Corporate Governance Officer

Company Description

Working as a partnership, both Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust have a shared vision for excellence in care for our patients and communities; with a set of strategic aims underpinning how we will achieve this. 

The single corporate service is delivered across both organisation.  You may be based at either IWT or PHU and individuals may be required to undertake business travel between sites. For leaders managing staff across multi-site locations, you will need to be visible and provide in person leadership. The arrangements and frequency will be agreed locally.

Job Description

NHS Band 5 Salary:  £32,073 - 39,043 per annum (pending final job grading)

Hours Per Week:  Full time 37.5 hours (Monday - Friday)

Contract Type:  Permanent 

Location Base: Across site working, between Queen Alexandra Hospital, Southwick Hill Road, Cosham

Interview: Will be taking place week commencing 30th November 2026

Are you highly organised, detail-focused and passionate about supporting good governance? We are looking for a Corporate Governance Officer to join our Board Secretariat team, providing a high-quality corporate secretariat service across Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the heart of two NHS organisations, supporting Boards, Committees and Executive teams to ensure effective decision-making and the highest standards of corporate governance. You will play a key role in coordinating meetings, preparing agendas and papers, producing high-quality minutes, tracking actions, and supporting the delivery of key governance programmes and annual statutory processes.

Working closely with Executive Directors, Non-Executive Directors and senior leaders, you will build strong professional relationships and provide expert administrative and governance support across a wide range of complex and high-profile activities.

We are looking for someone with experience of servicing committees or senior-level meetings, excellent organisational and communication skills, and the ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment. Knowledge of corporate governance principles and a commitment to delivering a high-quality service are essential.

Specific Core Functions

• To support the Board Secretariat team to achieve excellent standards of corporate governance through the provision of a robust corporate secretariat service to the Group.
• To undertake a comprehensive secretariat service to the Board and its Committees and any other key forums in the Group as directed, to ensure effective and efficient administration of in line with best practice in corporate governance.
• Arrange meetings in person and by Teams, coordinating diaries and sending invites, booking meeting rooms and ensuring these are set up appropriately for the conduct of business.
• To draft quality meeting minutes, draft agendas in liaison with Committee chairs, manage the collation, review and distribution of meeting papers in accordance with deadlines, note and track actions to completion including reporting on progress and draft escalation reports from committee meetings, providing an excellent secretariat service.
• To ensure that decision-making processes are managed and documented correctly.
• To support Committee chairs with advice on corporate governance aspects of meeting preparation and conduct, ensure that chairs are fully briefed for their role and support members with administration for meetings such as travel arrangements.
• To ensure that the Executive Team meetings are managed and documented correctly and that agendas, minutes and reports/papers are agreed, prepared and despatched in compliance with the Executive Team’s agreed processes and statutory requirements, providing an excellent secretariat service.
• To manage business cycle planning for Committees, the Executive Team meetings and any other forums as directed, ensuring the maintenance of a robust and up to date planner for all forums and an effective information flow.  
• To co-ordinate business cycles and planning with the Trust Leadership Teams, ensuring appropriate information flow and escalation reporting  
• To act as a point of contact for meeting paper authors and provide direction and guidance on required paper content to authors and support teams.

In return, you will gain valuable exposure to senior leadership and Board-level decision making, while contributing to the effective governance and success of two ambitious NHS organisations.

If you thrive on organisation, enjoy working with senior stakeholders and want to make a meaningful contribution to the governance of NHS services, we would love to hear from you.

For full job details and person specifications please refer to enclosed Job Description.

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree level (or equivalent)

Desirable

• Qualification in corporate governance or healthcare governance (or equivalent experience)

Experience

Essential 

• Experience of committee meeting administration and management
• Experience of arranging complex meetings and working with senior managers
• Advanced skills for keyboard use for producing reports, spreadsheets and correspondence
• Excellent verbal, telephone and written communication skills
• Ability to build strong working relationships with Directors, senior leaders and other key personnel
• Ability to use own initiative and deal with competing priorities

Desirable

• Previous experience in a Corporate Secretariat function or associated role
• Experience of providing advice on protocol and procedures relating to Board meetings (or equivalent senior meetings) and decision making

Skills & Knowledge

Essential 

• Demonstrable strong knowledge of good corporate governance practice
• Demonstrable understanding of Committees and governance frameworks
• Ability to deliver multiple objectives concurrently
• IT experience and advanced analytical skills

Desirable

• Demonstrable knowledge of effective governance practice in healthcare
• Specialist knowledge and understanding of Committee work and governance structures

Additional Information

The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and DisAbility, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most.

We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs. 

For more information, please see our People and OD Strategy 2026

Smoke Free Policy: 

All of our hospitals operate a strict no smoking policy. Smoking cigarettes or tobacco products is not allowed on any of the grounds or in any of the buildings run by us. This applies to patients, staff, carers and visitors to Trust premises.

Our goal is to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone we care for and, by making sure that our NHS services are smoke-free, we benefit the health of people who use our services as well as the health of the people who work for us.