Executive Director - Governance Officer - Corporate Strategy

Nomura is a global financial services group with an integrated network spanning over 30 countries and regions. By connecting markets East & West, Nomura services the needs of individuals, institutions, corporates and governments through its three business divisions: Retail, Wholesale (Global Markets and Investment Banking), and Investment Management. Founded in 1925, the firm is built on a tradition of disciplined entrepreneurship, serving clients with creative solutions and considered thought leadership.

Department Overview

The Governance Office operates under the purview of the NAPH Chief Executive Officer and serves as the institutional backbone of the firm’s governance architecture across the region. The Office carries a board and consequential mandate: ensuring the firm’s regional platform operates within a well-defined, robust and regulatory‑compliant governance structure.

The Office is responsible for designing, maintaining and continuously enhancing the governance frameworks, policies and standards that support effective oversight and management across the firm’s regional businesses, legal entities and support functions. It also serves as the central coordination point for the region’s most senior management forums - the NAPH Executive Management Committee (NEMC) and the NAPH Operating Committee (NOC).

Working closely with senior management, business units, corporate functions and key group company executives across Asia, the Office promotes sound governance, disciplined escalation, and a strong risk culture. It helps embed strong governance behaviours and risk‑conscious practices across the platform, reinforcing the integrity, accountability and long‑term resilience of the firm’s regional franchise.

Role Overview

This is a distinguished leadership opportunity, reporting to the Head of Governance, with a broad mandate combining institutional leadership and strategic advisory responsibilities. The role involves close collaboration with the regional leadership team on critical business and control agendas across the region.

Role Description

• Act as the principal custodian of governance standards and practices across the regional platform – managing the end‑to‑end governance lifecycle from framework and committee governance to escalation, reporting and administration.
• Work closely with NAPH Operating Committee Chair to govern across a portfolio of high‑priority regional initiatives.
• The role requires strong governance discipline, strategic agility, and the ability to engage effectively with senior stakeholders. The successful candidate will strengthen governance frameworks, support risk appetite and control discussions, and promote the firm’s risk culture across the regional platform.
• This role will be based in Singapore.

Governance Leadership

• Work closely with the Head of Governance, General Counsel and senior management to lead and continuously evolve the firm’s regional governance frameworks, policies, committee structure and operating standards.
• Oversee senior management governance structures, including committee mandates, terms of reference, escalation protocols and decision‑making authorities.
• Lead governance reviews and assessments to identify gaps, inefficiencies, or misalignment with regulatory expectations, group standards and industry practices.
• Partner with Legal, Compliance and Risk to ensure governance structures remain aligned with applicable regulatory requirements.
• Oversee the quality and consistency of governance‑related reporting to senior executives, board committees, group stakeholders, regulators and auditors.

Regional Executive Committee Secretariat

• Serve as the principal governance officer and secretariat lead for the regional executive management committee (NEMC) and operating committee (NOC), ensuring both forums operate with a high standard of governance discipline and effectiveness.
• Partner closely with the Committee Chair to develop and manage a forward‑looking agenda that is strategically relevant, appropriately prioritised, and aligned with the firm’s governance, business, risk and control priorities.
• Prepare and oversee accurate, concise committee minutes capturing decisions, actions and material discussions with appropriate context.
• Maintain comprehensive committee records ensuring auditability and accessibility for regulatory reviews and auditing purposes.

Strategic Regional Projects and Initiatives

• Lead or participate in selected regional strategic initiatives as required, providing governance input, senior stakeholder coordination and support.

Risk Culture Initiative

• Serve as a key member of the AEJ Office of Conduct and Culture, actively shaping its agenda and representing the region’s conduct risk and risk culture priorities in regional and global forums.
• Play a visible leadership role in shaping and advancing the firm’s risk culture strategy, working closely with HR, Corporate Communications, Compliance and senior leadership team.
• Lead the firm’s annual Corporate Ethics Day programme for the region, using this flagship initiative to reinforce the firm’s purpose, values and ethical commitments, speak‑up culture and broader conduct and risk culture agenda.

Skils, experience, qualifications, and knowledge required

Essential Requirements:

• 15+ years of experience within investment banking and financial services with strong and demonstrable exposure to governance and strategic advisory, at least 5 years in senior management engagement roles.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in business, economics, international relations, law or a related discipline; a master’s degree.
• Hands‑on Experience: managing senior committee secretariat function, including agenda management, minutes taking, action‑tracking and governance administration.
• Communication skills: capable of engaging credibly with Committee Chairs, senior management, senior business leadership and regulators / auditors.
• Collaborative Leadership: effective working relationships across organizational boundaries, able to relate and work closely with senior leadership on strategic deliberations.
• Regulatory Knowledge: Solid understanding of global financial services regulations and expectations relating to corporate governance, accountability frameworks, risk and controls, and the three‑lines of defense model.

Nomura Leadership Behaviours

• Explore Insights & Vision: Identify the underlying causes of problems faced by you or your team and define a clear vision and direction for the future.
• Making Strategic Decisions: Evaluate all the options for resolving the problems and effectively prioritise actions or recommendations.
• Inspire Entrepreneurship in People: Inspire team members through effective communication of ideas and motivate them to actively enhance productivity.
• Elevate Organizational Capability: Engage proactively in professional development and enhance team productivity through the promotion of knowledge sharing.
• Inclusion: Respect DEI, foster a culture of psychological safety in the workplace and cultivate a "Risk Culture" (Challenge, Escalate and Respect).

Diversity Statement

Nomura is committed to an employment policy of equal opportunities and is fundamentally opposed to any less favourable treatment accorded to existing or potential members of staff on the grounds of race, creed, colour, nationality, disability, marital status, pregnancy, gender, or sexual orientation.

DISCLAIMER

This Job Description is for reference only, and whilst this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, it is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, skills, efforts, requirements or working conditions associated with the job. The management reserves the right to revise the job and may, at his or her discretion, assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

Nomura is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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