Interim Head of Corporate Governance in London

£700 per day | Inside IR35 Hybrid | South of England

Lead governance, enterprise risk and organisational assurance across a complex public sector organisation. This is an opportunity to take on a highly influential interim leadership role within a large, complex public sector organisation operating in a highly regulated and security-conscious environment.

As Interim Head of Corporate Governance, you'll provide strategic leadership across governance, enterprise risk and organisational assurance, helping executive leaders make informed decisions through robust governance frameworks, independent assurance and effective risk oversight. This is a senior interim assignment for someone who has operated at executive level, providing independent governance advice, leading enterprise risk frameworks, coordinating organisational assurance and supporting senior leaders through inspection, audit or regulatory scrutiny. This is not a governance administration or compliance management role. It is an opportunity to shape how a complex organisation governs risk, responds to scrutiny and strengthens organisational resilience through effective governance and assurance.

The opportunity

Working alongside executive leaders and senior stakeholders, you'll lead the development and continuous improvement of governance, enterprise risk and assurance frameworks that support effective decision-making, accountability and organisational performance. You'll bring together governance, risk and assurance activity into a coherent organisation-wide approach, giving leaders clear visibility of organisational risks, assurance gaps and opportunities for improvement. You'll also oversee readiness for external inspection, audit and regulatory review, ensuring recommendations are translated into meaningful, sustainable organisational learning rather than treated as standalone compliance actions.

Success in this role will depend on your ability to influence through professional credibility rather than formal authority. You'll provide independent advice, constructive challenge and objective assurance to senior stakeholders, helping shape organisational direction through evidence, insight and sound professional judgement.

The person

We're looking for someone who is equally comfortable presenting to executive leaders as they are designing governance frameworks, leading inspection preparation and embedding organisational learning across a complex organisation. You'll bring significant experience leading governance, enterprise risk, corporate assurance, inspection, audit or organisational assurance within a complex, highly regulated public sector environment. Your experience may have been gained within central government, local government, blue-light organisations, healthcare, public sector regulators, public audit or assurance bodies, or other organisations operating within complex governance or regulatory frameworks.

You'll have a proven track record of advising senior leaders, providing independent challenge where required and influencing strategic decision-making through evidence, credibility and professional judgement. You'll understand that effective governance is about far more than compliance. It creates confidence in decision-making, strengthens accountability and enables organisations to perform effectively under scrutiny.

Given the nature of the organisation and the work involved, you'll be comfortable operating within a secure environment and will either hold, or be willing and able to obtain, the appropriate level of pre-employment screening and security vetting required for the assignment.

Experience

We're particularly interested in hearing from candidates who can demonstrate experience of:

• Leading governance, enterprise risk and organisational assurance within a complex organisation.
• Designing and embedding governance and risk management frameworks.
• Coordinating inspection, audit or regulatory activity and translating findings into sustainable organisational improvement.
• Advising executive leaders on governance, risk exposure and organisational assurance.
• Building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, auditors, regulators and external assurance partners.
• Influencing change through professional credibility rather than line management authority.

Why apply?

This is a highly visible interim leadership role where your expertise will directly influence organisational governance, executive decision-making and long-term resilience. You'll work alongside executive leaders to strengthen governance, improve assurance and help shape how a complex public sector organisation responds to risk, scrutiny and organisational change. For an experienced governance, risk or assurance leader who wants to make a strategic impact rather than simply maintain processes, this is a genuinely influential interim assignment.