Job description

Job title:

Grade:

Governance Officer

2b

Department:

Executive Office, within External Affairs and Engagement

Responsible for:

n/a

Accountable to:

Governance and Risk Manager

Job summary

This role forms part of the Governance, Compliance and Risk team. The role plays a key part in the
team providing confidential, professional and high-quality central governance and secretariat services
to the College. The role will also provide a professional secretariat and governance service to the
Faculty of Dental Surgery (FDS) and will work in close liaison with the FDS Registrar and the FDS
team.

Given the nature of the role, the ability to manage time and workload is essential. This role also
requires a highly motivated strong team player able to communicate at all levels.

The post holder will be expected to contribute to continuous improvement of the team’s processes
and procedures whilst offering excellent customer focus and service.

Specific duties and responsibilities

1.

College Governance, Compliance and Risk

•  Support the Senior Governance Officer and Governance and Risk Manager in planning,
arranging and monitoring a schedule of meetings for the Council, Board of Trustees and
committees and the FDS.

•  Provide secretariat support for College Committee meetings, collating and distributing

agendas, drafting minutes and follow up of actions, and maintaining a record of decisions
taken.

•  Maintain accurate and up to date contact lists for the Council, Board of Trustees and other

key stakeholders as required, as well as an accurate record of attendance and responsibilities
at Committee meetings.

•  Monitor the team inbox, responding to inquiries appropriately and redirecting as required.

•  Assist in the preparation of mailing lists and documents for the election/appointment process

for Board and Council Members, Trustees and committee members, to help meet the
College’s ambition of achieving a diverse and inclusive College leadership.

•  Support the arrangements and development of programmes of induction, recruitment and

training for Council Members and Trustees.

•  Coordinate the process for awarding College medals, including liaising with engravers.

•  Support the Head of Governance, Compliance and Risk and the Governance and Risk
Manager in the development and embedding of good governance practices across the
College.

2.

Faculty of Dental Surgery

•  Working with the FDS Registrar, provide secretariat support for the FDS Board including

collating and distributing agendas and drafting minutes. Ensure that all actions required of the
Board are carried out in an effective and timely manner, briefing and consulting the Dean and
Registrar as appropriate.

•  Assist in the preparation of mailing lists and documentation for the annual election process to

the FDS Board, compliant with Standing Orders.

3.

General

•  Provide administrative support to the Governance, Compliance and Risk Team, including

financial processes, diary management, and record keeping.

•  Provide support in the absence of the Executive Assistant, to ensure a consistent level of

service for the President and Chief Executive.

•  Assist with projects and other duties commensurate with the status of the post, as required by

the President or Chief Executive.

•  Undertake any other administrative tasks as appropriate, including arranging board,

committee and other meetings on behalf of the team.

•  Support the Governance and Risk Manager and Head of Governance, Compliance and Risk

with additional projects.

•  The post-holder is expected to represent the College in a professional manner in relation to
his or her responsibilities and in ensuring their own continuing professional development.

4.

Key skills, experience and competencies

•  Experience in a Governance and Secretariat Role
•  Experience of governance administration including minute writing or willingness to develop

these skills

•  Excellent organisational skills
•  Demonstrable understanding of and commitment to customer service
•  Ability to communicate effectively at all levels across the organisation
•  Attention to detail
•  Strong IT skills

Desirable:

•  Experience of working in a similar environment i.e. medical arena, academic institution or

membership organisation.

•  Previous supporting role to a Board/Council.

This  job  description  will  be  subject  to  review  in  the  light  of  changing  circumstances  and  may
include other duties and responsibilities as may be determined.  It is not intended to be rigid or
inflexible but should be regarded as providing guidelines within which the individual works.

November 2025

Person specification

Essential

Desirable

Qualifications

•  Educated to Degree level or
equivalent experience.

•  Governance/secretariat

qualifications

Experience and
skills

Technical
competencies

•  Governance and administrative

•  Experience of, or interest in,

experience

•  Experience and demonstrable
understanding of dealing with
confidential and sensitive
information

•  Experience of working with
senior level boards and
committees, drafting agendas
and taking accurate minutes
•  Experience of establishing and
maintaining administrative
records, including
electronically.

•

Intermediate knowledge of MS
Office, particularly Word, Excel
and Outlook

•  Excellent organisation and time
management skills with good
attention to detail

risk and compliance
•  Experience of developing
accurate electronic record
systems, capable of
information retrieval, analysis
and dissemination to relevant
parties.

•  Experience of Microsoft

Dynamics / CRM systems

Financial
Management and
Business Planning

•  Understanding of the need to

find cost effective solutions.

•  Experience of processing
financial information using
systems e.g. Dynamics

People and
interpersonal skills

•  Excellent team player
•  Excellent customer service

approach, working proactively
and sensitively with all
stakeholders including at the
most senior level.
•  Professional and polite

approach

•  Ability to work unsupervised

•  Experience of working in a
similar environment i.e.
medical arena, academic
institution or membership
organisation.

The post holder will also need to demonstrate the following values:

Collaboration

Respect

Excellence

We embrace our collective responsibilities working
collaboratively and as one college.

•  We work together, using our collective expertise and

experience to effect positive change

•  We are open, honest and transparent, straightforward in our
language and actions, acting with sincerity and delivering on
our commitments

•  We take our responsibilities to each other, to patient care and
to the environment seriously and we act with this in mind
across our work

We value every person we come into contact with at the College
as an individual, respect their aspirations and commitments in
life, and seek to understand and meet their physical and
wellbeing needs.

•  We treat everyone we meet with kindness and integrity and

we seek to promote these behaviours in others

•  We actively seek a range of views and experiences across

our work, and we listen to, and make everyone feel, a valued
part of the team

We aspire to excellence and success. We share learning from
our experiences, apply feedback into practice, and commit to
continual improvement.

•  We work hard to be the best at what we do, recognising and
celebrating effort and achievement, and reflecting on our
work, so we can learn and improve

•  We value and invest in research, education and training to
drive excellence and put improvements in surgical practice,
dentistry and patient care at the heart of our work
•  We always seek to learn and discover more, valuing

knowledge and scientific evidence, basing our decisions on
insights, fact and experience

The Royal College of Surgeons of England is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We are open to all
talent  and  we  actively  ensure  that  all  qualified  applicants  will  receive  equal  consideration  for
employment without regards to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership,
pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.