Role Summary
The Group Company Secretary leads the corporate governance framework across Aventum Group’s international portfolio of companies, ensuring compliance with legal, regulatory and statutory obligations across multiple jurisdictions. As a trusted adviser to the Board, Executive Management, and regulated business units, the role provides expert guidance on governance, corporate structure, entity management, and board effectiveness, while promoting high standards of transparency, accountability, and governance best practice.
Role Accountability Requirements
Corporate Governance and Board Support
- Advise on and facilitate compliance with relevant statutory, regulatory and corporate governance requirements. Develop, maintain and continually enhance the Group’s governance framework, policies and procedures. Organise and administer Board and Committee meetings, including annual scheduling, agendas, board packs, attendance, minutes, resolutions and action tracking. Provide clear governance and procedural advice to directors and senior management.
- Support Board effectiveness reviews, governance best practice initiatives and the director training programme. Manage director appointments and resignations, identity verification requirements, beneficial ownership filings and corporate record updates.
- Promote open and transparent communication across the Legal team and wider business, building positive relationships with internal stakeholders.
Entity Management, Compliance and Regulatory Support
- Oversee governance requirements for an international portfolio of companies and ensure statutory filings are completed accurately and on time across relevant jurisdictions.
- Maintain statutory registers, corporate records, shareholder records, cap tables and current corporate structure charts.
- Manage company formations, dissolutions, reorganisations and other corporate changes.
- Administer share issuances, transfers, buybacks, reclassifications and capital reductions, and support the administration of the company share option scheme.
- Liaise with external legal advisers, corporate service providers, regulators and supervisory authorities globally.
- Maintain governance documentation required for regulatory submissions and applications, and support audit, risk and compliance reviews from a governance perspective.
- Monitor developments in company law, regulatory requirements and governance best practice, identifying governance risks and recommending proportionate mitigation.
- Manage Group-wide KYC and due diligence information requests, providing accurate corporate documentation, governance information and ownership details to internal stakeholders and third parties.
- Support mergers, acquisitions, disposals, restructurings and post-transaction governance integration activities where required.
Performance and Service Delivery
- Ensure governance committees are established, diarised and supported with appropriate documentation and clear attendance requirements.
- Deliver accurate, high-quality agendas, meeting packs, minutes, resolutions, and governance records within agreed timescales.
- Maintain consistent application of governance processes and policies in line with legal requirements and best practice.
- Meet internal and external reporting requirements and deliver services within agreed time and budget parameters. Complete statutory filings by deadline, with no regulatory penalties attributable to governance failures. Maintain corporate records to a standard that supports clean audit outcomes and effective regulatory review.
- Build trusted relationships with the Board, senior leaders, regulators, corporate service providers and legal advisers.
Knowledge and Qualifications
- Excellent working knowledge of corporate governance, company law and relevant statutory requirements.
- Strong understanding of how regulatory and statutory frameworks affect an international, regulated group.
- Knowledge of governance expectations within FCA, PRA, Lloyd’s or a comparable regulated financial services environment.
- CGI qualification, or progress towards a relevant Chartered Governance qualification, is highly desirable.
Skills and Experience
- Excellent stakeholder management, influencing and relationship-building skills, with the confidence to advise Board and senior executive stakeholders.
- Clear and accurate written and verbal communication, including the ability to draft high-quality minutes, resolutions and governance documentation.
- Strong facilitation, planning, project management and organisational capability.
- Ability to prioritise competing demands and deliver accurately in a fast-paced environment.
- High levels of discretion, confidentiality, integrity and sound judgement.
- Solution-focused approach, with strong problem-solving and continuous improvement capability.
- Pragmatic and commercially aware thinking, with the ability to anticipate issues and recommend proportionate solutions.
- Personal accountability, resilience and the ability to work independently with energy and drive.
- Strong attention to detail and commitment to consistent, high-quality service delivery.
- Significant company secretarial and corporate governance experience, ideally within insurance or financial services.
- Experience supporting Boards, Committees and senior executives in a complex organisation.
- Experience managing governance obligations and entity portfolios across multiple jurisdictions.
- Demonstrable experience drafting Board minutes, written resolutions, governance papers and related documentation.
- Experience supporting statutory and regulatory filings, corporate transactions, reorganisations and capital events.
- Experience working with external legal advisers, corporate service providers, auditors, banks and regulators.
- Experience using board portal software and entity management systems would be advantageous.
Management Duties
We are an equal opportunity employer, and we are proud to share that 93% of our employees say they can be themselves at work. We aim to hire our industry's finest people because the best people drive the best outcomes. And we forever challenge the status quo because we know there are always ways to improve things. Because together, we're limitless.
We value applicants from all backgrounds and foster a culture of inclusivity. We understand the need for flexibility, so work in a hybrid model. Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process.
FCA Conduct Rules
Under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime the FCA and Aventum expects that:
- You must act with integrity.
- You must act with due skill, care and diligence.
- You must be open and cooperative with the FCA, the PRA and other regulators.
- You must pay due regard to the interests of customers and treat them fairly.
- You must observe proper standards of market conduct.
- You must act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers.
