Head of Performance - Edinburgh, United Kingdom - Audit Scotland

Description

Are you an experienced professional in the field of performance management and corporate governance who thrives on making a difference and is passionate about ensuring public services are run properly for the people of Scotland?

Audit Scotland expects public bodies to have high quality performance and governance arrangements – and we set high standards for ourselves. We can offer you the chance to lead and develop our performance and governance arrangements so that we can be exemplars and ensure that we deliver high quality, efficient and effective services.

Overall purpose of the role

Through our audit work for the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission we scrutinise the effectiveness of the governance arrangements for over public sector organisations across Scotland. We expect high standards of governance of the organisations we audit, and we set high standards for our own governance.

The Head of Performance and Corporate Governance is responsible for the design, development, organisation and coordination of a wide range of governance services. This includes providing support for the Audit Scotland Board and its committees, the Executive Team and corporate forums.

You will lead on the maintenance and development of our performance and risk management, frameworks, business continuity planning, information management (including data protection, records management and FOI), records management, governance and compliance, complaints handling and the procurement of, and support for internal audit and legal services.

You will manage the small team with minimal direction, balancing the various competing priorities and stakeholder needs.

You will develop and maintain professional and effective business relationships at all levels of the organisation, including senior management, Audit Scotland's Board and with external stakeholders. You manage and deploy resources in a proactive and flexible way to ensure efficiency and optimal outcomes.

The Corporate Governance Team is part of Audit Scotland's Corporate Services Group. This group comprises Business Support Services, Communications, Digital Services, Finance and Human Resources. These teams provide high quality support services for Audit Scotland.

What you will be doing

Our vision is that public money is well spent to meet the needs of Scotland's people. The outcomes we want to achieve are that:

As Head of Performance and Governance your principal responsibilities will be to manage and promote good governance across the organisation. You will ensure we have effective governance arrangements, systems and processes in place to meet a broad range of legislative and policy requirements. This includes ensuring robust performance management and reporting systems are in place for the Executive and Committees.

You will support the Chief Operating Officer and the Director of Corporate Support to manage the agendas and papers for the Board and its committees and the Executive Team and report regularly to them.

Working in partnership with the Executive Team and the Leadership Group you will have a clear understanding of the strategic aims and objectives of the organisation and its business groups and ensure that governance services and performance management arrangements are designed to meet the needs and objectives of the organisation.

You will lead on the maintenance and development of our performance, risk and information management frameworks.

You will have line management responsibility for the Corporate Performance Officer and the Corporate Support Officer and will support their learning and development.

Delivering high quality corporate governance

This will include but is not limited to:

Planning, performance and risk management

The key areas of responsibility here include:

Information management

Knowledge and experience

Person specification - specific knowledge and experience

Essential

Desirable

*S = Shortlisting criteria I = Interview criteria A = Assessment / Exercise

Interested? Next steps

Audit Scotland

Our vision is that public money is well spent to meet the needs of Scotland's people.

To achieve this, we support the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission to provide clear, independent and objective assurance on how effectively public money is being managed and spent. Our work covers about £59bn of public spending, almost public sector accounts, and the services and projects that affect all people and communities in Scotland.

As well as what we do, how we do it is integral to delivering our vision and critical to our wellbeing and our organisational success. We put our organisational values of equality, independence, innovation, integrity and respect at the heart of everything we do.

We employ around staff in a wide variety of roles, working from our main offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and through a network of regional offices across Scotland.

There has never been a more interesting or important time to join us. We offer a rewarding place to work, a supportive and open culture and a wide range of professional development opportunities. Benefits include 42 days of annual leave including public holidays, an attractive local government pension scheme with 19.4% employer contributions, personal development allowances and flexible working hours. We've also been named one of the top 25 workplaces in Scotland and the UK's tenth best accountancy workplace in the Best Companies awards.

Diversity and Inclusion

We value the unique perspective a diverse workforce brings to what we do. Therefore, we're keen to increase representation in our workforce and support progression of minority ethnic groups. We are also a proud disability confident employer.

Reasonable Adjustments

Audit Scotland's recruitment process may include various stages and activities including application forms, online assessments, and interviews, to assess whether you meet the requirements of the role.

As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to providing inclusive and accessible recruitment where everyone is supported to perform at their best.

When applying for a job with Audit Scotland, you will be asked in the application form if you need an adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process. Please include the reason you require an adjustment and details of what adjustment/s might help.

Some examples of adjustments that have been given to candidates include changing the time, location or format of interviews and providing additional time in any assessments and interviews. This is not an exhaustive list, and we will consider any adjustments that you might need.

As part of our commitment to equality and diversity, our equality network groups would be delighted to offer an insight into Audit Scotland's culture of inclusivity. If you consider yourself to have a visible or hidden disability and wish to hear more about life at Audit Scotland or wish to speak with someone about the possibility of any adjustments, please contact or call for further information and a member of the HR team will be in touch.

How we work

We employ around staff in a wide variety of roles. They work flexibly at home and in the office as well as from audit sites across Scotland. This isn't your typical work from home or work from office type job. We're flexible about working patterns and we've transformed how we deliver high-quality public audit. We support you to work in the ways that achieve the best results for you, your team and the business, including your physical location and how you manage your hours. Put simply, we trust you to do your job, and want you to have the ability to have a rewarding work-life balance and best support your individual circumstances, be that childcare, adult carer responsibilities or managing disabilities.

We welcome applications from across the UK. Some travel to our offices or client sites will be necessary at times, but you don't need to live in Scotland to work for us.

Other conditions

Audit Scotland is committed to ensuring that: