Board Secretary and Head of Governance

Details
Reference number

438736

Salary

£77,124 - £84,724

National £73,142 - £79,550

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

GBP

Job grade

Grade 6

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

GIAA: OD5 – CSD - Corporate Services

Type of role

Governance

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time, Part-time

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

• Location
• About the job
• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

Location

Birmingham, Bootle, Croydon, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Swansea

About the job
Job summary

The Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) is driven by its unparalleled access across government to build better insights, better outcomes for our clients. This role offers a strong platform for career progression within the Agency and the wider civil service, providing opportunities to develop leadership, stakeholder engagement and strategic relationship management skills across government. The Agency's unique access across the public sector exposes you to different risk and control environments, allowing you to gain insights, apply experience, contribute meaningfully, and continue developing professionally.

Job description

The Board Secretary and Head of Governance is responsible for leading the development, implementation and continuous improvement of the Agency's governance, risk and assurance frameworks and practices. In this role, you will ensure that robust systems are in place to support effective decision-making, management of risk, transparency and accountability.

You will be required to manage a small team of subject matter experts and collaborate widely across the organisation and wider government to embed a strong governance, risk and assurance culture.

You will play a critical role in maintaining the integrity and effectiveness of the Agency's decision-making and risk management processes, ensuring that the Board, its Committees and the Chief Executive are supported to meet their responsibilities.

You will be required to use your depth of governance knowledge to provide expert advice to senior leaders and non-executive members on governance matters, oversee the management of governance forums, act as the functional lead for counter fraud, manage the production of the Annual Report and Accounts and drive the Agency's approach to transparency and assurance through the management of the official correspondence system.

Person specification

Role responsibilities

• Leading the development, implementation and continuous improvement of the Agency's governance, risk and assurance frameworks.
• Advising the Board and Executive team on complex governance issues, providing authoritative guidance on statutory obligations, government requirements and best practice.
• Serving as Board Secretary, overseeing the cyclical programme of Board and Committee meetings ensuring effective agendas, decision recording and forward planning. Identifying opportunities to improve Board effectiveness and embedding high-quality governance practices.
• Ensuring the Board operates within the principles of the Corporate governance code for central government departments.
• Leading on recruitment, training, and ongoing support for non-executive directors.
• Developing, implementing and continuously improving the Agency's risk management framework and policies. Assessing and prioritising current and emerging risks, providing reports on risk exposures, trends and mitigation across the organisation.
• Planning and overseeing assurance activities to provide evidence of effective management of risk. This includes the annual self-assessment of compliance with functional standards expectations as well as assurance to the Chief Executive on the effectiveness of the internal control environment.
• Being the functional lead for counter fraud for the Agency with responsibility for developing and implementing the Counter Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Strategy and maintaining the corporate policy and response plan.
• Leading the annual production of the Annual Report and Accounts to ensure it is laid before Parliament in a timely manner and compliant with the Financial Reporting Manual.
• Building and maintaining influential relationships with senior stakeholders in the Agency, particularly with the Executive team and the Board.
• Developing a culture of continuous improvement and initiatives within governance processes, and leading by example in adopting new, innovative and technological practices.

Person Specification:

• Substantial experience leading corporate governance functions in a government or public sector setting, including working with Boards, and senior executives on complex governance matters.
• Sound judgement and highly developed diplomacy skills with experience of working with sensitive and confidential information.
• Strong people leadership experience, able to foster a culture with a well-rounded knowledge of employee relations, resourcing, learning and development, policies and procedures and diversity and inclusion.
• An excellent communicator both in writing and in person who can calibrate style depending on the audience.
• Able to deliver at pace and manage several competing priorities.
• Highly collaborative with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to influence, persuade and communicate with senior stakeholders

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £77,124, Government Internal Audit Agency contributes £22,342 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Benefits

• Competitive salaries and in-year rewards
• Flexible working
• A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• Discount on big brands
• Volunteering days
• Season Ticket Loan and Cycle to Work Schemes
• Free eyesight tests
• Family-friendly HR policies
• 25 days' annual leave increasing by one day per year of service to 30 days after 5 years' service
• Geographically based Agency

Things you need to know
Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles , and will assess your Strengths and Experience.

Recruitment Timeline

• Closing date: 15 December 2025
• Shortlisting communicated to candidates w/c 05 January 2026
• Interviews: 20 January 2026

This timeline is indicative and may be subject to change. We will inform you if there is a substantial change to the recruitment timeline.

If your contact details change at any time during the selection process, please ensure you update your Civil Service Jobs profile.

Please note that only applications submitted through Civil Service Jobs will be accepted.

Eligibility Statement

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role in the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. Checks will be performed as part of pre-employment checks in line with this. Please refer to the Candidate FAQ document attached to the advert for more information.

Everyone working with government assets must complete Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks. Additionally, individuals appointed to the Treasury group will be subject to National Security Vetting. The level of security vetting required for this role is Security Check (SC)

To allow for meaningful checks to be carried out, applicants will need to have lived in the UK for at least 3 out of the past 5 years. In exceptional circumstances, for example if you have been working abroad on a government posting, a lack of residency would not be a bar to security clearance however the Department will need to consider eligibility on a case-by-case basis once the advert closing date has passed.

Please read the Vetting Charter for information on what to expect during the vetting process and what will be expected from you. Many areas of your life may be explored during your vetting journey, and it is important that every individual, regardless of their background and experiences, should feel comfortable going through this personal process, whilst having confidence that it is fair, proportionate, and inclusive.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check .

See our vetting charter .

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles .

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

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 .

Apply and further information

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

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

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

Contact point for applicants
Job contact :

• Name : Katie Woodhouse
• Email :

Recruitment team

• Email :

Further information

Complaints Procedure: The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact: in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

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