Rail - Head of Secretariat - Stratford

There is a requirement for a Head of Secretariat to come onto the Crossrail project for at least a year in Stratford, London.

Role Brief:

• Manage the internal governance arrangements of the Crossrail Board to ensure that the arrangements for controlling material decisions in the company are appropriate, that all decisions made by the company are in line with these arrangements and that a proper audit trail exists for them.
• Key requirements are to ensure the smooth running of the Crossrail Board, the Board Committees, the Executive Group and the other key governance meetings including obtaining, reviewing and producing documentation prepared to a consistent and appropriate standard that is distributed on a timely basis.
• Act as a trusted, independent and impartial advisor on all matters of Board governance.Work with the Chairman, CEO, the Deputy CEO, Board Directors, the Company Secretary and Committee members as required to create a long-term Board agenda that is fully aligned with the strategic purpose of the company.
• Ensure good management of the business of the Crossrail Board and the Board committees and compliance by the Crossrail Board with legislation and statutory duties.
• Ensure that all documents that are required to be filed at Companies House are produced, approved and filed by any prescribed deadlines. Ensure that the Company Secretary is at all times kept up-to-date in relation to the filing of documents at Companies House.
• Provide or arrange for the provision of legal, financial and/or strategic advice during and outside of meetings, liaising with the Head of Legal Services and the Chief Financial Officer as necessary.
• Oversee development and delivery of processes to ensure the smooth running of support for each series of governance meetings.
• In consultation with the Chair and CEO, set and maintain quality standards for material presented to the Board, to ensure that all papers are timely, strategic, focussed and clear in their request of the Board.
• Provide arrangements to help managers to define and prepare reports and papers with appropriate content and quality; to review and edit these as required; to encourage progressive improvement of quality of submissions; and to ensure that technical content of all kinds is intelligible to non-experts.

Skills & Experience Required:

• Membership of the ICSA: The Governance Institute.
• Significant experience of working at Chairman, CEO and Director level in a complex organisation.
• Significant experience of supporting a Board and Board committees.
• Proven ability to remain independent and objective when dealing with overlapping and conflicting priorities, with exceptional judgement, tact and diplomacy.
• Significant experience of filing documents at Companies House.
• Good degree-level qualification or equivalent experience in a role requiring an in-depth knowledge of relevant law, including legislation and statutory duties, and current best practice relating to governance.
• Extensive experience of, and evidence of success in, the work of a secretariat function and managing a small team.
• Methodical, process driven, naturally inclined to plan and organise material and data.
• Sufficient financial awareness and technical understanding to provide informed but non- expert review of papers with financial and technical content.

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