Governance Manager

Can you write meaningful, accessible reports? If so, we want to hear from you. The Scottish Fiscal Commission is a small, independent public body with 28 staff. We produce independent, robust forecasts and assessments to improve the transparency and scrutiny of the Scottish Budget. As Governance Manager, you’ll make sure the Scottish Fiscal Commission is compliant, accountable and efficient. Being so wee means that we’re close to our planning and reporting so you’ll work closely with our Chief Executive and senior management team.

Responsibilities:

• Lead our corporate and annual reporting and audit processes so that we are transparent and accountable, including writing formal reports.
• Provide secretariat and support for our Board and our Audit and Risk Committee (both at least 5 times per year), preparing papers and making sure the Board and Committee are effective and efficient.
• Support the recruitment and induction of our Commissioners.
• Ensure our internal controls and our policies are being followed, are up to date and are compliant with public sector standards.
• Organise our business planning, including preparing our annual business plan.
• Help us to manage risk well, and report on our risks and how we are managing them.
• Double check our spending reports each month.
• Oversee our records management and reply to our Freedom of Information requests.
• Line manage and support our Finance and Information Officer.
• Periodically review the shared services we receive to make sure they provide best value for our needs.

Success profile:

Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience and behaviours candidates will be assessed on.

Technical / Professional Skills:

• Adaptability to change – working level. Supports team to see change positively and to continuously improve the team’s capability, performance and service delivery.
• Sources and analyses a range of evidence, insights and data to identify areas for improvement activity, and sets measurable service improvement plans.
• Explores options to apply technology and digital processes to improve service accessibility and delivery for customers.
• Data and insight – working level. Uses data and insight effectively to monitor operational performance and to inform problem solving, decision making, considering benefits and risks to service delivery.
• Able to source, validate and analyse a range of relevant information and data (using tools like Excel) and then present it to inform decision making.
• Uses data to regularly evaluate delivery performance (e.g. dashboards) and to highlight trends or risks which could impact service delivery or stakeholders.
• Ensures team handles data securely and manages data security in line with all legal and organisational requirements.

Behaviours:

• Communicating and Influencing – Level 3 (lead criteria)
• Seeing the Big Picture – Level 3

How To Apply:

Apply online, providing a CV and Supporting Statement (of no more than 1000 words) which provides evidence of how you meet the skills, experience and behaviours listed in the Success Profile above. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application, but all statements and examples provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and written analysis exercise. Assessments are scheduled for 5-12 May, however this may be subject to change.

Working pattern and Location:

Our standard hours are 35 hours per week, but we also support part-time working – 4/5 of our senior managers are part-time. Please do apply if you’d prefer to work part-time. If the top candidate is part-time we will adjust duties accordingly. We offer flexible working hours between 7am and 7pm, Monday to Friday. We offer hybrid working. Our office is in central Edinburgh (EH1 3DE) and generally you can choose whether to work there or from home. You would be expected to attend the office in person sometimes to build strong working relationships with the rest of the team, support in-person meetings or events, or for all-staff days, all-team days or specific training events. We anticipate this would be around once or twice a week.

Security checks:

Successful candidates must complete the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), before they can be appointed. BPSS is comprised of four main pre‑employment checks – Identity, Right to work, Employment History and a Criminal Record check (unspent convictions).

Equality statement:

We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation. Find out how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them.

Reserve List:

We will hold a reserve list for 12 months.

Further information:

The Scottish Government provides our HR service and their Candidate Guide gives further information on the recruitment and application processes.

Apply before 23:59 on 27th April 2026.