Assistant Company Secretary

Join Barclays Corporate Secretariat as a Company Secretary VP within our Secretarial Services Team (‘SST’).  This team advises the Boards and Directors of Barclays’ subsidiary companies, including regulated entities, on their duties, obligations, and corporate governance best practice, to ensure effective Board operation and promote director effectiveness. It is responsible for Group-wide processes such as the subsidiary accounts and regulatory reporting as well as delivery of a number of transformational projects such as a service request tool and entity management system. The successful candidate will be responsible for a portfolio of Barclays companies which will include  supporting them in transactional work. All VPs share some core responsibilities and in so doing manage and coach junior members of the team.

Key skills required for this role include:

• Experienced Company Secretary.

• Subsidiary governance management experience.

• Experience working in a regulated environment, ideally within financial services.

• Proven ability to lead small teams to deliver projects.

• High level of PC skills including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, Outlook.

Other highly valued skills include:

• Financial services experience.

• Good academic background.

• Knowledge of relevant legal and regulatory requirements, particularly of the UK Companies Act 2006 (and related legislation)

• Driving the performance of junior colleagues and managing resources.

You may be assessed on key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen, strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

This role can be based in London or Glasgow

Purpose of the role

To play a crucial role in ensuring the Barclays Group’s adherence to statutory and regulatory corporate governance requirements and industry standards, facilitating communication between the board of directors and other key stakeholders for regulated and/or significant Barclays Group legal entities. 

Accountabilities

• Act as Company Secretary to regulated or significant legal entities, including liaison with the Chairman and senior executives, assisting with board succession and board and committee evaluations, agenda preparation, board paper management, attending and minuting board meetings where required.
• Provision of support, advice and guidance to the Barclays Group on company law and appropriate regulations, its own policies and best practice in corporate governance and to the Directors on their fiduciary duties and other legal or regulatory obligations.
• Creation and review of corporate governance documents, including charters, terms of reference, matters reserved for the board, policies, and procedures in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
• Maintenance of compliance with corporate governance requirements, best practices and industry standards across the Barclays Group governance practices.
• Assistance on project work, for instance corporate re-organisations, liquidations, mergers and formations and the signing of subsidiary financial accounts.
• Maintenance of the company’s statutory registers, other registers such as conflict of interest registers, and data fields required for adherence to Barclays Group policies and standards .
• Stakeholders support with their ongoing compliance with the Group Policy on Legal Entities and Directors.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/ processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures..
• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements..
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others..
• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.
• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.