Head of Enterprise Risk

Would you bring strong influencing skills and be comfortable in pushing back to your stakeholders when required?

Are you proactive in seeking resolutions and can resolve issues that arise through innovative thinking?

If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a Head of Enterprise Risk to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!

Here at the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), we work on things that make a real difference to people’s lives.

Whether it's through the homes we live in, the work of our local councils, or the communities we’re all part of, our work is at the top of the political agenda. We have ambitious and far-reaching outcomes to achieve this year and, if you’re thinking of joining us, there’s never been a more exciting time.

We are seeking an excellent candidate to lead the Enterprise Risk Team at MHCLG. The role reports to the Deputy Director, Central Delivery Unit, that sits at the heart of MHCLG to proactively enable, support and improve delivery to achieve better outcomes for Ministers and citizens.

The successful candidate will manage and develop a small team of cross-functional risk specialists and have a proven ability to design and apply risk management strategies, methodologies and policies and oversee their implementation in a large and complex organisation.

The Head of Enterprise Risk supports the department’s executive and non-executive oversight bodies in embedding and maintaining the department’s Risk Management Framework. This role leads the Risk Management profession at MHCLG and drives continuous improvement activity to optimise risk management practices and associated changes.

The Enterprise Risk Team acts as a custodian of the departmental Risk Management Framework, fulfils the 2nd line of defence responsibilities across all Principal Risk categories and oversees development and production of regular Risk Reporting for the Risk Sub-Committee, Executives, and the Board Risk Committee, thus supporting effective risk governance in the Department.

We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work.

Our role

As the Head of Enterprise Risk your responsibilities will include:

• Lead the department’s risk strategy, including designing and implementing the Risk Maturity Plan and embedding a strong risk culture across the department.
• Develop, embed and maintain the Risk Management Framework and associated suite of risk policies and tools. Providing support and expertise in the monitoring and reporting on key risk indicators, assessment of risk classification and risk appetite compliance across the department and its ALBs.
• Serve as Head of Profession for Risk Management in MHCLG and influence the professional community in the wider government sector, including the activities of the Risk Centre of Excellence.
• Maintain the relationship with the product team for the department's delivery and risk reporting system, ensuring its configuration enables effective use of the risk-related tools and reporting across the department.
• Develop and oversee the production of regular risk reporting for Risk Sub-Committee, Executive Team and Audit and Risk Committee.
• Support the delivery and champion risk management capability within the organisation, including developing and presenting risk training material.
• Develop and nurture relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, advocating for a culture of effective risk management.
• Collaborate with Internal Audit and other assurance providers to support combined assurance and risk management. Coordinate the development of the departmental assurance map from the second and third line point of view.

Our benefits

There are many benefits of working at MHCLG, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days

MHCLG offers hybrid working for all employees. This means that everyone does some working from home and also spends some time in their local office. You’ll agree to your hybrid working arrangement with your line manager in line with your preferences and business needs.

If this role sounds interesting to you and you would like to find out more information about us or this role, please click on the link to access the advert on Civil Service Jobs by 11:55 pm 15th April 2025.