Corporate Governance and Transparency Manager

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.

The role of Corporate Governance and Transparency Manager is part of the Governance team, which sits within the Corporate Services division. This small but dynamic team provides a wide array of corporate governance services, including managing governance frameworks, risk management processes, and internal controls within the GIAA.

The Corporate Governance and Transparency Manager holds a pivotal position within the Governance team and across the Agency. Working closely with senior colleagues, you will ensure the seamless delivery of a high-quality internal governance function. You will serve as the Agency’s lead on propriety, ethics, correspondence handling, and transparency reporting.

Job description

• Deliver high-quality corporate governance aligned with best practice, ensuring accountability, transparency, and integrity across the Agency by developing, maintaining, and continuously improving governance policies, procedures, and frameworks to ensure they are effective, proportionate, and accessible.
• Promote compliance with corporate governance policies and ethical standards, including conflicts of interest, gifts, and hospitality, through assurance checks and by embedding a culture of accountability and transparency.
• Oversee transparency and information governance requirements, including publication schemes and external reporting obligations.
• Lead the development and continuous improvement of correspondence management policies and procedures in line with regulatory and statutory requirements (e.g., UK GDPR, FOIA, Data (Use and Access) Act 2025) and ensuring alignment with organisational policies, Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) expectations, and lessons learned.
• Manage external correspondence processes including Freedom of Information requests, Data Subject Access Requests, complaints, and enquiries.
• Manage the Agency's whistleblowing arrangements, ensuring compliance with organisational policies while maintaining confidentiality and protecting the integrity of the process.
• Support effective organisational decision making by managing and delivering high-quality committee secretary services, preparing and presenting reports, analysis, and recommendations to senior committees. Provide governance advice and guidance to Directors, Board members, and colleagues as required.
• Manage and/or contribute to governance projects and complex work programmes as required. Examples include implementing innovative governance systems and practices, managing Non-Executive Director recruitment, co-ordinating the production of the Annual Report, and co-ordinating governance effectiveness reviews.
• Provide leadership and day-to-day oversight of the Governance Support Officer (Executive Officer), supporting their development and performance.
• Maintain an up-to-date understanding of government, regulatory, legal, political, and technological developments relevant to corporate governance.

Person specification

1. Strong knowledge of relevant legislation, including the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000, Environmental Information Regulations, the General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.
2. Proven experience in managing and responding to external correspondence, including complaints, FOI requests, and Data Subject Access Requests, in compliance with statutory timescales and organisational standards, with the ability to maintain strict confidentiality and ensure compliant information management.
3. Ability to identify, assess, and mitigate risks through proactive monitoring and effective controls, while taking initiative to lead areas of responsibility with a positive, solution-focused approach demonstrated by a strong track record of delivering or improving administrative processes and efficiencies.
4. Excellent planning and organisational skills with experience managing reactive and proactive workloads and delivering complex work programmes. Adept at prioritising, adapting to change, and staying resilient. Collaborative, with a proven ability to work with stakeholders and teams to achieve shared goals.
5. A confident decision maker, exercising good judgement and with experience of providing high-quality advice to a wide range of colleagues, including senior stakeholders.
6. Experience as an effective and value-adding committee secretary.
7. Line management experience, including supporting and developing team members to achieve high-quality outcomes, managing performance, and embedding accountability.

To apply for this role, you will need to submit your employment history, personal details and provide a statement of suitability of no more than 1,000 words, referring to the person specification.

Please note only your statement of suitability will be assessed at the sift stage.

Candidates invited to interview will be required to complete a written exercise to test their technical skills in advance of the interviews.

Candidates will be asked to present the output to the interview panel, and this will be followed by questions. One score will be given for the presentation and another for the follow-up questions.

Candidates invited to interview will be assessed on experience and strengths, with technical skills being assessed through the written exercise.

Technical skills

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

• Comprehension skills, written communication, subject matter understanding, practical application, audience awareness, presentation and professional judgement

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £48,889, Government Internal Audit Agency contributes £14,163 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• 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

Artificial intelligence

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 (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

Recruitment Timeline

• Closing date: 27 September 2026
• Shortlisting: 02 October 2026
• Interviews: 14 October 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 basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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) (opens in a new window)
• 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 (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window).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 theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) 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 : giaarecruitment@giaa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : giaarecruitment@giaa.gov.uk

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: GIAARecruitment@giaa.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

SEO-Corporate Governance and Transparency Manager-Candidate Pack (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 935kB)