Corporate Governance - Risk & Assurance Manager with The Alan Turing Institute

Status: Closed.  Another successful assignment for Oakleigh Resourcing Ltd.

The Role: Corporate Governance - Risk & Assurance Manager (FTC 12 months)

Our Client:  The Alan Turing Institute

Location: Hybrid working.  Office Location is at The British Library, London NW1

Remuneration:  Salary £50k - £52k depending on experience plus pension, phi incl. dental, 30 days annual leave + statutory days, flexible working around core hours plus hybrid working. (https://www.turing.ac.uk/work-turing/why-work-turing/employee-benefits)

There has never been a more significant time to work in data science and AI. There is recognition of the importance of these technologies to our economic and social future: the so-called fourth industrial revolution. The technical challenge of keeping our data secure and private has grown in its urgency and importance. At the same time, voices from academia, industry, and government are coming together to debate how these technologies should be governed and managed.

The Alan Turing Institute, as the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence, plays an important part in driving forward advances in these technologies in order to change the world for the better.

The Institute is named in honour of Alan Turing, whose pioneering work in theoretical and applied mathematics, engineering and computing is considered to have laid the foundations for modern-day data science and artificial intelligence. The Institute’s goals are to undertake world-class research, apply its research to real-world problems, driving economic impact and societal good, lead the training of a new generation of scientists, and shape the public conversation around data and algorithms.

After launching in 2015 with government funding from EPSRC and five founding universities, the Institute has grown an extensive network of university partners from across the UK and launched a number of major partnerships with industry, public and third sector. Today it is home to more than 500 researchers, a rapidly growing team of in house research software engineers and data scientists and a business team.

BACKGROUND

The Corporate Governance team sits within the Office of the General Counsel and has responsibility for providing secretarial and corporate governance support services to the Board, its subsidiary (Turing Innovations Limited) and its Board Committees. It also supports the organisation with managing the risk register, some aspects of related compliance and assurance processes relating to for example due diligence, export controls, regulatory assurance, and international risk assessments as well as managing the escalation of key decisions to the appropriate level within the Turing and research ethics assessments.

This role sits within the Corporate Governance team leading on some of the key responsibilities which include: Risk Management:

  • Leading the risk management processes including facilitating the senior leadership team risk meetings (approx. 10 per year) and advising senior management and programme directors on risk identification, monitoring, and risk reporting in the risk management system and corporate risk register and within their directorates.
  • Devising, facilitating, and delivering training on risk management and regulatory compliance for Boards, Executive and staff in consultation with subject matter experts and the L&D Team on key topics.
  • Leading on implementing and administering the organisation’s new corporate risk management software and board portal solution – Decision Time, and training users on the same.
  • Supporting the Senior Governance Manager to continuously improve the Risk Management Policy and Risk
  • Working with the Director of People & Facilities regarding the review and evaluation of the organisation’s insurance policies taking into account risks identified on the corporate risk register, as well as supporting colleagues in queries regarding coverage in insurance policies in relation to new or existing contracts.

Assurance:

  • Developing and managing the cyclical plan of assurance including relating to the organisation’s key regulators and compliance with the Charity Governance Code and working with the Data Protection Manager regarding implementing data protection audit outcomes.
  • Assisting colleagues in identifying export controls and NS&I issues and facilitating reviews with external subject matter experts on the same where relevant.
  • Assisting colleagues with the early opportunity assessments including when working
  • Sample checking contractual agreements to ensure they are effectively following the organisation’s key policies and suggesting improvements where applicable.
  • Delivering the governance elements of the due diligence process and managing the final sign-off approval stage from the Corporate Governance perspective.
  • Leading on the maintenance of the corporate policies

Corporate Governance:

  • To be the lead administrator of the Board portal system and assist the Senior Governance Manager in delivering governance compliance reviews.
  • Managing key Corporate Governance team policies and processes including Declarations of Interest and Gifts and
  • Providing support for other team activities (Office of General Counsel) as required from time to

ROLE PURPOSE

The role of the Risk and Assurance Manager will be based at the British Library reporting into the Senior Governance Manager within the small and friendly Corporate Governance Team in the Office of the General Counsel and will have no direct reports. The purpose of the role will be to support the Senior Governance Manager and the General Counsel/Company Secretary in supporting the organisation in delivering relevant areas of activity required to provide assurance to the Trustees, Executive and Senior Management that staff have both awareness of and are adhering to key risk and corporate governance related policies and procedures of the organisation. The role will be expected to work with stakeholders at various levels of seniority across the organisation in a supportive and collaborative way.

DUTIES AND AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

The main duties and accountabilities of the role are as follows. To:

  • Lead the risk management process including, but not limited to, scheduling and facilitating the Risk Moderation Meetings, managing updates to the risk management system, and providing risk monitoring reports for the Audit and Risk Committee and Board.
  • Lead in the implementation of the organisation’s new board portal and risk management system – Decision Time, and ensure relevant stakeholders are trained in its use.
  • Be the lead administrator for Decision
  • Lead on designing and delivering risk training to the business and working with the Senior Governance Manager to design and deliver governance training.
  • Take detailed minutes and managing the actions taken at the risk management moderation
  • Work with Senior Management to identify, monitor and report on risk
  • Work with the programme teams to integrate their risks into the central risk management
  • Support colleagues across the organisation engaged in contracting to follow relevant risk management policies and processes including due diligence, export controls and NS&I assessments, early opportunity assessments, and working
  • Undertake regular audit assurance checks of contracts and providing improvement actions to be followed
  • Support the Contract Leads in the contracting process with obtaining the required approvals and then supporting colleagues in the proper execution of the contracts once they have been successfully negotiated.
  • Effectively communicate relevant findings from reviews, including identified control deficiencies and opportunities for improvement to the responsible area.
  • Provide risk and assurance monitoring reports on relevant areas to the Audit and Risk
  • Manage the process of maintaining up to date corporate policies and procedures, including:
    • maintaining the Corporate Policy Register and ensuring senior managers are notified when policies are due for renewal and supported in the policy drafting process;
    • managing the approval process to ensure policies are approved within the agreed
  • Manage the Corporate Governance Team content on the assigned pages on the intranet and the external
  • Manage the policy and process for maintaining Trustee Declarations of Interest and ensuring the Gifts and Hospitality Policy is followed and the Register is maintained.

Also:

  • Working, with input from the Corporate Governance Research Ethics Manager, to deliver the governance elements of the due diligence process.
  • Providing assurance that the due diligence process has been fully completed through having responsibility for obtaining Executive sign-off.
  • To support the Senior Governance Manager in producing the relevant sections of the Annual
  • To support the Senior Governance Manager in responding to governance, risk, and assurance queries on relevant areas through the governance inbox.
  • Other governance, risk and assurance support activities as required by the Turing from time to

Please note that job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, and the postholder may be required to undertake other duties, which are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities. This job description is written at a specific time and is subject to changes as the demands of the Institute and the role develop.

Person Specification

Education/Qualifications: Undergraduate degree from a recognised university. Corporate Governance and/or other risk/compliance/assurance relevant UK qualification.

Knowledge & Experience:

  • Previous UK experience leading on risk and/or assurance management/delivery in a management role within a rapidly changing environment.
  • Experience working in the charity, higher education or technology sector in the UK.
  • Solid experience in the management of corporate policies and working with policy owners to update and improve the same.
  • Knowledge of, and interest in, tech, research, data and AI.
  • Experience co-ordinating and working with people at a variety of levels and backgrounds in a collaborative and supportive environment.
  • Experience of reporting on control deficiencies and areas of improvement
  • Experience of completing risk and assurance reports
  • Experience of developing and managing the cyclical plan of assurance
  • Knowledge of GDPR principles
  • Experience designing and delivering risk management training to senior stakeholders within an organisation
  • Experience leading the implementation of risk management systems/software.

Communication: 

  • Excellent communication, negotiation and influencing skills at all levels
  • Able to present complex information in an audience appropriate format

Service Delivery

  • Experience of making recommendations to contribute to service improvement
  • Able to identify factors impacting workload and monitor resourcing requiremnts to continuously provide a quality service

Decision Making

  • Provide detailed information and advice that influences business plans and longer term planning
  • Ability to confidently make low risk decisions after assessing the wider impact
  • Works with others to make collaborative decisions that may be operational or strategic

Planning & Organising: Extensive experience prioritising own workload effectively and working to deadlines

Analysis & Research: Ability to adopt appropriate data analysis methods and present findings in an appropriate format

Other requirements: Commitment to EDI principles and to the organisation values

Our Values: Trust, Respect, Transparency, Inclusivity, Leadership, Integrity

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

The Alan Turing Institute is committed to creating an environment where diversity is valued and everyone is treated fairly. In accordance with the Equality Act, we welcome applications from anyone who meets the specific criteria of the post regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

We are committed to building a diverse community and would like our leadership team to reflect this. We therefore welcome applications from the broadest spectrum of backgrounds.

We are committed to making sure our recruitment process is accessible and inclusive.

This includes making reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability or long- term condition. 

To apply please email your CV with cover letter /supporting statement to Elaine Rippon at Oakleigh Resourcing - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   Please call Elaine on 01477 534491 to discuss the role in more detail.