Director of Corporate Services

General Optical Council; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading organisation is seeking a Director of Corporate Services to oversee finance, IT, and facilities. The role involves strategic leadership, risk management, and improving digital infrastructure to enhance service delivery. Join at a pivotal time as the organisation aims for world-class regulation in eye care.

Qualifications

• Experience in strategic leadership and managing corporate services.
• Ability to prepare comprehensive reports and manage risks.

Responsibilities

• Lead Corporate Services Directorate, including finance, IT, and facilities.
• Chair monthly risk register meetings and prepare reports.
• Manage registration renewals and improve digital infrastructure.

Skills

Strategic planning

Operational management

Corporate governance

Compliance & risk management

Financial oversight

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Relevant degree

Job description

Join to apply for the Director of Corporate Services role at General Optical Council

Join to apply for the Director of Corporate Services role at General Optical Council

General Optical Council provided pay range

This range is provided by General Optical Council. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Base pay range

We have an exciting opportunity for a Director of Corporate Services to join our Senior Management Team and provide expert leadership of our Corporate Services Directorate, specifically our facilities, finance, IT and registration teams, as well as carry responsibility for audit, risk and assurance, and support our Audit, Risk and Finance and Investment Committees. Reporting to the Chief Executive and Registrar, this is a high-profile and satisfying role requiring credible and visible leadership, demonstrable business expertise and high attention to detail, underpinned by adherence to GOC values and active promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion, enabling everyone who works for the GOC to give their best for the maintenance of public confidence in the professions we regulate and the public we serve.

You will join our senior management team (SMT) at an exciting time. For the third year in a row we have met all 18 of the Professional Standards Authority’s (PSA) Standards of Good Regulation, and through harnessing the ideas and talents of all our people you will help successfully realise our new strategy ‘Safe and effective eye care for all’, alongside sharing collective responsibility for the GOC’s overall management and smooth operation, where our focus is to consolidate and extend our achievements in our ambition to be a world class regulator.

We are particularly interested in candidates who can operate strategically in relation to audit, risk and finance and are skilled at leading a Council or Board and its committees to identify and manage key risks, plan mitigations and develop internal controls and associated assurance activity to ensure our finances and management of corporate and departmental risks match our strategic ambitions. You will also chair our monthly SMT risk register meetings and be adept at preparing comprehensive and well-written reports and briefing papers to help inform good decision making and accurate reporting.

Maintaining the integrity and accuracy of our register is paramount, as is managing registration renewals and applications for registration, including from optical professionals registered overseas. A key focus here is learning lessons from never events and engaging with PSA’s review of our performance in this area. We are also making a significant investment from our reserves to improve our digital infrastructure. This includes implementing a new MyGOC platform, with the build phase just launched. We anticipate this will deliver improvements to our digital interface with our registrants, and to our ability to provide excellent customer-service. as well as facilitate positive operational improvements. Our digital-first strategy describes our ambitions for the next five years to be a digitally enabled, cyber secure organisation, including through the appropriate use of AI, ensuring all our people are fully supported in their use of our digital environment.

We have recently moved office into temporary accommodation at One Canada Square, with a second move planned into our new office in late June 2025. Your leadership of our facilities team will be central to managing this move, identifying and managing risks and capitalising on the opportunities a new office will bring to the development of our internal culture.

In addition, your strategic leadership of our expert finance team will ensure our effective financial management, regulatory compliance and optimisation of resources, and ensuring our financial resilience, and continuously improving and managing our financial capabilities so that we are best placed to finance our functions efficiently. An important dimension of the role will be the support and advice you provide to the Chief Executive, Chair and Council, SMT, committees, panels, workers, members and employees on all matters relating to the delivery of Corporate Services in accordance with our statutory responsibilities. Your leadership and development of a high-performing multi-disciplinary team will also ensure we meet current and anticipated regulatory needs and public protection within an ever-changing landscape.

If you share our values, have the expertise and skills to take our practice to “world class” and aspire to have an impact beyond the boundaries of your role, helping to shape eye care regulation at this exciting time, we would be delighted to hear from you.

Please note your application will not be accepted without a statement of no more than 2 sides of A4 indicating how you meet the ‘essential skills, experience, qualifications’ and ‘critical competencies and behaviours’ given in the Person Specification on page 13 in the Recruitment Pack, in order to demonstrate your ability to deliver the key accountabilities listed on pages 10-11 of the Recruitment Pack.

Closing date for applications - Wednesday 4 June 10am

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to attend the following:

Wednesday 18th June 2025: staff networks engagement and SMT engagement (Two sessions, about 20-30mins each, online – via MS Teams)

Friday 20th June 2025: In person competency-based interview at either our new office at One Canada Square or other London location. At interview you will be invited to make a short (3-4 min) presentation on a topic provided approx. one week in advance of the interview.

If these dates are problematic, please indicate in your covering email/ letter. Some flexibility may be offered, but this is not guaranteed.

PLEASE SEE RECRUITMENT PACK FOR FULL INFORMATION ON THE ROLE AND HOW TO APPLY

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: Full time, 34.75 hours per week

You may also have experience in the following: Director of Corporate Services, Head of Corporate Services, VP Corporate Services, Director of Business Operations, Director of Administrative Services, Director of Corporate Operations, Corporate Services Manager, Executive Director – Corporate Services, Chief Administrative Officer Strategic planning, Operational management, Corporate governance, Compliance & risk management, Financial oversight / budget management, Organizational development, Executive leadership, Stakeholder engagement, Cross-functional leadership, Corporate administration etc

REF-221 547

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Director

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Management, General Business, and Strategy/Planning

• Industries

  Health and Human Services

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