Senior Governance Officer

Crown Estate Scotland has an exciting opportunity for a Senior Governance Officer to join the Governance team on a full time permanent basis. 

The Senior Governance Officer plays a central role supporting the delivery of an excellent, efficient and effective Board and Committee secretariat for Crown Estate Scotland. Working closely with the Head of Corporate Governance, the postholder supports the smooth operation of all core governance functions, including Board and Committee planning, policy governance, internal audit coordination, complaints handling, data protection and FOI/EIR processes.

Reporting directly to the Head of Corporate Governance the postholder will collaborate with the Information and Records Manager on information governance matters.  They will provide occasional proportionate cover on key information governance areas to strengthen resilience and capacity within a small Corporate Governance team when necessary.

The Senior Governance Officer will work closely with the Governance Assistant in providing day to day oversight and guidance regarding the quality assurance of minutes and action trackers.  

Key role-specific responsibilities:

• Ensure the provision of professional secretariat service for Board and Committee meetings, arranging meetings, proactively managing attendance lists, assisting in the preparation of Board packs, drafting agendas, preparing skeleton minutes, and managing action trackers.
• Act as the primary point of contact for the Governance Assistant, providing day-to-day guidance, oversight and quality assurance within a dotted line arrangement (no direct line management responsibility)
• Manage Board portal — Lead administration, access control and development of Admin Control.
• Contribute to the development, coordination and delivery of the Board Induction and Development Programme under the direction of the Head of Corporate Governance.
• Lead on the setting up and maintaining systems/databases to ensure that corporate information is kept up-to-date, accurate, meets deadlines and is accessible to all of the relevant people. 
• Provide specialist governance advice — Offer guidance on corporate governance, statutory compliance and best practice.
• Maintain governance registers — Keep registers of interests, policies, training, Memorandums of Understanding and governance documentation up to date.
• Lead governance improvement projects — Identify and deliver governance initiatives and respond to emerging best practice.
• Support internal audit activity — assist with audit planning, track recommendations and prepare progress updates.
• Produce statutory and corporate reports — Contribute to the Annual Report and support the production of the Governance Statement.
• Analyse and present management information — Collate, analyse and present data for Board and Committee reporting.
• Design and deliver internal surveys — Lead survey design, implementation, analysis and reporting.
• Provide resilience and cover across Information Governance functions, including data protection, records management, and FOI/EIR handling as required.
• Provide resilience support for complaints handling, including advising colleagues, maintaining records and contributing to quarterly and annual reporting.
• Represent the Governance team — Contribute to internal and external forums, working groups and corporate improvement projects.
• Support risk management— Assist with risk register maintenance, annual assurance processes and Board risk workshops.
• Conduct governance research — Produce research, briefings and consultation responses on governance and policy matters.
• Deputise for Head of Corporate Governance on Board and Secretariat matters during periods of leave or absence.

The above list is not exhaustive, and the post holder may be required to undertake other responsibilities and training as requested by their Line Manager appropriate to the grade.  Further, the holder of the post will be expected to work flexibly across all the dimensions of the agreed corporate plan.

Key leadership responsibilities:

• Leading by example on demonstrating inclusive behaviours, contributing to an inclusive and high-performing team culture and resilience, provide coaching, advice and strategic direction to colleagues, providing clarity of purpose, involving the team in goal and objective setting, and promoting cross-team and cross-organisation working.
• Be responsible for own self-development and ongoing professional competence to ensure maximum performance and contribution to corporate objectives

Key corporate responsibilities:

• Contribute to and take collective responsibility for the outputs of the Corporate Governance team.
• Follow all corporate policies, procedure, processes and controls and work with relevant departments to fulfil your obligations.
• Proactively build positive and productive relationships with stakeholders and partners both internally and externally, including at UK level where appropriate.
• Ensure effective and timely resolution of any issues in collaboration with relevant colleagues, as required.
• Work with colleagues across the organisation as and when required.

The contractual working location of this role is our Edinburgh office.  We believe work is something you do, not a place you go to, and we are committed to supporting employees to work flexibly and in a way that suits their role and preferences. 

The salary will be £40,897 with potential for future progression and annual cost of living rises. The maximum salary for this role is currently £47,118.  The role also benefits from 25 days’ annual leave, plus 11.5 of public/ privilege days.  Crown Estate Scotland encourage flexible working and operate a discretionary flexi-time scheme.  This role offers participation in the Civil Service pension scheme.