Company Secretary (Cape Town)

Wisdom Human Capital Limited; Wes-Kaap; Hybrid; ZAR 1,000,000 - 1,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Wisdom Human Capital Limited seeks an experienced Company Secretary to join the CEO Office on a hands-on, 12–18 month contract. You will oversee statutory compliance, governance across multiple jurisdictions, and transactional support including M&A and fundraising.

You will maintain registers, manage board and shareholder activities, and coordinate external legal and financial advisers. A professional governance qualification and multi-jurisdiction experience are essential.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in a company secretarial, corporate governance, corporate legal or comparable role.
• Demonstrable experience supporting M&A, fundraising or other corporate transactions, including due diligence and data-room management.
• Proven multi-entity, multi-jurisdiction experience — comfortable managing statutory compliance across several countries at once.
• Strong contract and NDA drafting, review and administration skills.
• Discreet and trustworthy with sensitive, board-level and personal information.
• Self-directed and able to operate with minimal supervision in a fast-moving environment.
• Experience across African and European jurisdictions (e.g. South Africa, UK, Netherlands, Nigeria, Kenya).
• Exposure to IP / patent administration.
• Familiarity with ISO certification processes.
• A relevant professional qualification (see note below).

Responsibilities

• Maintain statutory registers and records across multiple jurisdictions.
• Coordinate annual returns, filings and per-jurisdiction compliance calendars.
• Coordinate governance meetings with senior leadership and track actions.
• Draft, circulate and file board resolutions, minutes and consents; maintain the resolution register.
• Maintain shareholder registers and cap table updates; coordinate with finance on equity movements.
• Manage ISO certification processes and documentation.
• Coordinate KYC/AML documentation for banking, partners and vendors.
• Track insurance renewals (D&O, PI, cyber) and verify adequacy.
• Draft and manage NDAs using standard templates; escalate non-standard terms.
• Maintain the contract register with status, expiry and renewal dates.
• Instruct external counsel on complex matters; track outstanding items.
• Manage industry-body and partner relationships and related legal coordination.
• Maintain IP register — patents, trademarks, domains.
• Track filing deadlines and renewals for patents/trademarks.
• Support live M&A and investment transactions end-to-end; due diligence and data-room flow.
• Prepare funding memos and investment documentation.
• Manage corporate housekeeping: shareholder registers, cap table integrity, approvals.
• Support post-transaction integration and entity rationalisation across jurisdictions.
• Coordinate payroll across entities with external providers.
• Administer group password-management platform and quarterly audits.
• Coordinate IT onboarding/offboarding for joiners/leavers.
• Manage corporate subscriptions and vendor relationships; renewals tracking.
• Draft and maintain corporate policies (travel, expense, IT, HR).
• Coordinate confidential strategic and special projects; track milestones.
• Maintain corporate document-management system and archiving.

Skills

Corporate governance

M&A due diligence

Fundraising support

Contract & NDA drafting

Statutory compliance

Multi-entity governance

Discretion & confidentiality

Self-directed

ISO certification familiarity

IP administration

Education

Chartered Secretary / Governance qualification

LLB or admitted attorney

Tools

MS Office

Governance software (Diligent)

Job description

We are seeking an experienced Company Secretary to work alongside the CEO Office of a fast-moving, multi-entity technology group with operations across Africa and Europe. This is a hands-on contract role for a self-directed governance professional who can hold the corporate backbone of the group together — statutory compliance, legal and contract administration, and corporate transactions — while a growing finance team assumes day-to-day transactional work.

The role carries real breadth: from maintaining statutory registers across five jurisdictions, to running NDA and contract processes, to supporting live fundraising and mergers & acquisitions activity. You will be trusted with sensitive, board-level information and expected to operate with minimal supervision.

• Maintain corporate registers and statutory records for all group entities across multiple jurisdictions.
• Manage annual returns, statutory filings and compliance deadlines per jurisdiction, ensuring no missed filings.
• Coordinate regular entity governance meetings with senior leadership, maintaining standing agendas and tracking action items across entities.
• Monitor regulatory compliance across all operating jurisdictions, maintaining per-jurisdiction compliance calendars.
• Draft, circulate and file board resolutions, minutes and written consents; maintain the resolution register.
• Maintain shareholder registers and capitalisation table updates, coordinating with finance on equity movements.
• Manage the ISO certification process and supporting documentation, coordinating cross-functional inputs.
• Coordinate KYC / AML documentation for banking, partner and vendor relationships.
• Track and manage insurance renewals and coverage (D&O, professional indemnity, cyber), verifying adequacy.
• Draft, review and manage all NDAs (inbound and outbound) using standard templates, escalating non-standard terms.
• Maintain the contract register as a single source of truth — status, expiry and renewal dates for all active agreements.
• Instruct and coordinate external legal counsel on complex or jurisdiction-specific matters, tracking outstanding items.
• Manage industry-body and partner relationships, including scheduling, membership obligations and related legal coordination.
• Maintain the intellectual property register — patents, trademarks and domain registrations.
• Track patent and trademark filing deadlines and renewals, maintaining the prosecution timeline with no missed dates.
• Support live M&A and investment transactions end to end — coordinating due diligence, data room preparation and management, and the flow of transaction documentation.
• Prepare and coordinate funding memos and investment documentation in support of fundraising activity.
• Manage the corporate housekeeping that underpins transactions: shareholder registers, cap table integrity, board and shareholder approvals, and condition-precedent tracking.
• Support post-transaction integration and entity rationalisation, including new-entity set-up, restructures and wind-downs across jurisdictions.
• Act as a coordination point between the CEO Office, finance, and external legal and financial advisors throughout the deal lifecycle.
• Coordinate bank statement collection and reconciliation support across all entity accounts, feeding the finance team.
• Support quarterly financial reporting and board-pack preparation, compiling inputs and holding deadlines.
• Track and report corporate overhead against budget, flagging variances.
• Oversee invoice approval routing, proof of payment and filing, retaining approval authority above agreed thresholds.
• Administer the corporate credit card programme, including reconciliation and expense-policy compliance.
• Coordinate payroll across entities with external payroll providers.
• Administer the group password-management platform — access, vaults and onboarding/offboarding — with quarterly audits.
• Coordinate IT onboarding and offboarding for joiners and leavers (accounts, access, equipment, documentation).
• Manage corporate subscriptions and vendor relationships, tracking renewals and flagging budget impact.
• Draft and maintain corporate policies (travel, expense, IT, HR).
• Coordinate confidential strategic and special projects directed by the CEO Office, tracking milestones and deliverables.
• Maintain the corporate document-management system, including folder structure, access controls and archiving.

Experience & Skills

Essential

CANDIDATES MUST BE BASED IN CAPE TOWN (role is hybrid but not remote).

CANDIDATES MUST HAVE WORKED IN THE CAPACITY OF A COMPANY SECRETARY

There is a strong preference for candidates who are available immediately or within a short notice period.

• 8+ years in a company secretarial, corporate governance, corporate legal or comparable role.
• Demonstrable experience supporting M&A, fundraising or other corporate transactions, including due diligence and data-room management.
• Proven multi-entity, multi-jurisdiction experience — comfortable managing statutory compliance across several countries at once.
• Strong contract and NDA drafting, review and administration skills.
• Highly organised and deadline-driven, with a track record of never missing statutory filings.
• Discreet and trustworthy with sensitive, board-level and personal information.
• Self-directed and able to operate with minimal supervision in a fast-moving environment.
• Experience across African and European jurisdictions (e.g. South Africa, UK, Netherlands, Nigeria, Kenya).
• Exposure to IP / patent administration.
• Familiarity with ISO certification processes.
• A relevant professional qualification (see note below).

Professional Qualifications

• Chartered Secretary / Chartered Governance qualification.
• A legal qualification (e.g. LLB or admitted attorney).

Engagement & Location

• Independent contractor engagement (12 - 18 months - fixed-term or retainer).
• Hybrid: candidates must be based in Cape Town.
• Occasional coordination across time zones given the group's international footprint.

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