Head of Executive Governance

Job summary

This is an exceptional opportunity to play a central role at the heart of MHCLG’s governance and strategic decision making. As Head of Executive Governance, you will shape how the department’s most senior leaders make decisions and drive delivery. Sitting within the Departmental Governance, Planning and Oversight (DGPO) team, you will help set the standard for how MHCLG governs itself as an organisation, working closely with the Permanent Secretary, DGs, Directors, NEDs, and senior corporate partners.

The role leads governance support for the Executive Team and four of its formal sub committees (Finance, Delivery, People & Operations, and Risk), as well as two “shadow” committees. Alongside these, you will contribute to wider strategic thinking across the department, including ministerial boards, ARAC, delivery planning, performance reporting, and oversight of departmental PMOs. You’ll also play a leading role in cross department transformation work, collaborating with three other G7s in a high performing, collegiate overall team of ten. You will manage a small, capable team of two, providing leadership and direction while also playing a hands on role in senior-level governance, strategy, and performance. This is a genuinely unique role for an individual who thrives on pace, influence, problem solving and shaping how an organisation operates.

Job description

Executive Governance Leadership

• Lead end-to-end governance for the Executive Team and its subcommittees (Finance, Delivery, People & Operations, Risk), ensuring senior leaders receive the right insight, papers and advice to make informed, timely decisions.
• Oversee governance for two shadow committees, supporting strategic alignment and ensuring readiness for formal decision-making routes.

High-Quality Decision Support

• Work closely with policy, finance, HR, delivery, and risk partners to produce high quality products and assurance for senior forums.
• Ensure papers, recommendations and insights across the business are coherent, evidence based, and aligned with MHCLG’s strategic priorities.
• Identify issues requiring senior intervention, highlighting risks, trade offs and cross cutting impacts.

Corporate Governance & Cross-Department Support

• Contribute to other G7-led activity across ministerial and non-executive structures including the Ministerial Board, ARAC, departmental NED engagement, and the broader corporate planning cycle. Support the department’s delivery planning, quarterly reporting, risk cycle and cross organisational prioritisation processes.
• Shaping departmental approaches to delivery, governance, planning and strategic performance.

Leadership & Team Management

• Line manage and develop a team of two, setting clear expectations, fostering capability growth and supporting high-quality output.
• Model values of curiosity, collaboration and constructive challenge, contributing to a positive and inclusive team culture.

Person specification

• Strong experience in governance, strategy, delivery, policy, and/or corporate leadership, with the ability to operate credibly with very senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrable ability to produce high quality, decision-focused advice, synthesising complex issues and identifying risks and trade-offs.
• Excellent organisational and coordination skills, with the ability to manage multiple senior forums and deadlines at pace.
• Proven experience of leading teams and coaching others to deliver high quality work.
• Ability to exercise judgement, discretion, and political awareness in sensitive or uncertain contexts.
• Comfortable working across boundaries, bringing together functions such as finance, HR, risk, and delivery to produce coherent governance outputs.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,745, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £17,887 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Childcare Voucher and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

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

Application and Selection
The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:

Ability , Behaviours , Experience , Strengths

Please ensure your CV does not contain any personally identifiable information.

Note: We do not consider direct CV applications. All applications must be submitted via the provided application link.

Important: Your CV and Cover Letter must be merged into a single document before uploading.

Stage 1: Sift (CV & Cover Letter)

In your CV and covering letter, please include:
a. why you are interested in the role;
b. how you meet the essential skills and experience required

We will perform a sift to assess and score the evidence provided in the CV and covering letter. Applicants achieving the pass mark will be offered an interview on a rolling basis. We will be sifting and interviewing applicants as we go – so please don’t wait until the deadline to submit your application. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.

If you run into any technical problems when applying through Be Applied (for example, trouble logging in or submitting your application), their support team can help. Please contact them at hello@beapplied.com.

Stage 2: Interview

• Behaviours: Seeing The Big Picture, Managing A Quality Service, Leadership.

• Strengths: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 16/02.

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 02/03 and are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.

How We Recruit

Find out more about our recruitment processes here.

• Applying

• Sifting

• Interview

• Interview Results & Feedback

• Reserve List

• Near Miss

• Civil Service Grades

• We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer

• Reasonable Adjustments

How to Apply

Find out everything you need to know before applying here.

You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly.

• Security Clearance Requirements

• Civil Service Nationality Requirements

• Right to Work

• Artificial Intelligence

• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles

• CV Declaration

• Sponsorships

• Salary and Grade

• Existing Civil Servants

• Conflict of Interest

• Location and Flexible Working

• Fixed Term Contracts

• Internal Fraud Database - Internal Fraud Register

• Appeals and Complaints

• Conflict of Interest

Security Clearance Requirements

London Office: + CTC

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 counter-terrorist 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

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 : Isaac Turner
• Email : isaac.turner@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk

Further information

If you are unsure about any part of the process or require additional information about the post to enable you to progress your application, you should speak to the Resourcing team - recruitment@communities.gov.uk. Candidates can appeal at any stage of the recruitment process if they believe there has been:

a procedural irregularity

an infringement of the Civil Service equal opportunities policy

exceptional circumstances which were not notified to the interview panel which might have affected performance on the day.

It is important to note that these are appeals about the process not the decision. In the first instance, an appeal should be directed to the MHCLG Resourcing Hub at recruitment@communities.gov.uk.

If the MHCLG Resourcing Hub is unable to satisfactorily resolve your complaint, you may contact put your complaint in writing to the Civil Service Commission, Room G8,1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ or by email to: info@csc.gov.uk