Director of Quality Assurance
National Role | England & Scotland | Hybrid Working
Help us deliver Best Lives, Bolder Futures
We're looking for an exceptional Director of Quality Assurance to join our Executive Team and lead the development of a modern, independent assurance function across our charity.
Reporting directly to the Chief Executive, you will provide objective quality assurance to the Board that the organisation is operating safely, effectively and in line with regulatory, governance and risk management requirements. You'll play a vital role in strengthening organisational oversight, identifying emerging risks, and driving a culture of continuous improvement.
About the Role
As Director of Quality Assurance, you will lead our organisation-wide approach to:
- Board Assurance & Governance
- Quality & Regulatory Assurance
- Risk Management & Business Continuity
- Health & Safety Assurance
- Complaints & Whistleblowing (Speak Out)
- Insight, Intelligence & Reporting
Reporting directly to the Chief Executive, you will provide objective assurance to the Board that the organisation is operating safely, effectively and in line with regulatory, governance and risk management requirements. You'll play a vital role in strengthening organisational oversight, identifying emerging risks, and driving a culture of continuous improvement.
Board Assurance & Governance
- Lead the Board Assurance Framework (BAF) and corporate risk framework.
- Provide independent assurance to the Board and Committees on strategic delivery, control effectiveness, assurance gaps and emerging risks.
- Ensure appropriate escalation of significant risks and control failures.
Quality Assurance & Regulatory Oversight
- Lead a risk-based quality assurance framework across services and corporate functions.
- Provide assurance on quality, safety, compliance and regulatory readiness (CQC, CI and Ofsted).
- Analyse intelligence from incidents, complaints, safeguarding, audits and whistleblowing to identify themes, risks and improvement priorities.
Risk Management & Business Continuity
- Lead the organisation-wide risk management framework, ensuring effective risk identification, ownership and alignment between operational and strategic risks.
- Drive improvements in risk maturity, culture, capability and use of data.
- Hold overall accountability for business continuity planning, testing and response.
Health & Safety
- Provide strategic leadership and assurance on Health & Safety, ensuring effective governance, accountability and escalation of significant risks and incidents.
Internal Audit
- Hold executive accountability for the internal audit function.
- Commission and oversee independent audits aligned to principal risks.
- Monitor audit recommendations and ensure timely implementation of agreed actions.
Complaints & Whistleblowing
- Oversee complaints and whistleblowing processes, ensuring concerns are managed consistently, appropriately and in line with organisational expectations.
- Ensure lessons learned and emerging trends are identified, acted upon and escalated where necessary.
- Provide assurance to the Board on risks and mitigating actions.
Insight & Continuous Assurance
- Develop integrated assurance reporting across quality, risk, audit, workforce and safety metrics.
- Provide forward-looking insight and early warning indicators to support Executive and Board decision-making.
- Ensure the quality, accuracy and integrity of organisational data.
Leadership & Culture
- Promote a culture of transparency, accountability, learning and continuous improvement.
- Build trusted relationships while maintaining independence and objective challenge.
- Contribute as a member of the Executive Team to organisational strategy, programmes and change initiatives.
- Hold budget responsibility for the function and lead assurance-related teams and resources.
You will be working closely with the Executive Team, Board and Committees and report directly to the CEO , you’ll ensure robust assurance frameworks are in place, providing clear visibility of organisational risks, control effectiveness and opportunities for improvement.
About You
Qualifications, Experience, and Knowledge
- Senior leadership experience in governance, assurance, audit or risk
- Experience working at Board / Committee level
- Strong understanding of regulation (e.g. social care, NHS, or equivalent sectors)
- Background in one or more of, Internal Audit, Risk Management, Quality/Regulatory Assurance
Competencies, Skills, and Abilities
- Ability to provide independent challenge and influence at Executive level
- Strong analytical and judgement capability
- Ability to synthesise complex information into clear Board-level insight
- High integrity and credibility
- Experience of leading organisational assurance, risk or quality frameworks.
- Strong understanding of regulatory environments, ideally within social care, health, charity or similarly regulated sectors.
Key Skills
- Ability to provide independent challenge while influencing senior stakeholders.
- Excellent analytical, investigative and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to translate complex information into concise Board-level insight.
- Strong judgement, integrity and personal credibility.
- Outstanding communication and relationship-building skills.
You'll be able to provide constructive challenge, analyse complex information and translate it into clear, actionable insight for senior stakeholders.
This is a national role covering England and Scotland. Travel to Widnes Head Office and services across the UK when required. You will be part of the Executive Team reporting to the Chief Executive.
Why Join Us?
This is a rare opportunity to shape a high-profile executive function and make a direct impact on the quality, safety and effectiveness of services delivered across England and Scotland.
You'll join an ambitious organisation committed to excellence, innovation and ensuring people can live their best lives and achieve bolder futures.
If you're an experienced quality assurance, risk or governance leader ready to influence at Board level, we'd love to hear from you or if you would like a more informal conversation about the role before making a formal application, please feel free to give our Recruitment Specialist Vicki Andrews , [email protected] or call me on 07816 268813
We’re really proud to be a Hive HR Employee Voice Certified organisation, a recognition that confirms our commitment to creating a culture where our colleagues are not only encouraged to share their thoughts, but where this feedback is actively sought and acted upon to drive positive change at every level.
In our 2025 Colleague Engagement Survey, 59% (nearly 3,800) of our people shared their feedback and insights, giving us an incredible Employee Net Promoter Score of +34.
The Employee Net Promoter Score is a measure of how willing our colleagues are to recommend us as a good place to work to their loved ones – and a score of +34 is considered a Very Good score when compared to global benchmarks set by hundreds of other organisations.
If you would like a more informal conversation about the role before making a formal application, please feel free to give our Recruitment Specialist
Vicki Andrews ,
[email protected] or call me on
07816 268813