Governance Manager, SEO, Perm, Liverpool/ London

Job summary

• This role will be stretching and rewarding in equal measure. You will regularly interact with both executive members of the leadership team and Board Members. You will also have sufficient autonomy to put your expertise into practice, acting on your own judgement and building positive relationships with those stakeholders.

With important operational responsibility, you will support effective governance of the Charity Commission working within the Governance Framework, ensuring processes run smoothly, comply with agreed standards, and adapt to changing business needs. This will include coordinating and delivering high-quality governance support to Senior Leaders and Board Members, and providing practical, professional governance advice in line with established policies and procedures. You will also deliver a high-quality and well-organised secretariat service, preparing agendas, commissioning, drafting, reviewing and issuing papers, and taking accurate minutes for governance groups as required. This will include deputising for the Head of Governance.

Job description

Key Responsibilities:

• Operate in line with the Governance Framework, Governance Handbook, Framework Document and Scheme of Delegation, reviewing materials at agreed intervals, identifying areas for improvement, and highlighting gaps or non-compliance with a recommended course of action to the Head of Governance for decision.
• Provide a high-quality and well-organised secretariat service and governance advice. This will include but is not limited to the Casework Risk Committee and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee. This includes managing forward plans, agreeing agendas, drafting, commissioning and reviewing papers, negotiating timelines with authors and presenters, and issuing final packs in line with agreed service standards.
• Anticipate, analyse and respond to novel or emerging issues by identifying pragmatic and proportionate options within governance parameters, escalating appropriately with clear supporting evidence.
• Take accurate, well-structured minutes that reflect discussions, decisions and rationale, and maintains comprehensive action logs to ensure timely delivery of all actions by their owners.
• Build productive working relationships with Board Members, senior leaders and colleagues across the organisation, providing clear and practical advice on governance procedure, due process and propriety, and guiding stakeholders to apply governance requirements consistently.
• Contacts will also include other Government departments, e.g., DCMS up to and including SCS and other public bodies
• Supports the design and delivery of the Board Induction Programme and ongoing development activities, ensuring materials remain current, accessible and aligned with organisational needs.
• Coordinate the production of inputs to the Accountability Report and contributes to the Annual Report and Accounts process with the Head of Governance, working closely with Finance and Commercial partners to meet required timelines.
• Upholds strong information management practice, ensuring appropriate handling, security classification, version control and accessibility standards for governance materials. Implementing processes as necessary to support this.
• Supports business continuity by ensuring the smooth operation of governance and secretariat activities deputising for the Head of Governance, maintaining meeting cycles, monitoring emerging issues, and escalating risks or concerns with clear and evidenced recommendations
• Contributes to continuous improvement activities by reviewing internal processes, templates and systems, identifying opportunities to strengthen the governance function, and supporting lessons-learned activity across the annual cycle.

Please note that this role sits within the Corporate Office team which provides support and advice to the Chair, Chief Executive, and the Executive Leadership Team. From time to time, you may be required to perform duties that contribute to wider Corporate Office objectives.

Person specification

Ability:

• Excellent written and verbal skills to articulate complex compliance policies and reports clearly
• Strong planning skills to manage governance calendars, draft board papers, and maintain accurate decision and action logs.
• Excellent Communication and stakeholder management, with the ability to influence, communicate and build consensus among diverse groups.
• Able to confidently and appropriately problem solve in the absence of direction
• Able to proactively plan, prioritise and work collaboratively at all levels.
• Ability to influence colleagues to meet agreed deadlines and to deliver against agreed action
• Ability to constructively challenge others, often senior leaders

Experience:

• Experience of having supported Board or Committees
• Experience in charity, public sector or similar governance environment
• Demonstrable track record of attention to detail, including reporting writing, briefing and minute taking.
• A proven track record of building and sustaining trusted relationships with senior management and team members through clear communication, and engagement.
• Highly organised, resilient and delivery-focused, able to manage competing priorities at pace

Technical:

• Understanding of governance principles and practice
• Understanding of the Charity Commission’s role.
• Proficient IT literacy skills, including MS Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,027, Charity Commission contributes £12,754 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

This is your chance to make a contribution that really matters and to make an impact in an organisation where your voice will be heard and your hard work noticed.

Watch this short video to find out more about us.

We operate a flexible hybrid working policy where office attendance is combined with at least 3 days homeworking per week dependent on role requirements.

We recognise everyone as an individual, accepting people for who they are and treating everyone fairly. We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring from all backgrounds and we aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We champion inclusion and wellbeing, aiming to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and has a sense of belonging.

We do not discriminate on the basis of culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor.

We offer access to the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme (employer contributions of 28.97%), far more than in the private sector, and a flexible, family-friendly environment. Additionally, you can look forward to other great benefits via our ‘Perkbox’ and ‘Edenred’ schemes. These include everything from an interest-free season ticket loan and bicycle loan (after two months) to discounts on gym membership, cinema tickets and restaurants. Please see the attached Charity Commission benefits document.

A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30 days per year.

The Charity Commission’s operational ambition is to realise the Commission’s values of being an expert regulator that is fair, balanced, and independent, which works in a way that is supportive, collaborative, and innovative to achieve our ambitions. We want to develop our capability to regulate charities to realise this goal and meet our statutory and public duties to ensure that charity in England and Wales can deliver maximum benefit to society in a way that upholds its reputation in the eyes of the public.

Work at the Charity Commission and you’ll make a difference every day to:

• The 170,000 charities of all shapes and sizes that we regulate across England and Wales.
• The trustees we partner with and advise.
• The people and causes that benefit from the £10bn generously donated each year by the public.

Find out more about working for us here.

To note: Any move across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018 may have implications on an employee’s ability to carry on claiming childcare vouchers.

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 Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

To apply for this post, you must complete an online application with the following:

• A blind CV setting out your Job History/Full Qualifications/Previous skill and experiences.
• A Personal Statement (maximum 1000 words) demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria for the role outlined on the Job Description.

We will assess your CV and Personal Statement against the Essential criteria for the role.

We will ask you to carry out a presentation at interview and we will assess you against Strengths the following Behaviours at interview:

• Seeing the Bigger Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service

Interview Arrangements

Interviews will be taking place Face to Face in our Liverpool and London Offices

The sift is due to take place on the 29/06/2026

Interviews will be held on:

• London 09/07/2026
• Liverpool 15/07/2026

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

At the interview, the panel can then probe further and ask applicants to provide further specific examples that show how they best demonstrate their skills.

We reserve the right to raise the score required at any stage of the process to manage numbers.

Behaviours:

The distinguishing Behaviours (the required skills, knowledge, and behaviours) for this role are set out in the Civil Service Behaviours Framework 2018 (Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) and should be referred to when making this application.

You are required, under the Behaviours approach, to describe how you have dealt with a specific situation.

You must give evidence of your knowledge, skills, and behaviours and how you have applied this, such as what you did or said and how you interacted with other people.

When you are giving your examples, do not spend too many words on description and background information. Avoid using general or unspecific statements. Instead say what the situation was, what you did, what your thought process was and what was the result.

This post is full time however those applicants who do or wish to work an alternative working pattern are welcome to apply. The preferred working pattern may or may not be available. You should discuss this with the vacancy holder.

Reasonable Adjustment:

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled persons, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via Charitycommissionrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
• Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Reserve Lists:

If we have more successful candidates than available vacancies, we will hold a 12-month reserve list as standard.

During that time, we may use the list to fill the same, or similar roles with closely matching essential criteria, without further testing of merit. Any appointments from the Reserve list will be made in strict merit order.

Applying:

We recognise everyone as an individual, accepting people for who they are and treating everyone fairly.

All applications for these vacancies must be made online. There are limited exceptions to this. Paper applications will only be considered if you have a disability that will prevent you from applying online. If this is the case, please email Charitycommissionrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Once you have submitted your application it cannot be amended; only submit your application when you have completely finished and answered all the relevant questions.

Please note that late applications will not be accepted.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Feedback

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.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.

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 : Rachel Wenstone
• Email : Recruitment@charitycommission.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : charitycommissionrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

The Charity Commission’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, which outlines that selection for appointment is made on merit based on fair and open competition.
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the values in the Civil Service Code and/or if you feel the recruitment has been conducted in such a way that conflicts with the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance hrselfservice@charitycommission.gov.uk.
If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web page here.

Attachments

Governance JD SEO Opens in new window (pdf, 307kB)Benefits Opens in new window (pdf, 169kB)Benefits - Welsh Opens in new window (pdf, 170kB)