Senior Assistant Company Secretary

About the Role

The Company Secretariat team at Knight Frank was created in 2022 and reports to the Group Chief Finance Officer. This role supports the Group Company Secretary with a number of initiatives that are shaping a refreshed approach to corporate governance at Knight Frank. The position focuses on Knight Frank’s entities in the Asia Pacific region while collaborating with the global Company Secretariat team to deliver high-quality company secretarial services across the Knight Frank Global Network.

Key Accountabilities / Responsibilities

• Assist with the development and implementation of the entity management system, Diligent Entities, to meet the requirements of Knight Frank’s corporate structure.
• Support the recruitment of new members to the Company Secretariat team.
• Advise senior leadership on director responsibilities and support the preparation of board meeting packs, including drafting resolutions, agendas, and minute preparation.
• Update and maintain the global corporate data held in SharePoint and Diligent Entities, cross-checking alignment against local country commercial registers and core company registers.
• Oversee the rollout and ongoing maintenance of the Diligent Entities system across the Asia Pacific region.
• Ensure all regulatory filings are maintained at Companies House for UK-registered holding companies of Knight Frank’s entities and support filings for entities in the APAC region where required.
• Assist with requests for company statutory information and source documents for business and external parties, including UBO and corporate structure details.
• Coordinate the completion of due diligence requests by banks and clients and provide certification where required.
• Provide technical advice and oversee coordination with notaries on notarial, translation, and legalisation of corporate documents.
• Manage and execute ad-hoc projects such as share allotments, review of constitutions, name changes, director changes in differing jurisdictions, and incorporation of new companies under the instruction of the Group Company Secretary.
• Assist with actions from the Global Investment Committee, including reviewing and managing licence agreements, drafting minutes and resolutions, coordinating execution of agreements, and completing company dissolutions/incorporations.
• Assist in drafting, reviewing, and issuing powers of attorney.
• Oversee and monitor quarterly updates that maintain the global group structure and network diagrams in Visio, including linked documents of managing Group and Network lists.
• Review statutory annual financial statements and associated documents in a timely manner.
• Oversee electronic and ink signatures of corporate documents with senior leadership.
• Monitor and support developments in corporate governance and regulatory changes, recommend best-practice changes to the Group Company Secretary, and support other business support functions on corporate activities such as Treasury bank mandate changes and insurance renewals.
• Liaise and support global offices on corporate maintenance.

Skills & Knowledge

• A qualified Company Secretary with a minimum of five years of working experience in the field; recent completion of a relevant qualification is also acceptable.
• Experience as a Company Secretary in Singapore, Hong Kong, or China is highly desirable.
• Knowledge of the UK Companies Act and good-governance practices across other jurisdictions.
• Experience developing, managing, and maintaining company secretarial entity management systems, preferably Diligent.
• Strong technical knowledge and ability to interpret, communicate, and apply corporate law and governance.
• In-depth knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, Teams); experience with DocuSign is desirable.
• Knowledge of standard office administrative practices and procedures.
• Willingness to be hands-on, get involved with issues, and support colleagues constructively.
• Enthusiastic with a positive “can-do” attitude, precise, accurate, and discreet.
• Ability to work under own initiative, meet deadlines, prioritise and manage timescales.
• Comfortable interfacing with internal management teams and the board of directors, with a high level of tact, diplomacy, and discretion.
• Sense of humour and easy to work with.
• Willingness to develop knowledge of company secretariat and Knight Frank systems.

Benefits

Competitive salary.