Senior Regulation Manager

About Us

We are an arms length body of the Welsh Government, responsible for the strategy, funding and oversight of:

• further education
• higher education including research and innovation;
• apprenticeships
• adult community learning; and local authority maintained school sixth forms.

We work in close collaboration with our partners to enable a tertiary education and research system which is centred around the needs of learners; society; and economy with excellence, equality and engagement at its heart.

Our values really matter to us, they help shape the culture of our organisation:

• Dysgu (to learn; to teach; to educate) - learning is at the heart of everything we do. We believe curiosity fuels innovation and helps expand our horizons.
• Cydweithio (to work together; to collaborate; to co-operate) - we can achieve far more together than we ever could alone.
• Cynnwys Pawb (to include everyone; to involve everyone) - we are passionate about inclusion, seeking to create the right conditions for everyone to achieve their full potential.
• Rhagori (to exceed; to excel) - we have high aspirations for tertiary education and research in Wales and always set high standards for ourselves to be the best we can be.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and accredited as a Living Wage employer.

Location

Our headquarters is in 2, Capital Quarter, Cardiff, which has been specifically designed to meet our needs. This is where most colleagues will meet to collaborate, both with each other and with stakeholders.

As we operate across Wales, we also have limited office and collaboration space in Welsh Government offices in Llandudno Junction, Aberystwyth, Swansea and Merthyr Tydfil.

Main Purpose of the Job

To lead the day‑to‑day operational delivery of Medrs regulatory functions under the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022 and other associated regulations.

The role manages Medrs annual regulatory cycle, oversees regulatory casework and decision‑support processes, and ensures that providers meet conditions through proportionate and risk‑based oversight.

The postholder manages regulation officers and ensures the consistency, quality and timeliness of regulatory work so that Medr delivers its statutory responsibilities effectively.

What you'll be doing

• Leading the day‑to‑day delivery of Medrs regulatory processes, ensuring they are completed accurately, proportionately and on time.
• Building and maintaining constructive working relationships with providers, Welsh Government and other partners.
• Coordinating the annual regulatory cycle, including monitoring, evidence reviews, compliance checks, and issue‑resolution processes.
• Managing and supporting Regulation Officers, providing direction, quality assurance, and coaching on complex or sensitive regulatory cases.
• Ensuring that all regulatory decisions and actions are documented to a high standard, meeting governance and audit requirements.
• Preparing summaries, briefings and recommendations for senior management and Medrs Board.
• Managing escalated issues, identifying risks, and determining when matters should be referred upwards.
• Working with colleagues across Medr to maintain consistency of regulatory interpretation and approach.
• Identifying opportunities to improve processes, templates, guidance or data handling to support clearer and more efficient regulation.

Key Challenges

• Ensuring regulatory processes are applied consistently, proportionately and within required timeframes across diverse provider types.
• Balancing operational delivery with ongoing process improvements and changing regulatory expectations.
• Managing staff capacity, competing demands and multiple concurrent regulatory cases.
• Supporting providers to understand and meet their regulatory obligations while maintaining clear expectations around compliance.
• Exercising sound judgement when managing escalation or higher‑risk casework, ensuring clear documentation and effective onward referral.
• Keeping up to date with emerging regulatory issues, sector developments and legislative requirements.

About your team

You will join the Regulation Directorate, which ensures that tertiary education providers in Wales meet Medrs regulatory requirements and maintain high standards. The team plays a critical role in protecting learners and public investment by overseeing compliance with a range of conditions, promoting confidence in the sector.

Our work spans a wide range of responsibilities, including monitoring and ensuring compliance, responding to issues, and advising on improvements that strengthen accountability and learner outcomes. We work collaboratively with colleagues across Medr and with external partners to apply regulation consistently and fairly, helping to build a strong and sustainable tertiary education system.

You will join a growing team including the Head of Provider Compliance, a Regulation Manager and two Regulation Officers.

About your line manager

Andrew Pickford, Head of Provider Compliance

What you'll bring

Attributes

• Accountable - Takes ownership of tasks and responsibilities, ensuring that commitments are met and results are delivered with integrity and reliability.
• Drive - Demonstrates a strong commitment to achieving results, showing determination, initiative, and a willingness to take necessary actions to meet goals
• Motivating- Inspires and energises others to perform at their best, encouraging enthusiasm, engagement, and commitment towards shared goals and objectives.
• Resilient - Maintains focus, composure, and effectiveness in the face of challenges, pressures, and adversity, bouncing back quickly from setbacks.

Experience

• You must have substantial experience working directly for a regulator or statutory assurance body (e.g., inspection, oversight, audit), in a role with clear responsibility for regulating external organisations and applying statutory or rule‑based requirements.
• You must have substantial experience making regulatory judgements on individual cases, using evidence and risk to produce clear, well‑reasoned recommendations that directly inform formal regulatory decisions.
• Experience of building and maintaining constructive working relationships with external stakeholders in a regulatory setting.

Welsh Language requirements

We have evaluated that the Welsh language requirements for this post are:

Desirable

Welsh desirable means that while having Welsh language skills is useful for the role, it is not an assessment criterion, so it wont disadvantage you during recruitment if you dont currently possess these skills.