinary services for household pets;
• Designating Apple and Google with Strategic Market Status in the provision of their respective mobile platforms;
• Investigating widespread concerns into the way Ticketmaster sold Oasis tickets.

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;

• Engage with senior economists to develop the economic analysis in their projects, including developing economic theories to explain how competition can be affected and gathering evidence (such as drafting data or other information requests and survey questionnaires).
• Support the delivery of 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 publicly available information; and forming judgements as to how the analysis can be used in an investigation.
• Provide economic support on your project and present analysis, both orally and in writing, to teams that may include technical and non-technical audience (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 working relationships with colleagues across different professions in the CMA and with external stakeholders (such as parties to the investigation/inquiry).
• Develop own skills and knowledge in conjunction with line manager. The CMA provides various opportunities for training covering technical, economic and more general training.

A demonstrable interest in microeconomics, industrial organisation or competition economics will stand you in good stead to work on a variety of different cases and projects across the CMA. With the support of senior economists in their team, our Economics Interns have the opportunity to provide critical inputs for the CMA decision-making process by developing economic theories to assess competitive effects in markets, testing these theories through the analysis of a wide range of evidence and drawing conclusions from this analysis to present them to colleagues and decision-makers.

The CMA prides itself on being a great place to work and strives to ensure that staff have the opportunity to grow and expand their skills portfolio. Economics Interns are encouraged to take part in a wide range of learning and development opportunities available to the economics community, which includes training courses, lunchtime seminars and discussion groups on economics topics. We will also support you to develop your communication and drafting skills while at the CMA. This is a good opportunity to gain unique experience, giving Economics Interns useful tools to go on to apply for future permanent positions within the CMA, as has been the case for many Interns in the past.

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.

We welcome applications from candidates that have, or are in their final year on track to graduate with an upper second-class undergraduate degree with a strong microeconomics component or a postgraduate economics qualification, as well as students in the penultimate year of their undergraduate degree with a strong microeconomics component interested in a summer internship or placement as part of their sandwich course.

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.

• At least a 2:1 undergraduate degree in economics or a joint economics degree with a strong microeconomics component (or to be in your penultimate year of your undergraduate course and on track to graduate with 2:1 undergraduate degree) (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)).
• Interest, knowledge and understanding of microeconomics, industrial organisation or competition economics. (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:

• Understanding of microeconomics, industrial organisation or competition economics.
• Economic research and analysis skills

Alongside your salary of £31,085, Competition & Markets Authority contributes £9,005 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