Senior Assurance Lead

The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.The Chief Operating Officer Group works closely with the Home Office’s policy and operational commands to enable us together to deliver the department’s priorities. The group is comprised of different teams and professional functions, including Commercial, Finance, People, Portfolio and Project Delivery, Security, Estates and Information and Digital, Data and Technology.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Performance, Risk, Assurance and Governance (PRAG) function working within our Portfolio Delivery Team, managed by the Deputy Chief Portfolio Officer and includes our Business Partnering, Portfolio Standards and Assurance and Data and Insights and Centre of Excellence teams. These teams are fundamental portfolio management functions and provide senior leaders with reliable evidence enabling better and more informed investment decisions.

This high-profile role provides strategic governance and assurance oversight across the Home Office’s transformational change programmes, supporting effective decision-making and successful delivery. As a pivotal stakeholder-facing position, it requires strong leadership and engagement across senior governance forums, programme boards, and cross-government partners. The role influences the direction of assurance frameworks, ensuring robust scrutiny of investment decisions and programme performance.

Reporting to the Head of Portfolio Standards and Assurance, you will play a central role in governance across the transformation portfolio. You will work closely with Portfolio Business Partners and Business Case Leads to ensure governance processes are consistent, effective, and well-integrated. While collaboration is essential, the role demands a high level of autonomy, confidence, and credibility in advising senior stakeholders and shaping outcomes.

Flexibility is key, as priorities may shift and resources may be reallocated to meet business needs. You will need to be adaptable, proactive, and capable of assimilating complex information quickly.

This is an exciting opportunity for a dynamic and innovative individual to operate at the heart of departmental change, driving improvements in governance and assurance while contributing to the successful delivery of major transformation initiatives.

We offer the opportunity to support your continuous professional development through accreditation, relevant development opportunities as part of our thriving Project Delivery Community.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead governance frameworks across the transformation portfolio, ensuring strategic alignment
• Oversee investment appraisals, assurance pipelines, and reporting requirements
• Advise programmes and projects on assurance standards and improvements
• Coordinate portfolio governance, including change control, tolerances, and escalation processes
• Collaborate with internal teams and external bodies to strengthen assurance practices
• Ensure appropriate assurance levels and provide guidance on governance requirements
• Maintain compliance with HMT Delegated Authority Limits and Cabinet Office controls

The above responsibilities are not exhaustive, and the post holders may be required to undertake any of the above tasks or additional tasks not listed above, within the remit of their grade, to support the team.

Working Pattern

Due to the business requirements of this role, it is only available on a full-time basis. However, compressed hours are available.

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