Company secretary and head of compliance jobs

Endometriosis UK is looking for a Head of Finance to help shape the next stage of our development as a charity with growing ambition, increasing complexity and a powerful mission. This is an exciting new role for the charity, and is core to ensuring our ongoing success.

As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, you will work closely with the Chief Executive, senior colleagues and Trustees to shape organisational direction, strengthen financial planning and ensure resources are aligned with impact. You will provide strategic financial insight, constructive challenge and practical support across the organisation.

You will lead budgeting, forecasting, management accounts, statutory reporting, audit, financial governance, risk, reserves and controls. You will also support business cases, financial models, capital project oversight, trading activity and commercial decision-making.

We are looking for a qualified accountant with senior finance leadership experience, ideally gained in a charity or similarly complex organisation. You will bring strong technical finance skills, sound judgement, commercial awareness and the ability to communicate clearly with non-finance colleagues. Just as importantly, you will be collaborative, values-led and motivated by the opportunity to use finance as an enabler of delivering impact.

This role will suit someone who combines strategic leadership with a practical, hands-on approach, and who enjoys helping colleagues build financial confidence, accountability and discipline.

• Job Title: Head of Governance and Risk
• Location: Thame (Oxfordshire) 
• Working arrangements: Hybrid, 2 days per week on-site
• Salary: £65,000 per annum
• Contract: Full-time, Permanent

Affinity Trust is a national charity dedicated to supporting people with learning disabilities to live fulfilling lives. We are looking for an exceptional governance professional to join our senior leadership team as our new Head of Governance and Risk.

Reporting directly to the Chief Executive, this is a high‑impact role at the heart of our organisation. You will lead governance and assurance, act as Company Secretary, oversee corporate risk and business continuity, and advise the Board and Executive Team.

As a trusted strategic partner, you will help ensure we meet our statutory and regulatory obligations, strengthen decision-making, and uphold our values.

You will be responsible for:

• Leading governance, assurance and Board/Committee support
• Acting as Company Secretary and ensuring statutory compliance
• Managing risk, internal control and organisational resilience
• Overseeing the performance of external legal advisors
• Providing governance oversight of data protection and information compliance

This standalone role requires significant expertise, confidence and integrity. You will bring strong knowledge of charity and company law, excellent Board-level communication skills, and the ability to balance strategic insight with hands‑on delivery.

If you are a values-driven professional who wants to make a real difference, we would love to hear from you.

Key Priorities for the First 12 Months

• Strengthen the organisation’s governance framework and Board reporting cycle.
• Lead a structured review of the corporate risk register and associated assurance processes.
• Embed a refreshed business continuity framework, including scenario testing.

• Support a Board effectiveness evaluation and implementation of any recommendations.
• Review the performance and value-for-money of external legal advisors.
• Enhance processes for data protection and ICO compliance oversight in partnership with the SIRO.

What We’re Looking For

We are seeking a highly capable governance professional who brings:

• Strong technical expertise in charity governance, risk, and regulatory compliance.
• Confidence advising senior leaders and Trustees.
• Excellent communication, diplomacy, and influencing skills.
• A proactive, values-led approach with the ability to work autonomously.
• The ability to juggle strategic insight with hands-on delivery.

You don’t need to have worked in a large team — this role is well-suited to someone who thrives in a standalone, high-responsibility position.

Please note, all roles are subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, at the relevant level for the position. This check will be paid for by us.

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the heart of one of the largest Church of England dioceses, working closely with an experienced and committed Diocesan Secretary as a trusted advisor to a small senior team.   This is a varied, high‑impact role with significant scope for professional growth.

 The role blends strategy, operations and governance and is ideal for someone who thrives on complexity and likes getting things done. You will be a trusted adviser and sounding board, offering challenge, perspective, and solutions. You will be expert at developing and maintaining excellent relationships with a wide range of people including trustees, staff and senior clergy.

 The Diocese of Southwark is committed to becoming a truly anti-racist organisation and to increasing our diversity at all levels. We especially welcome applications from those with Global Majority Heritage,  those with disabilities and other protected characteristics. 

Job Purpose

To ensure the smooth functioning of the central diocesan office in particular by leading on governance in the Diocesan Board of Finance, co-ordinating activities and managing the day-to-day responsibilities of the Diocesan Secretary’s role as Company Secretary. 

 This will involve a range of responsibilities including:

•  Leading on all elements of governance and charity law compliance 
•  Leading the Health and Safety and facilities management in the Diocesan Offices, including the line management of staff.
•  Co-ordinating, preparing planning and follow up for a range of meetings associated with the governance of the diocese. This includes drafting agendas, preparing papers, taking minutes of meetings and following up the actions
•  Supporting the Diocesan Secretary in   all other aspects of  synodical and committee management, including overseeing elections and the electoral process for Diocesan Synod and Deanery Synods
• Acting as a point of contact and expertise for Parishes, Deanery Secretaries and  Deanery Lay Chairs including:

The Person

You should have significant experience in a governance or secretariat role, preferably in a charity and ideally in the Church of England.  Proven ability to work closely with senior leaders, ideally at CEO or Board level is essential, as is the experience of leading a small team to deliver well under pressure.  You should have a strong understanding of the charity sector and ideally of Church of England governance

As a key contact for people in the Diocese, you should have outstanding communication skills: written, verbal, and interpersonal, combined with strong organisational and project management skills.  You will need to be comfortable switching between high level strategy and hands on delivery, with the ability to influence without authority and navigate sensitive issues with discretion. The role is challenging and involves some evening and weekend working for which time off in lieu is given.

Date posted: 15 June 2026

Salary: £41,641 with excellent benefits

Contract type: Permanent, full time

Hours per week: 37.5 hours per week. All staff are required to work in person for a minimum of two days per week, in line with our hybrid working policy. The post-holder may be required to undertake some work outside normal working hours.

About the Health Foundation
Health is our most precious asset. Good health enables us to live happy, fulfilling lives, fuels our prosperity and helps build a stronger society. Yet good health remains out of reach for too many people in the UK, and health and care services are struggling to provide access to timely, high-quality care.

The Health Foundation is an independent charitable organisation with a mission to build a healthier UK. We work to achieve this by generating high quality research and analysis; developing practical solutions to the biggest problems in health and health services; engaging, convening and building coalitions to build understanding, inform debate and drive action; and developing the long-term capability needed to transform health and care.

Our values
We expect everyone who works with us to be committed to our values and to share our commitment to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation. Our values are impact, evidence, integrity, and collaboration. You can read more about them in our five-year strategy. We also expect everyone to share our commitment to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation and to help deliver our EDI Strategy.

About the role
The Governance Officer will work closely with the Head of Governance to support the effective and efficient functioning of the board of governors, its committees, the Foundation’s subsidiary company, Medtrust, and other aspects of corporate governance. The role sits within the Company Secretary’s team, which is responsible for the Foundation’s governance, compliance, risk and assurance processes.

The post-holder will provide high-quality secretariat and governance support, helping to ensure that agendas, papers, minutes, forward plans, governance records and key meetings are accurate, timely and delivered to agreed standards. They will also support governance meetings and events, maintain governance systems and registers, assist with policy and regulatory compliance processes, contribute to governance learning and effectiveness work, and provide administrative support to the People Forum.

Deliver high-quality governance and secretariat support for the board and its committees, including agendas, papers, meeting support, minutes and forward planning. This will include providing the secretariat for at least one committee and supporting the Head of Governance with the effective administration of the overall governance structure.
Plan and coordinate in-person, hybrid and virtual governance meetings and events, including board meetings, committee meetings, governor information sessions, awaydays and board dinners.
Maintain accurate governance systems, records, trackers and registers, supporting transparency, compliance and effective governance assurance.

Support the operation of governance frameworks, including policy reviews, delegated authority processes, declarations of interest, hospitality and gifts, governors’ grants, and regulatory filing requirements.
The successful candidate will have experience of supporting senior managers, governors, trustees or committee members; excellent organisational skills; strong written and verbal communication skills, including accurate minute-taking; and confidence using tools such as Microsoft Office, Acrobat and Teams to support governance or administrative work to a high standard.

How to apply
Our priority is to find the right individual for each opportunity. We are dedicated to building an inclusive workplace that values diversity and invite you to find out more.

If you would like to apply, please submit your CV and answer the application questions below. Please try to limit your response to each question to no more than 300 words.

1. Please tell us why you are interested in working for the Health Foundation and in this Governance Officer role.
    
2. Please briefly describe the experience, skills or knowledge you would bring to supporting effective governance, committee or senior-level meetings, and how would you build positive working relationships with senior stakeholders?
    
3. Please give a brief example of how you have organised information, records, meetings or processes accurately and efficiently in a previous role.

 
Our commitment to equality, inclusion and diversity
We are committed to an inclusive hiring process, where every candidate has the chance to showcase their unique skills and experience in an accessible and supported environment, to ensure that we can make the best appointment for each opportunity on merit. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and encourage those from underrepresented groups in this field to apply to us. We have identified three key areas to improving diversity. Our aim is to achieve a more balanced representation across our organisation, with a particular focus on increasing the number of women in leadership, enhancing the representation of people from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds and welcoming more people with disabilities. As part of this commitment, we strongly encourage applications from these groups.

Apply to join our team and let's work towards building a more diverse and inclusive workplace together. If you require any support through this process, please contact us. Help us work together to make the recruitment process and potential future employment more accessible and enjoyable for you.

Closing date: Sunday 28 June 2026 23:59

Interview / Contact date: TBC