Governance, risk and compliance roles in Irish State bodies: showing your own judgement on the form

Six governance, risk and compliance roles in Irish State bodies are advertised on publicjobs, closing between 29 October and 16 November 2026. They run from Executive Officer to Assistant Principal, across six organisations, and the work behind them is closely related: oversight, assurance, board support, compliance reporting and data protection. This post sets out what each competition says about itself, why governance professionals can undersell themselves on an application, and what a board needs to see to credit you with your own judgement.

I coach candidates for civil service and public sector competitions, and I spent years in the Civil Service myself, entering the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as a Third Secretary and leaving as a First Secretary. I also carry out governance reviews for boards and public bodies, so I know this work from the inside as well as from the application form. The facts below come from the publicjobs adverts and the booklets I could read on 19 October 2026.

Key facts at a glance

Competition	Grade	Closing date	Contract and location
Assistant Principal, Risk Manager, NAERSA (Vacancy ID 9155)	Assistant Principal Officer	3pm, Thursday 29 October 2026	Permanent, Letterkenny
Officer, Data Protection and Compliance, Fáilte Ireland (Vacancy ID 9697)	See the Fáilte Ireland advert	3pm, Monday 2 November 2026	Fixed term, Galway City and Killarney listed
Executive Officer, Operational Compliance and Reporting, Citizens Information Board (Vacancy ID 9602)	Executive Officer	5pm, Monday 2 November 2026	Permanent, Dublin
HEO Governance, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (Vacancy ID 9692)	Higher Executive Officer	12 noon, Wednesday 4 November 2026	Permanent, Dublin 8
Senior Governance and Risk Analyst, National Transport Authority (Vacancy ID 9684)	See the NTA competition booklet	12 noon, Friday 6 November 2026	Permanent, Dublin
Head of Corporate Governance and Board Secretary, AHRRA (Vacancy ID 9714)	Assistant Principal Officer	12 noon, Monday 16 November 2026	Permanent, Dublin

Only the NAERSA competition is run through publicjobs itself. The other five are hosted there as adverts, and each organisation (or, for AHRRA, the recruiter CPL) runs its own process. The publicjobs page for each one links to where the full details are.

Why look at these competitions together?

These six competitions are worth reading together because they ask candidates to describe the same kind of work, at different grades. The NAERSA booklet describes a role providing independent second-line oversight and challenge across NAERSA and My Future Fund, with independent reporting to the Board, the Audit and Risk Committee and the Investment Committee. The TII booklet describes an HEO who helps develop and review governance policies, coordinates the Governance Statement and the annual report to the Minister, and supports procurement, audit and statutory compliance.

The grade changes how much of that work is yours to decide. The difficulty in writing about it is the same at every grade, and that is what most of this post is about.

Which framework will the board use?

Each of these bodies sets out its own competency model in its booklet, and it is not always the civil service capability framework. The TII HEO Governance booklet assesses six competencies:

1. Team Leadership
2. Analysis and Decision Making
3. Management and Delivery of Results
4. Interpersonal and Communication Skills
5. Specialist Knowledge, Expertise and Self Development
6. Drive and Commitment to Public Service Values

The TII Key Achievements Form asks for examples against the first five, with a maximum of 250 words per example, and tells candidates to use the STAR framework. The NAERSA booklet asks candidates to show "the Key Competencies identified for effective performance at this level", and the National Transport Authority says its recruitment is competency-based and points candidates to its competition booklet.

So read the booklet for the competition you are entering before you write anything, and build your examples against the model it names. If you have prepared for a civil service competition under the capability framework, my guide to the capability framework explains it, and why some public bodies still use competency models of their own.

Why governance professionals can undersell themselves on the form

Governance work is written in the language of the framework: the risk appetite statement, the register, the policy, the code, the committee. People who do it well get very good at describing the system accurately. That is the right instinct for a board paper, and the wrong one for an application form.

A shortlisting board can only mark what is on the page, and it is marking you, not the framework. A candidate who has run a difficult compliance review well can write 250 accurate words about the review and still not be credited with much, because the words describe the process rather than the judgements they made inside it. My post on how a shortlisting board reads an application form explains what the board is doing when it scores a form.

Five things I see in governance and risk applications

These come up again and again when I work with candidates in governance, risk and compliance. None of them is about ability. All of them are about what reaches the page.

1. The framework instead of the decisions. The answer explains how the risk management framework works, and the candidate's own calls are hard to find. The board wants to know what you judged, what you recommended, and what happened as a result.
2. The minute-taking voice. Governance people spend years writing "it was agreed", "the committee noted" and "the policy was updated". That passive, collective register is correct in minutes. On a form it removes you from your own example. My post on I-centred language covers this in detail.
3. The disagreement left out. Second-line oversight means challenge: a business owner who did not accept a risk rating, a manager who wanted an exception to policy, an audit finding nobody wanted to own. Candidates often choose the example where everything went smoothly, and the one with friction usually gives the board far more to mark.
4. A document as the result. "The policy was approved" is a start. What changed because of it, who now does something differently, or what did an auditor or regulator find the next time? A result the board can check is stronger than one that ends at a signature.
5. Pitched at the wrong grade. An Assistant Principal applicant describing careful delivery of someone else's framework, or an Executive Officer applicant claiming ownership of a strategy they supported, may lose marks either way. The next section deals with this.

All five can be fixed before the form goes in.

What changes from EO to Assistant Principal in governance work?

The level of ownership changes, and your examples need to show the right level for the grade you are entering.

At Executive Officer level, in my experience, boards look for accurate, organised delivery of a process and good judgement within it: spotting the anomaly in the return, chasing the late submission, and knowing when to escalate. At Higher Executive Officer level, the TII booklet asks for at least five years in a highly responsible position in a busy office, and its duties include drafting, coordinating governance documents and motivating team members. That is the grade where you show you can run a cycle of work and bring other people with you. At Assistant Principal level, the NAERSA booklet describes developing the risk framework, challenging investment and operational risk, and reporting independently to the Board and its committees. That is the grade where you show you set the approach, challenge senior people and answer for the outcome.

If you are moving across from banking, audit or a regulated firm, translate your title into what you were responsible for. Boards in State bodies may not know what your job title meant in your last organisation.

How to write a governance example a board can mark

Start with an inventory, not the form. List the reviews, audits, incidents, policies and board cycles from the last five years where you were responsible for the outcome. For each one, note what you decided, who you had to persuade, what the difficulty was, and what changed afterwards. My post on building an example bank shows how to map a career against a framework.

Then write each answer using the STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, Result. Keep the Situation to a sentence or two, because the board cannot mark it, and leave out the framework explanation unless the decision depends on it. Use the Task to say what your own role was and what you were there to achieve. Put most of your words into the Action, in the first person, with real verbs: assessed, challenged, recommended, escalated, redrafted, persuaded. Finish with a Result the board can check.

Before you submit, run through the application form checklist, and check each application against its own instructions. TII, for example, asks for a cover letter of no more than two pages, a CV of no more than three pages and the Key Achievements Form, emailed together.

What happens after the closing date?

After the closing date, these competitions shortlist on the application, and only shortlisted candidates are called to interview. Not everyone who applies will be interviewed.

The NAERSA booklet says that where there are many eligible candidates, an expert board gives applications a scored assessment and invites candidates in batches from the top. It lists the methods that may be used, from a competitive interview to a presentation or report-writing exercise, says interviews are expected from November 2026, and says appointments are not expected from the panel after June 2028. The TII booklet describes a competency-focused interview, a possible second interview and possible exercises such as a presentation, and a panel that may be used for 12 months.

Governance interview questions to practice with

I have written these practice questions from the competencies and duties in the TII and NAERSA booklets. They are not questions from any board, and the real ones will differ, but if you can answer each of these with a strong example, you are well prepared.

1. Tell us about a time you challenged a senior colleague on a risk they did not want to accept. (Interpersonal and Communication Skills)
2. Describe a time you found a compliance gap that no one else had noticed. What did you do? (Analysis and Decision Making)
3. Tell us about a governance document or report you were responsible for under a tight deadline. (Management and Delivery of Results)
4. Describe a time you had to explain a governance requirement to people who saw it as a box-ticking exercise. (Interpersonal and Communication Skills)
5. Tell us about a time you led a team through a change in process or policy. (Team Leadership)
6. How do you keep up to date with governance and regulatory developments in your area? (Specialist Knowledge, Expertise and Self Development)
7. Describe a decision where integrity and convenience pointed in different directions. (Drive and Commitment to Public Service Values)

Answer them out loud, not in your head. Reading notes silently is not practice. The free interview preparation checklist sets out a plan you can start before any invitation arrives. If one of these competitions sits at Assistant Principal level, my post on Assistant Principal competitions in State agencies covers what changes at that grade.

Where support helps

Most governance and risk candidates I work with have the experience. What they want help with is choosing the right examples, getting their own judgement onto the page, and saying it clearly under pressure. That is what each of these is for:

1. Finding and building your examples. A session to work out which reviews, incidents and decisions to use, and which competency each one answers. Useful if you know the work well but cannot see where it fits on the form.
2. Application form review. A written guidance note on your draft, covering general feedback and feedback on each competency, followed by a session to talk it through. Useful if you have a draft and want to know whether a board would credit you with the judgement behind it.
3. Interview preparation. A mock competency-based interview against the model in your booklet, with a written guidance note afterwards. Useful once you are shortlisted, and you can read what a session involves first.

In both of the first two, the form stays in your own words. I do not write or rewrite application forms; I help you find and shape what you already have. To book, or to ask which would suit you, email me at sarah@dedico.ie.

If you would rather prepare on your own, everything linked in this post is free and it is the same method I use with clients.

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