Company Secretary (CS)

Job type: Full Time · Department: Legal · Work type: On-Site

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

About the Role

We are seeking a qualified Company Secretary to own the corporate secretarial and governance function for the Goodera group, the Indian parent and its overseas entities, as we prepare for a public listing in India. This is a build-and-scale role: you will clean up legacy compliance, institutionalize processes that survive due diligence, and grow with the company into a listed-company secretarial function.

You will work directly with Finance, Tax & Compliance, and Legal leadership, and coordinate with statutory auditors, practicing company secretaries, RTAs, merchant bankers, and US counsel.

Career arc: For the right candidate, this role is a pathway to Compliance Officer of a listed company under SEBI (LODR) Regulations - one of the most accelerated governance mandates available at this experience level.

Responsibilities

  • Core Secretarial & Statutory Compliance (India)

    • Own the full Companies Act, 2013 compliance calendar: board meetings, committee meetings, general meetings, resolutions, and filings (AOC-4, MGT-7, DIR-3 KYC, event-based forms) across the Indian entity and any Indian subsidiaries.

    • Draft agendas, notices, and minutes in conformity with Secretarial Standards (SS-1 and SS-2); maintain statutory registers and minute books to due-diligence standard.

    • Overhaul and digitize legacy statutory records, registers, and filings so the company is perpetually ready for investor, banker, and regulator diligence.

    • Manage remediation of historical gaps: condonation of delay, compounding applications, revival or strike-off of dormant entities, and re-execution of defective corporate documents.

    • Replace manual tracking with an automated compliance calendar covering ROC/MCA, FEMA/RBI, and (in time) SEBI/stock exchange deadlines with defined owners and escalation.

  • FEMA / RBI & Cross-Border Compliance

    • Handle inbound investment reporting (FC-GPR, FC-TRS), annual FLA returns, and downstream/ODI compliance for the US subsidiary structure.

    • Support compounding applications and regularization of past reporting delays with RBI/AD banks.

    • Manage FEMA aspects of secondary share transfers, buybacks, and ESOP exercises by resident and non-resident holders, including valuation certificate coordination and pricing-guideline compliance.

    • Coordinate with authorized dealer banks, valuers, and FEMA counsel; maintain a clean audit trail for every cross-border capital transaction.

  • Cap Table, ESOP & Share Transactions

    • End-to-end ESOP administration: grant letters, vesting schedules, exercises, cancellations, surrender/lapse tracking, and pool reconciliation against board and shareholder approvals.

    • Maintain a single-source-of-truth cap table reconciled across the register of members, depository records, and shareholder agreements.

    • Execute share transfer mechanics: DIS processing, demat coordination, Deeds of Adherence, stamp duty, and CP completion for secondary transactions.

    • Drive full dematerialization of shares and manage the RTA and depository (NSDL/CDSL) relationships - a listing precondition.

    • Coordinate with VC investors and institutional board members on approvals, waivers, consents, and information rights under the Shareholders' Agreement; run the mechanics of rights issues, bonus issues, and any pre-IPO restructuring of instruments (e.g., CCPS conversion).

  • IPO Readiness

    • Execute the secretarial workstream of IPO preparation under leadership direction, including:

    • Conversion from private to public limited company and consequential charter document changes.

    • Board and committee re-constitution: independent director onboarding, Audit Committee, Nomination & Remuneration Committee, Stakeholders' Relationship Committee, Risk Management Committee - with compliant charters.

    • Corporate-approval backbone for the DRHP: authorizations, certifications, and secretarial due-diligence responses to merchant bankers and legal counsel.

    • Policy suite build-out: related party transactions, materiality of events, code of conduct, whistleblower/vigil mechanism, insider trading code and structured digital database (SDD) under SEBI (PIT) Regulations.

    • Secretarial audit under Section 204 and annual secretarial compliance report readiness.

    • Data room ownership for all secretarial, capital, and governance records.

  • Post-Listing Compliance (Knowledge Expectation)

    • This role is designed to mature into the listed-entity compliance function. Candidates must have working knowledge of and will be trained and supported to operate:

    • SEBI (LODR) Regulations: quarterly and event-based disclosures, Regulation 30 materiality framework, corporate governance reports, shareholding patterns, and stock exchange intimations.

    • SEBI (PIT) Regulations: trading window management, pre-clearance, UPSI handling, and SDD maintenance.

    • Listed-company meeting mechanics: e-voting, record dates, dividend compliance, postal ballots, and investor grievance handling (SCORES).

    • Ongoing engagement with stock exchanges, RTA, depositories, and the secretarial auditor.

  • Overseas Entities - Coordination & Oversight

    • Coordinate (with US counsel and registered agents - not replace them) the corporate maintenance of the US subsidiary and affiliated US nonprofit: annual state filings, registered agent renewals, board consents and minutes, and officer/director records.

    • Maintain a group-wide entity management tracker: good standing, filing status, intercompany agreements, and authorized signatory records across all entities.

    • Support governance of the group's nonprofit foundation in coordination with its US counsel and auditors: board documentation, conflict-of-interest compliance, and policy maintenance.

    • Ensure Indian-side compliance triggered by overseas entities (ODI reporting, APR filings, board approvals for guarantees/funding).

What We Look For

  • Qualification: Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).

  • Experience: 4-6 years of post-qualification core secretarial experience. Exposure to any of the following is strongly preferred: IPO/DRHP process, listed-company compliance, PE/VC-funded company secretarial work, or FEMA-heavy transaction work.

  • Technical depth: Companies Act, 2013; Secretarial Standards (SS-1, SS-2); FEMA/RBI reporting (FC-GPR, FC-TRS, FLA, ODI); working knowledge of SEBI (LODR), (ICDR), and (PIT) Regulations.

  • Execution quality: Demonstrated ability to build trackers, registers, and processes from scratch and keep them diligence-ready - not just file on time.

Strong plus

  • LL.B. or equivalent legal training.

  • Hands-on IPO or pre-IPO readiness experience (even as part of a team).

  • Experience with demat/RTA processes, ESOP administration at scale, or cross-border group structures.

  • Comfort with compliance tooling and automation (entity management software, compliance calendars, cap table platforms).

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