Director of Transformation and Assurance (FTA)

The Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) is driven by its unparalleled access across government to build ‘better insights, better outcomes’ for our clients.

This role offers a strong platform for career progression within the Agency and the wider civil service, providing opportunities to develop leadership, stakeholder engagement and strategic relationship management skills across government.

The Agency’s unique access across the public sector exposes you to different risk and control environments, allowing you to gain insights, apply experience, contribute meaningfully, and continue developing professionally.

We are an executive agency of HM Treasury established in April 2015 to improve the quality of internal audit provided to central government.

Most of the Agency’s people are professionally qualified internal auditors, accountants or investigators.

Many are also specialists in areas including counter fraud, project management, digital and commercial audit.

This is a new Director role responsible for the development and delivery of the Government Internal Audit Agency’s (GIAA) specialist internal audit services, predominantly in the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) functional area, but also in Project and Programme Management (PPM) and other specialist disciplines.

We are recruiting an accomplished senior leader with experience of leading technology-led transformation in a large and complex organisation. The successful candidate will bring strong technology credibility, a sound understanding of risk and control frameworks, and the ability to influence and provide authoritative challenge to senior stakeholders.

The post holder will shape and grow GIAA’s specialist assurance capability, ensuring our services remain relevant, impactful and forward-looking as technology, AI and emerging risks transform the way government operates.

We lead both the Government Internal Audit Profession and the Government Internal Audit Function.

Our workforce brings with it a unique depth of experience gained in a wide range of government departments, related bodies and other sectors.

This enables us to offer a high-quality service based on cross-government insight and a strong understanding of our customers’ business.

In GIAA, we aim to be a great place to work and to ensure that we have the capability and capacity to make even more of a significant contribution to achieving A Brilliant Civil Service over the coming years.

Our initial focus was on becoming “a single audit practice”. We are now focused on taking GIAA to the next level so we can provide better insights and better outcomes for government.

As Director of Transformation and Assurance, you will:

• lead GIAA’s strategic shift towards a more DDaT-focused approach to assurance, ensuring technology, data and digital risks are reflected effectively in audit planning and delivery
• shape and deliver a compelling approach to technology-related risk and assurance, helping senior clients understand and manage emerging risks across cyber security, AI, cloud services, data quality and operational resilience
• build GIAA’s specialist capability and capacity, developing the skills, expertise and partnerships needed to provide high-quality, forward-looking assurance across government
• position GIAA as a trusted adviser to senior digital and technology leaders, providing insight that supports better management of complex and rapidly evolving risks
• harness insight from specialist assurance work to identify cross-government themes, emerging risks and opportunities to strengthen controls and governance
• play a leading role on GIAA’s Executive Committee, helping to shape the Agency’s strategy, transformation and long-term effectiveness.

This is a new role and it will evolve over time but initially, the primary responsibilities will be:

• providing strategic leadership for GIAA’s specialist internal audit portfolio, including DDaT, Project Portfolio Management and Commercial and Contract Management (including Grants), ensuring services are high quality, impactful and delivered to agreed professional standards
• developing and implementing a medium and long-term strategy to grow GIAA’s specialist assurance capability, with an initial focus on DDaT and the development of wider organisational capability in areas such as AI and core technology controls
• building influential relationships with senior stakeholders across government, ensuring specialist risks are appropriately reflected in audit planning, client engagement and assurance activity
• leading and developing a directorate of around 60 people, including two SCS1 Deputy Directors, creating a high-performing, inclusive and collaborative culture and building capability for the future
• overseeing the effective deployment of internal resources and external specialist partners, ensuring GIAA has the right expertise and capacity to meet client needs and deliver value for money.
• championing quality, innovation and continuous improvement across specialist services, ensuring delivery complies with the Global Internal Audit Standards and GIAA methodology
• working across GIAA and the wider government internal audit community to turn specialist insight into improved strategic risk management, governance and controls
• contributing collectively to the leadership of GIAA as an Executive Committee member, supporting delivery of the Agency’s strategy, transformation, performance and financial sustainability.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Recruitment Timeline

• Closing date: 9 November 2026
• Shortlist w/c 23 November 2026
• Assessments: w/c 30 November & w/c 7 December 2026
• Interviews: w/c 14 December (in person in London)

This timeline is indicative and may be subject to change. We will inform you if there is a substantial change to the recruitment timeline.

If your contact details change at any time during the selection process, please ensure you update your Civil Service Jobs profile.

Please note that only applications submitted through Civil Service Jobs will be accepted.

As part of our pre-employment security checks, if you are invited to interview and are not a current GIAA member of staff, you will need to bring:

• Proof of identity, e.g. your passport or driver’s license. Documents must be in date and valid.
• Proof of address, e.g. a utility bill or bank statement issued within the past 3 months
• Proof of your National Insurance (NI) number, e.g. letter from DWP confirming your NI number, or P60
• If you do not bring a UK or EU passport, you will need to bring other documentation of your right to work in the UK, e.g. your visa, biometric residence permit or birth certificate.

Further details regarding acceptable documents will be provided in the invitation to interview.

Please let us know if your contact details change at any time during the selection process.

Eligibility Statement:

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role in the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. Checks will be performed as part of pre-employment checks in line with this. Please refer to the Candidate FAQ document attached to the advert for more information.

Everyone working with government assets must complete Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks. Additionally, individuals appointed to the Treasury group will be subject to National Security Vetting. The level of security vetting required for this role is Security Check (SC)

To allow for meaningful checks to be carried out, applicants will need to have lived in the UK for at least 3 out of the past 5 years. In exceptional circumstances, for example if you have been working abroad on a government posting, a lack of residency would not be a bar to security clearance however the Department will need to consider eligibility on a case-by-case basis once the advert closing date has passed.

Please read the Vetting Charter for information on what to expect during the vetting process and what will be expected from you. Many areas of your life may be explored during your vetting journey, and it is important that every individual, regardless of their background and experiences, should feel comfortable going through this personal process, whilst having confidence that it is fair, proportionate, and inclusive.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.