Assistant Company Secretary

Lightsource bp; London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player in renewable energy is seeking a dedicated Company Secretary to support corporate governance and compliance. In this pivotal role, you will ensure high standards across the organization, manage Board meetings, and maintain statutory records. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in English company law, excellent stakeholder management skills, and a proactive attitude. Join a forward-thinking company that values inclusivity and sustainability, where your contributions will help shape the future of renewable energy. This is an exciting opportunity to grow in a dynamic environment that prioritizes personal development and community engagement.

Benefits

annual bonus

health insurance

pension

retention bank

local benefits

Qualifications

• Significant knowledge of English company law and corporate governance.
• Experience in UK and overseas compliance requirements.

Responsibilities

• Support the Company Secretary with corporate governance and secretarial tasks.
• Lead the delivery of Board and Committee papers and manage subsidiary governance.

Skills

English company law

corporate governance

stakeholder management

organizational skills

time management

attention to detail

interpersonal skills

communication skills

Education

ICSA/CGI qualification

5 years of practical experience

Tools

Diligent Entities

GEMS

Microsoft Office

Job description

We are Lightsource bp – and we’re on a mission to become a global leader in onshore renewables, anchored by our proven track record in solar development.

For over a decade we’ve been actively working to diversify the way our world is powered with sustainable and responsible renewable power. We work to safely deliver affordable, reliable, large-scale onshore renewable and energy storage solutions to help the world decarbonise.

Our growing business is constantly innovating and investing to help drive the energy transition. Our people and projects are focused on supporting long-term sustainable growth and energy security.

Lightsource bp (LSbp) was fully acquired by bp in 2024.

Summary of the Role and Responsibilities

Reporting to the Company Secretary, you will play a key role in supporting the Company Secretary to provide corporate governance and company secretarial support to the Board and Executive Team and ensuring high quality standards are maintained across the LSbp group, including:

• Leading on the delivery of Board and Committee papers
• Accountable for company secretarial services to the Board, including arranging Board & Committee meetings (including certain management committees), supporting and stepping in for the Company Secretary to attend the meetings and minute taking
• Supporting the Company Secretary and Corporate Legal team to re-evaluate and re-design the group’s governance structure, from time-to-time
• Leading on the strategy and supporting the Company Secretary and the Finance Team with the production of the group Annual Report and Accounts (and input on any key governance and reporting requirements) and the Group subsidiaries’ company Accounts
• Managing the Group’s subsidiary governance and the relationship with the colleagues from local offices and outsourced company secretarial providers
• Ensuring statutory books and records for the Group subsidiaries are kept up to date (using GEMS)
• Performing company secretarial and compliance-based tasks as and when required (conflict of interests for directors and executives, companies house filings)
• Implementing corporate projects such as corporate simplification; implementing and drafting non-transactional board minutes and shareholder resolutions
• Dealing with ad hoc requests including authorised signatory requests, board minute extracts, creation of corporate structure charts, secretary certificates, auditor requests etc. and attending to any notarisation/apostille requirements
• Responding to Know Your Customer (KYC) enquiries regarding the Group and its directors and shareholders
• Monitoring changes in relevant legislation and the regulatory environment and preparing briefing notes and training sessions to keep the rest of the team and key stakeholders abreast of developments
• Developing strong relationships with internal stakeholders

Knowledge

• Significant knowledge of English company law and practice and corporate governance requirements, applied in a fast-paced in-house setting
• Experience of both UK and overseas incorporated entity compliance requirements
• Solid technical background of company secretarial practice
• Strong governance background would be advantageous
• Excellent stakeholder management with the ability to deal autonomously, confidently and professionally to build strong relationships with people at all levels including the Executive Team and key internal stakeholders

Experience

• Strong organisational skills with the ability to deliver consistently high-quality work, at pace, to support the business
• Strong time management skills with the ability to work accurately under pressure and to tight deadlines
• Flexible, pro-active and responsive attitude and the ability to multitask and the desire to work in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent attention to detail, presentation, interpersonal and communications skills - both written and oral.
• Good technical drafting skills and familiarity with the documents and types of work covered in the ‘Duties and responsibilities’ section of this job description
• Working knowledge of company secretarial software packages (such as Diligent Entities or GEMS)
• Extensive experience and knowledge of Microsoft Office is essential

Qualifications

• Fully ICSA/CGI qualified
• Strong academics and a minimum of 5 years’ practical experience providing company secretarial support to UK headquartered companies with overseas operations
• Fluent written and spoken English essential

Why you’ll want to work for us

Our company is a place where you can be yourself and grow; a place where your ideas and opinions matter.

Be you

We pride ourselves on being an inclusive community, where every individual is valued and treated with respect.

Be responsible

Our culture is driven by our core values. From operating safely to ensuring our solar projects are responsible and promote biodiversity.

Be recognized

Alongside a competitive salary, we offer a variety of benefits including annual bonus, retention bank, health insurance, pension and other local benefits.

Be inspired

Beyond your day-to-day working life at Lightsource bp, there’s a variety of initiatives that will contribute to your own personal development. Initiatives to get involved with including our charitable causes, supporting our solar honey project or our sustainability initiatives.

Our Core Values

Lightsource bp truly cares about creating a sustainable future through safe, responsible and meaningful low carbon energy projects. Our core values of Safety, Integrity, Respect, Sustainability and Drive are the guiding principles for everything we do.