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Institutional Company Secretary

Employer
NEW MODEL INSTITUTE FOR TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING
Location
Herefordshire (GB)
Salary
Circa £55k per annum + Competitive Benefits Package
Closing date
18 Nov 2021

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Job Details

NMITE is an innovative new entrant in UK Higher Education with its eyes firmly on regional impact and a global reputation. We have ambitious aims to support lifelong learning in technology and engineering, to support industry and transform careers.  We will be welcoming a cohort of pioneers to our flagship programme – the MEng Integrated Engineering - in September 2021. We are now seeking an Institutional Company Secretary who will play an important part in building NMITE into one of the first new Higher Education Institutions in the UK for a generation.

NMITE aims to establish the highest standards of corporate governance and Board effectiveness to ensure it thrives in a highly regulated sector whilst retaining its unique ethos as a disrupter, innovator, and a start-up venture. The post holder will therefore need to approach the role with pragmatism and flexibility and a willingness to challenge conventional thinking.

Duties Include:

Supporting the Board of Trustees

  • Provide authoritative and timely guidance to the Chair and the Board about its responsibilities under NMITE’s governance instruments (e.g., articles, policies, governance handbook). This will include advising on the responsibilities arising from regulators including the Office for Students.
  • Advise the Board on whether any proposed action exceeds its powers, present legal or compliance risks or prejudice NMITE’s interests.
  • Oversee the organisation’s compliance to the conditions of OfS registration.
  • Act as a key advisor to the Chair and trustees, providing honest opinions about governance matters and high level of support to help them work effectively.
  • Ensure that Board meetings are effectively prepared and that the Chair and Trustees enjoy high levels of professional advice and administrative support, allowing them to exercise their roles effectively.
  • Provide appropriate servicing for committees of the Board and NMITE’s main internal committees.
  • Maintain the register of Board and member interests.
  • Oversee the membership of the Board ensuring effective arrangements for induction, term limits, re-election, appointments, and departures.

Corporate governance

  • Satisfy themselves, at all times, that governance arrangements are adequate and bring to the attention of the Board and SLT any concerns.
  • Lead the design and implementation of improved internal and Board level governance arrangements. Assume continuous improvement is required.
  • Manage the production and approval of key governance and reporting documents including (but not limited to) the Annual Trustees Report, Corporate Governance Statement, and any returns to regulators.
  • Act as subject matter expert in relation to governance advising the Chair, trustees and SLT on the adequacy of any existing current arrangements and possible improvements.
  • As governance SME, maintain sector and industry knowledge and advise on developments relevant to NMITE.

Teamwork and contribution to wider NMITE mission

  • Act as an exemplar of, and ambassador for, the highest standards of behaviour in public life, embracing selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, and leadership and maintaining confidentiality.
  • Act as an effective interface between the Board and the SLT, helping align internal governance processes to the expectations of the Board and seek improvements to the effectiveness of the Board and SLT working arrangements.
  • Contribute to work outside their defined role purpose when the best interests of the organisation require it.
  • Act with discretion, particularly given the access the post holder will enjoy to confidential information and when faced with contentious and challenging issues.  Ensure their conduct in relation to the Board and NMITE is in accordance with accepted standards of behaviour in public life, embracing selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, and leadership, and maintain confidentiality as appropriate.

Qualifications & Experience

Essential Requirements

  • Educated to degree level or equivalent experience.
  • Significant range and level of proven experience, in a governance post, preferably within a public sector environment.
  • High-level drafting/ policy and report writing/ Board-level minuting skills.
  • Excellent administration and management skills.
  • Experience of working closely with external professional advisers.
  • Team working skills.
  • Extensive and high-level communication, interpersonal and negotiation skills including the ability to assist groups in arriving at consensus where there is not a prior alignment between their aims, priorities, and requirements.
  • Ability to work in a diverse, resource constrained and challenging environment.
  • The ability to relate to individual members of staff in a collegial, respectful way and to work effectively with a wide range of stakeholders across all levels, both internally and externally.
  • An ability to utilise and apply IT skills to inform judgements having worked with a broad range of systems and reporting tools.
  • Knowledge of the third-level sector and understanding of the wider issues currently facing the third-level sector of the UK.

Desirable

  • Specific knowledge of higher education governance, structures and the HE Regulatory regimes within the UK and the wider issues currently facing the University sector in the UK.
  • Professional experience and/or postgraduate qualifications relevant to organisational governance and compliance management, which could be a legal qualification.

Cultural Alignment

  • Equality focused.
  • Inclusive
  • Respectful
  • Creative
  • Honest
  • Non-judgemental

Our offer  

We offer competitive salaries and a competitive benefits package, including pension scheme, life assurance, 30 days holidays (plus Bank Holidays & closure days), ongoing training & development. Most importantly, NMITE offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of something new. Working in the historic city of Hereford, you will be instrumental in developing a new way of educating engineers for the 21st Century. We offer you the opportunity to be the change that you want to see. 

Location: Hereford 

To apply 

Please email a full CV and covering letter to vacancies@nmite.ac.uk. Your covering letter should outline how you meet the person specification.  

Informal questions about the roles can be addressed to the HR Director, Samantha Lewis (Samantha.lewis@nmite.ac.uk).

NMITE is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community – a place where we can be ourselves and succeed on merit. Whilst all applicants will be judged on merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently underrepresented in engineering education. Part time proposals and secondment arrangements may also be considered.  

The opening date for applications is Wednesday 28th April 2021. The closing date for completed applications is Friday 28th May 2021. Interviews will be held w/c 7th June 2021. 

Company

NMITE is new provider of higher education in Hereford. Engineering- and teaching-focused, it will enable its future students to learn by undertaking real-world engineering and technical projects provided by employers and community groups. NMITE hopes to break the mould in existing higher education provision – to be a disruptive game-changer in every facet of its operations and programmes. Supported by government, industry and the profession our first intake will join us in September 2021 (and in accordance with any Covid requirements in place at that time). Who, what and how we teach will all be radically different to traditional engineering degrees.   

We recognise that future engineers need technical knowledge, but also that creativity, problem-solving ability, and understanding of humanities, arts, business and many other areas are all required to succeed, as well as the ability to use this knowledge in current and future professional contexts.  For these reasons our planned programmes will be open to those with the creativity, imagination and the determination to solve society’s challenges, not just those with A-level maths and physics.   Our teaching will be in studio-based, problem-led, and deeply connected to industrial and community partners. 

Company info
Website
Telephone
07814107626
Location
Gardner Hall
Venns Lane
Hereford
Herefordshire
HR1 1DT
United Kingdom

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