CQC Interim Deputy Director of Portfolio Assurance

Care Quality Commission; Remote; GBP 76,000; Full time

Job summary

A regulatory agency in the United Kingdom seeks an Interim Deputy Director of Portfolio Assurance for a 12-month secondment. Your role will be to lead governance and assurance initiatives, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and best practices. Candidates should have significant experience in developing assurance services for major change programmes, strong governance skills, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders. This position offers a full-time contract and is home-based with necessary travel.

Benefits

Annual leave starting at 27 days

Training and development opportunities

NHS pension scheme

Gym discounts

Discount schemes

Qualifications

• Significant experience in developing an organisational assurance service related to major change programmes.
• Strong experience in governance within complex organisations.
• Ability to influence and collaborate with senior leaders.

Responsibilities

• Lead portfolio assurance improvements and ensure robust frameworks.
• Provide assurance and high-quality reporting to Board.
• Facilitate assurance to Executive Committee on major change initiatives.

Skills

Organisational assurance development

Portfolio governance

Influencing senior leaders

Leadership

Job description

Interim CQC Deputy Director of Portfolio Assurance

Executive Level 3:£75,183 per annum
Contracted Hours:Full time 37 hours per week
Contract Type: 12Months Secondment / Fixed Term Opportunity
Location:Home-based, with travel to meetings as required
Closing Date:19th January 2026 at 11.59pm
Interview Date:Monday 9th February 2026 via MS Teams

Make a difference

Every role at CQC contributes to our mission.

If you’re looking for a short-term leadership role in Governance and Assurance that offers real impact and purpose, this is your opportunity! As our Deputy Director of Portfolio Assurance, you’ll lead the governance and assurance of change and improvement initiatives, ensuring robust frameworks and alignment with strategic priorities.

This role will focus on prioritisation, benefits realisation and embedding best practice across the organisation.

You will be an advocate for sharing best practice, you will define and maintain, in collaboration with the Deputy Director colleagues in the function who are experts in their fields, the standards for change and improvement including project management and business change across the team.

Picture this

• Lead and shape portfolio assurance improvements, ensuring robust frameworks and processes.
• Provide assurance and high-quality reporting to Board and Executive Committees.
• Drive alignment between organisational priorities and change initiatives, embedding best practice and statutory compliance.

The role

• Facilitate the provision of assurance, to the Executive Committee (portfolio oversight function) and the Board of Directors, over the delivery and expected future performance of major change initiatives defined within the scope of the CQC Change Portfolio.
• Work closely with senior stakeholders to ensure clarity, transparency, and accountability in decision-making.
• Contribute to strengthening assurance frameworks and prioritisation processes during this transitional period.

Show us

We will be looking for specific skills, knowledge and experience in your application form:

• Significant experience of developing an organisational assurance and advice service, specifically in relation to major change programmes, that provides an independent and objective assessment of confidence, supports effective decision making and thus drives successful delivery of a Major Change Portfolio.
• Strong experience in portfolio, programme, and project governance within complex organisations.
• Ability to influence and collaborate with senior leaders in high-profile environments.
• Proven leadership skills and the ability to deliver at pace.

How to apply

To apply for this role, please submit a copy of your CV via the Recruitment System.

If you’d like to have an informal chat about the role you can contact Jane Burns, Director of Governance & Assurance on [e-mail].

For general enquiries, please email [e-mail].

Compliance

To progress your application, you’ll need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. Without valid right to work you won’t be eligible for the role.We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. Some roles may also be subject to a satisfactory DBS check.

Next steps

You can read the full details of the role in the following Job Description: JD DD of Portfolio Assurance Jan 2026.docx

If you apply, you’ll need to create a profile and complete an online application form. Your application will be completely anonymous. Please see our information for applicants for more details on the process. We contact every applicant to let them know the outcome of your application, so you will hear from us whether or not you are shortlisted.

The Benefits

• Annual leave starting at 27 days per year, rising to 32.5 days with service, plus bank holidays (usually 8 days per year).
• Training and development opportunities.
• Wellbeing initiatives, such as gym discounts and meditation.
• NHS pension scheme, with around 14% employer contribution.
• Discount schemes (including eligibility for Blue Light card, costing £4.99 and valid for 2 years), reward vouchers, car leasing and more!
• Please see our benefits page for the full list.

Equity for all

We know job descriptions can feel intimidating. Research shows they can cause some people to doubt whether they’re a good fit. This happens more often to people from underrepresented groups (e.g. ethnic minority backgrounds). If this role interests you, we encourage you to apply. Your unique perspective, skills, and experience could be exactly what we need.

We want every candidate to feel supported and able to do their best. If you need adjustments to our process, we’ll work with you to remove any barriers. Visit our accessibility page for more on this. If you’d like to chat, please contact [e-mail].

We promote a workplace where fairness, respect and inclusion are a priority. Diverse teams make our work better, help us deliver our mission and make our culture stronger. See our ED&I page for more about this.

• Age
• Sex
• Gender identity or expression
• Sexual orientation
• Religion or belief
• Ethnicity
• Disability

A Note on AI

AI tools can be great for research and refining ideas, but we want to learn about you. If you use AI or Chatbots to help you with your application, keep these points in mind:

• A I can support research, structuring and refining your writing, but your application must reflect your real skills and experience.
• Spell-checking and condensing word counts are great ways to use AI effectively.
• Do not copy and paste AI generated answers. These will not help you stand out; remember we want to hear about your skills and experience.
• Providing false and insincere examples goes against our core values of honesty and integrity and may lead to your application being withdrawn or termination of your employment.

Values and vision

We are guided by our core values, which shape our work and our culture.

• Excellence – being a high-performing organisation.
• Caring – treating everyone with dignity and respect.
• Integrity – doing the right thing.
• Teamwork – learning from each other to be the best we can.

We are a disability confident employer and a carer confident employer.