Head of Governance

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is a non-ministerial department of over 1600 people. We play a critical role in protecting public health and consumers’ wider interests in food across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our vision is to drive change, delivering “food you can trust” and working towards a healthier and more sustainable food system.

As part of a much wider programme of change to ensure that we have the skills and capabilities needed to manage in a complex and challenging world, the FSA is strengthening organisation-wide oversight, coordination, decision-making and assurance across all governance arrangements. This new role will create a single point of accountability, providing enhanced assurance to the Chief Executive and Board while ensuring governance operates effectively across the organisation.

This position plays a critical role in building resilience across governance functions and ensuring a consistently high-quality service is delivered to the Board, Executive Management Team (EMT) and key committees. The postholder will lead the Private Office and Secretariat teams supporting the EMT, the FSA Board and the Scientific Advisory Committees.

This is a high-profile and influential role requiring great leadership, excellent judgement and the ability to operate with confidence in a complex environment. The successful candidate will bring significant experience of governance, stakeholder management and delivering high-quality corporate services at a senior level.

We are looking for someone who is comfortable engaging at senior levels and motivated by making a real difference behind the scenes—someone who takes pride in enabling high-quality decisions and strong organisational performance.

As Head of Governance, you will oversee the delivery of a high-quality private office and secretariat service to senior leadership, Board and committee members, ensuring professionalism, efficiency and continuous improvement across all areas. You will work closely across the organisation and with committee Chairs to ensure that governance structures focus on the right issues at the right time, supported by a robust forward look and high-quality papers.

The role holder will be the key interlocutor for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Sponsorship team on public appointments as well as FSA strategy, performance and delivery, in line with DHSC Framework documents which set out how DHSC works with its agencies and public bodies.

You will lead the development and implementation of a coherent and effective governance framework for the FSA, ensuring alignment across the Board and its committees. You will also ensure that advice and briefing provided to the Chief Executive, Chief Scientific Adviser and Chair are of the highest standard, both in writing and in person.

A key aspect of the role is identifying emerging cross-organisational issues and ensuring these are joined up effectively, supporting the Chief Executive and senior leadership team to deliver a well-functioning organisation. You will provide expert advice and guidance to Board and committee members on governance responsibilities, best practice and relevant regulatory changes, while ensuring members are appropriately inducted and trained.

You will ensure that all Board and committee meetings are conducted in line with governance best practice and that the organisation maintains strong and effective relationships with key stakeholders, including the Cabinet Office Public Appointments team, the Department of Health and Social Care Public Appointments team and ministerial offices.