CQC Company Secretary

CQC Company Secretary

Executive Level 2: £95,000 - £113,625 per annum
Contracted Hours: Full time, 37 hours per week
Contract Type: Permanent
Location: Home-based, with travel to meetings, CQC offices and providers as required
Closing Date: Monday 23rd February 2026 at 11.59pm
Interview Date: Wednesday 1st / Thursday 2nd April 2026 in Newcastle

For an informal discussion or further information on the role, please contact Chris Usher via his Executive PA and for general enquiries, please contact .

Make a difference

Every role at CQC plays a part in helping us deliver safe, high quality care for people across England. As we strengthen our governance and accountability frameworks, we are looking for an exceptional senior leader to shape how we operate at our very core. This is a pivotal moment for CQC and an opportunity to lead with purpose, integrity, and influence.

If you're seeking a role where your expertise genuinely makes a difference, this could be the perfect fit.

Picture this

As our Company Secretary - and acting Director of Governance and Assurance, you will be CQC's most senior governance leader. You'll work closely with the Chair, Chief Executive, and Executive Team to ensure our governance, risk, and assurance arrangements are robust, transparent, and aligned to best practice.

This is a strategic, high profile leadership role at the centre of our organisation.

You will:

• Act as a trusted adviser to the CEO and Chair, bringing clarity, insight, and constructive challenge.
• Shape and uphold CQC's governance framework, ensuring strong decision making, clear delegation, and high standards of accountability.
• Lead the Board and committee governance cycle, ensuring the Chair, Board, and Executive Team receive high quality information and assurance.
• Drive a refreshed approach to risk management and organisational assurance, strengthening our resilience and credibility as a regulator.
• Provide oversight of internal audit, internal controls, statutory compliance, and ethical governance.
• Lead and inspire the Governance & Assurance Directorate, building an inclusive, high performing team.

The role

At CQC, we are proud of our values: Excellence, Caring, Integrity, and Teamwork, and we expect our senior leaders to embody these in everything they do. You will be someone who builds trust through authenticity, champions diversity and inclusion, and fosters a culture of continuous improvement.

Your insight and leadership will influence what we do and how we do it.

Picture yourself at the heart of an organisation undergoing meaningful change:

• Influence how our new Board works and makes decisions. You'll help embed best practice governance, implementing the recommendations of a recent external review.
• Shape CQC's approach to risk and assurance. You'll lead programmes that ensure we identify risks early, act on them, and build a culture of continuous improvement.
• Champion transparency and integrity. You'll play a central role in ensuring CQC meets its statutory, regulatory, and public accountability obligations.

This is a role where insight meets impact, and where your leadership will help strengthen how we serve the public, partners, and providers.

Show us

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

• Senior leadership experience in governance, assurance, or company secretariat roles within a large, complex or high profile environment.
• Strong knowledge of statutory and regulatory frameworks for public bodies or Arm's Length Bodies.
• A proven track record of leading Board and committee governance, risk management, and internal control frameworks.
• Experience in influencing at the highest levels and building trusted relationships across government and partner organisations.
• Inclusive, empowering leadership that fosters trust, high performance, and collaboration.

Join us and help CQC shape the future of health and care.

Compliance

Note for external candidates:

To progress your application, you'll need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. Without a 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

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 their application, so you will hear from us whether or not you are shortlisted.

How to apply

To apply for this role, please submit a copy of your CV and Supporting Statement (no more than 750 words) via the Recruitment System:

Your Supporting Statement should cover the following:

• How does your previous experience make you suitable for this role?
• What strengths will you bring to the role that will have an immediate positive impact?

The Benefits

• Annual leave starting at 27 days per year, rising to 32.5 days with service, plus bank holidays (usually eight 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 a Blue Light card, at a cost of £4.99 and valid for two years), reward vouchers, car leasing, and more!

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. If you'd like to chat, please contact . Please note, if you have previously informed us of adjustments you need for an interview or within your role, these are not carried over and must be discussed for each individual application you make.

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.

We welcome applications from everyone, and colleagues can find support and community among our many employee networks. This includes people of any:

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

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.

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:

• AI 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.