Team Administrator - Company Secretariat

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 24,000 employees spanning over 56 countries.

People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

Howden is seeking a Team Administrator to provide essential administrative, technology and secretarial support to our Company Secretarial team. The job holder will spend the majority of their time on providing secretarial, technology and company secretarial support to the CoSec team across a range of administrative support tasks. The job holder may also provide personal support to a nominated manager / managers, including diary, travel, expenses and email support. 

Please note this is a full-time, permanent role based in our Central London office. Following a hybrid work pattern, the expectation is to be onsite 3 days per week on average.

Meeting Support
•    Assist with 2-year advance planning of board and committee meeting dates for a number of Group UK entities including Group TopCo (liaising with PAs/EAs and directors to identify suitable dates, issuing meeting invites and making meeting arrangements) including production of an annual schedule of meetings
•    Request and collate updates on matters arising from board and committee meetings
•    Draft agendas, minutes and matters arising templates as required
•    Circulate ‘Request for Papers’ notifications, liaising with directors and committee members for papers and uploading them on Diligent Boards (Howden’s board paper management platform), and issuing the Diligent Boards notifications to ‘publish’ the papers
•    Review final board and committee documentation for completeness, accuracy, quality, corporate style and format

Technology Support
•    Assist with the delivery and implementation of new technology, automation and AI-based solutions to improve either the efficiency, the data quality or the corporate governance associated with Company Secretariat tasks and responsibilities, supporting the team in maintaining a leading technology adoption position within the profession 

Data Support
•    Ownership of electronic and paper filing systems across the team
•    Provide relevant management information as and when required, and respond to KYC requests from internal and external parties
•    Occasional processing of large volume pending events such as share transactions on Diligent Entities (Howden’s entity management platform) or other team platforms (and potentially day to day events depending on materiality)
•    Maintain up to date passports for all UK entity directors
•    Produce reports on companies/directors/shareholders from Diligent Entities, or other similar requests

Other Support
•    Make meeting and (where required) travel arrangements for the Company Secretariat, including team and individual meetings and social events throughout the year 
•    Obtain board and committee member signatures where required and electronic / hard copy filing of documents
•    Process team expense claims
•    Develop relationships with administrative support staff to provide support / exchange information
•    Ad hoc duties commensurate with the role

Personal Development:

•    Actively undertake personal development to ensure up to date knowledge and understanding of best practice, particularly in relation to board paper and board meeting governance
•    Remain aware of external, industry, legal and regulatory developments etc to ensure practice and outputs are of a sufficiently high standard
•    Keep informed of all legal and regulatory developments relevant to the Group

Regulatory and Compliance: 
The Board of each Group Operating Entity requires the highest standards of corporate governance, operational excellence and financial reporting throughout the Group from all its employees. Specific responsibilities are listed below:
•    Ensure compliance of self with all applicable legal, fiscal and regulatory obligations as set out in Group policies and procedures
•    Ensure correct authorisation is obtained and processes followed when required by the Group in conducting own responsibilities
•    Ensure that own performance, HR and T&C records are up to date and meet the Group’s requirements 
•    Maintain accurate records and deal with correspondence appropriately
•    Operate in an honest, professional and ethical manner
•    Strictly adhere to the Group Employee Code of Conduct 
•    Complete all relevant regulatory training

•    Previous experience of working in a secretarial capacity – ideally supporting a team
•    Experience of meeting planning for multiple boards and diary management 
•    Able to use Microsoft Office packages in particular Word, Excel, Visio, Sharepoint and Powerpoint to a high standard
•    Experience of using technology / AI to improve efficiency, quality or governance standards, such as Power Automate, Power BI, Copilot Studio 
•    Proactively explore use cases for new technologies / AI prompts and tools
•    Attention to detail with ability to produce accurate documentation, professional documents which are visually appealing and correct with regards to grammar, layout and spelling
•    Ability to work effectively within a team and with board-level management
•    High degree of integrity and confidentiality 
•    Prioritisation and organisational skills – able to demonstrate flexibility with regards to working hours when required and is able to produce a high quality of work within short deadlines
•    Proactive – is able to anticipate issues and rectify these on behalf of their manager/team
•    Internal networking skills – understands the organisation and where to find answers/relevant resources  
•    Self-motivated
•    Numerate – able to create spreadsheets and manage expenses processes
•    Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with internal and external stakeholders
•    Educated to A-Level standard or equivalent; a relevant degree is advantageous
•    May hold technically relevant qualifications e.g. Word processing/ secretarial qualification

A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:

• Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new

• We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges

• We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond

We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs.  Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours* or hybrid working*.

If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.

*Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations. Reach out to your Recruitment Partner if you want to know more.