Head of Company Secretariat

Job Description Summary

Job Description

Head of Company Secretariat

Permanent  

Location:  Edinburgh (We believe in the power of in-person collaboration, and our hybrid model requires colleagues to be in the office a minimum of 40% of their time)  

Salary: A competitive salary from £69,760 - £104,640 depending on the experience you can bring  

Closing date: 20th November 2025

People are living longer and we’re excited by the opportunities this brings to help people live their best lives. We’re here for everyone who wants to make the most of their time on the planet and leave it a little better than they found  it – however grand or humble their ambitions. 

We help people live their best lives. We help them with the big stuff, for the moments that matter: Pensions, Savings, Investments. At Aegon, we strive in creating a diverse organisation that plays a meaningful role in driving greater equity, inclusion and belonging. 

In Aegon, our Group Legal and Executive Board Office provide legal, governance, and regulatory support across the organisation, ensuring compliance, strategic alignment, and operational excellence.

We now have an opportunity to join the team as a Head of Company Secretariat based in Edinburgh. Reporting to the Deputy Company Secretary, the Head of Company Secretariat role is designed to support strategic governance ambitions and lead on operational matters across the Secretariat function, ensuring proactive and high-quality governance. This will be combined with operational excellence and with a people-centred approach, empowering direct reports to develop, thrive, and contribute strategically while enhancing governance processes.

You will be responsible for continuous improvement in best practices, optimising service delivery, and driving initiatives across the Secretariat team. Working closely with the Deputy Company Secretary and General Counsel & Company Secretary you will ensure ongoing alignment with governance standards, regulatory requirements, and organisational priorities.

This is both a thought partner and an operational leader role, ideal for someone who thrives in a fast‑moving environment and who enjoys working at the intersection of legal, governance, strategy, and operations.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Providing proactive and high quality support to the Deputy Company Secretary and wider governance function by leading activities beyond immediate daily activities.
• Leading the day to day operations of the Company Secretariat team, ensuring consistent, high-quality support for Boards, Committees, and Executives.
• Identifying training needs across the team and at individual level, designing tailored development plans that align with business objectives and personal growth goals and ambitions.
• Leading the planning and execution of board and committee meeting logistics, ensuring timely coordination of agendas, papers, and attendee communications.
• Working closely with the Deputy Company Secretary to drive and embed change initiatives across the Secretariat (and wider PA) team.

We’d love to hear from you if you have:

• Significant experience in a Secretariat operational planning and coordination role across Boards/Committees, with proven team management capabilities within a financial services setting.
• Prior experience in a senior governance role, including producing and embedding Governance Frameworks.
• Substantial experience coordinating Board/Committee cycles (including agile and proactive Board/Committee planning) in a complex, multi‑entity environment.
• Exposure of delivering essential governance matters, including examples such as succession planning, Board training plans, skills matrices, etc.
• Experience in delivering process improvements and adopting new templates/tools within Governance teams.
• Experience producing consistent, accurate minutes and managing action logs at pace.
• Exposure in maintaining statutory registers and executing filings to tight deadlines.
• Proven track record in managing cross-functional projects and driving operational improvements.
• Experience working with senior executives and Non-Executive Directors.
• Understanding of UK company law, governance frameworks, and regulatory requirements

What’s in it for you?

• We’re serious about your future and our enhanced pension scheme is now in place.  We ask you to contribute 3% of your salary to your pension and we’ll put in 9%.  If you decide to contribute more, we’ll match it up to a combined total of 20% of your salary (that’s 7% from you and 13% from us).
• A discretionary bonus, depending on personal and company performance
• 38 days leave per year (including bank holidays, pro-rated for part-time)

We also offer private medical cover, life assurance, critical illness cover, enhanced parental leave and a variety of lifestyle benefits to help our employees live their best lives, including retail discount vouchers, cycle2work scheme, subsidised restaurant and online GP appointments.  To find out more about what to expect at Aegon, visit our careers site.

Ready to take your career to the next level? Apply now!

The legal bits 

We’ll need you to confirm you have the right to work in the UK. If we offer you a job and you accept, there are some checks we need to complete before you can start with us. This will include a credit and criminal record check, as well as providing satisfactory references.