Governance Officer

Job summary

The Governance Officer role is pivotal to the delivery of high-level decision making forums and supporting the Executive Team in the SFO. You will be responsible for ensuring that the organisation’s governance structure receives exceptional support and that it operates efficiently, effectively, transparently and with integrity.

This role requires privileged access to the highest levels of decision-making in the SFO and demands well-developed organisational and written skills, discretion, and flexibility. You must be able to deal confidently with staff of all grades. Your success in the role will depend on impressive prioritisation skills, strong insight into activities across the organisation and proactive identification of developments beyond the agency that affect its effective running and reputation.

Job description

As a Governance Officer you will:

• Provide efficient and effective secretariat support to the top tier of organisational committees, including leading on Case Evaluation Boards;
• Manage and provide high-quality support to boards and committees including practical arrangements for meetings, creating and maintaining a forward look of key committee agenda items, liaising with the Chair to prepare agendas and commission briefs and ensuring alignment of activity across committees;
• Draft accurate and concise minutes within agreed timeframes;
• Ensure that actions from meetings are correctly recorded and followed up, raising issues where necessary and appropriately tracking progress as well as updating and closing action items;
• Work with and support the Head of Governance to deliver effective and efficient governance to the Department, escalating issues as necessary;
• Work with colleagues across the Department to ensure issues are brought to the correct governance forum at the right time to support effective decision making at the right level;
• Assist the Head of Governance in the delivery of key recommendations emerging from an internal audit of SFO Governance;
• Manage internal communications about the work of the Governance Team, including managing the team’s intranet page; and
• Act as a point of contact for our Non-Executive Directors in relation to SFO meeting scheduling and other general queries.

Fore more information about the role and for a full list of responsibilities, please see the attached Job Pack.

Person specification

See above and attached Job Pack.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £36,801, Serious Fraud Office contributes £10,661 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).

Option to join the Civil Service pension scheme. For further details, click here http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/pensions

Generous annual leave provision of 25 days which increases to 30 days after five years’ service plus an additional day in recognition of the King’s Birthday and the option to buy or sell up to five days’ leave per year. Different terms may apply if you are already a Civil Servant.

Discretionary performance-related bonus scheme.

Interest-free season travel ticket, bicycle loan and cycle to work scheme.

Access to the Rental Deposit Salary Advance Scheme which assists employees in meeting the costs of deposits for privately rented homes.

Opportunities for learning and development.

Flexible working arrangements and family-friendly policies.

Voucher for eye care and discounted spectacles.

Access to a range of discounts through membership of the Civil Service Sports and Social Club, CSSC Sports and Leisure. http://www.cssc.co.uk/

Maternity and paternity leave provision over and above the statutory entitlements.

Access to My CPS Rewards Gateway. My CPS Rewards offers staff a range of rewards and savings including:

• Discounts with high street retailers
• Savings on grocery shopping at a range of supermarkets
• Special salary sacrifice and recognition schemes
• Reloadable gift cards and e-cards
• Instant vouchers

Any move to the Serious Fraud Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

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, Ability and Experience.

Application Stage

Stage one

You will first need to complete the two online assessments: Civil Service Verbal Test and Civil Service Work Strengths Test. If you pass both online assessments, you will be invited to complete the rest of the application form. In this section you will be asked to:

1. Provide a specific example of when you have had to work under pressure, while maintaining focus and reacting to changing circumstances- 250 words
2. Provide a specific example of how you have used your interpersonal skills, including the ability to communicate effectively at all levels, to build professional relationships- 250 words

Also, as part of the selection process please provide a supporting CV outlining your job history.

It will not be possible to provide feedback to applicants who are unsuccessful at the application stage.

Stage Two:

Candidates who are successful at Stage One will be invited to attend an interview.

At the interview stage we will be assessing the following behaviours:

• Seeing the Bigger Picture
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

Candidates invited to interview will also be required to complete an assessment.

Full details of the interview process will be made available to shortlisted candidates in the invite to interview.

Sift to take place from 13 November.

Interviews are expected to take place from 23 November

All dates are indicative and subject to change.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. To be eligible you must meet the following residency requirements dependent of the level of security vetting required:

• SC: 5 years residency in the United Kingdom preceding this application.

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

Security

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.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 : People and Culture
• Email : people@sfo.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : people@sfo.gov.uk

Further information

For external competitions there is no appeal against the selection decision. However, individuals have a right to appeal if they feel that the principle of appointment on merit through fair and open competition and the Civil Service Commissioners’ recruitment principles have not been met. Individuals who want to appeal should do this by setting out their grounds for appeal in an email for the attention of Head of People to People@sfo.gov.uk. If, after an internal appeal, you still believe that the Civil Service Commissioners’ Principles have not been met, then you can contact the Commission directly: Complaints should be sent in writing to: Civil Service Commission, Room G08 ,1 Horse Guards Road, London SW1A 2HQ. Email info@csc.gov.uk

Attachments

HEO - Governance Officer 2026 Opens in new window (pdf, 380kB)