Senior Executive Assistant to the CEO

I'm delighted to be partnering with a fast-growing scale-up on the search for a Senior Executive Assistant to become a critical partner to its CEO and a key enabler of the wider Leadership Team.

The company is scaling rapidly, with a strong sense of mission, and is building a team of exceptional people who want to do work that matters.

This is a high-impact, high-trust role for someone with exceptional judgement, pace and operational excellence. You will act as a force multiplier for the CEO: anticipating needs, driving prioritisation and ensuring seamless execution in a fast-moving, high-performance environment.

At the same time, you will take a broader, organisation-wide view, making sure executive time, attention and interactions are optimised not just for the CEO, but across the Leadership Team as a whole. A core part of the role is reducing complexity and bringing clarity to the top of the organisation: connecting the dots across leaders, anticipating pressure points and making sure the system of executive support works as one rather than in silos.

You will also lead the Executive Assistant function, setting standards of excellence and fostering a collaborative, non-hierarchical culture across the EA team, so that every leader gets consistent, high-quality support.

Key responsibilities

• CEO partnership: Provide world-class, proactive support to the CEO, including complex calendar management, prioritisation and strategic time allocation, anticipating needs and resolving issues before they arise.
• Leadership Team support: Support one to two additional Leadership Team members as required, ensuring alignment and coordination across the leadership group.
• Meeting preparation: Ensure seamless preparation for key internal and external meetings, including materials, logistics and follow-ups.
• Absolute discretion: Handle sensitive and confidential matters with the highest level of trust.
• Executive office excellence: Drive efficiency and structure across the executive office, anticipating conflicts, bottlenecks and competing demands across the Leadership Team and resolving them before they affect execution.
• Organisation-wide coordination: Take a holistic view of executive time and interactions, balancing the needs of the CEO with those of other senior leaders, and act as a central point of coordination for executive-level activity where appropriate.
• Leading the EA function: Line manage two Executive Assistants, set clear expectations and high performance standards, standardise ways of working, tools and best practice, and build a high-performing EA capability across the company.
• Office presence: Be a visible, engaged presence in the office and a key interface between leadership and the wider team, with oversight of day-to-day executive office operations where relevant, in partnership with the People and Operations teams.
• Projects & events: Lead or support high-priority projects for the CEO and coordinate executive-level events, visits and external engagements.

What we're looking for

• Extensive experience supporting C-suite executives in high-growth, fast-paced environments.
• A proven ability to operate at a senior level with autonomy, judgement and accountability.
• Experience managing or mentoring other Executive Assistants.
• A strong track record of handling complex, high-volume and high-stakes workloads.
• Comfortable working in a matrixed environment, balancing multiple stakeholders and contributing across teams.
• Takes ownership, proactively looks for ways to contribute and enables others to do their best work.
• Communicates openly and directly, gives and receives feedback constructively and handles challenging conversations with respect.
• Builds strong relationships, seeks out diverse perspectives and works towards shared goals across teams.
• Resilient and open to challenge, with high standards and a drive to deliver meaningful outcomes.

What's on offer

• Base salary of up to £80,000, depending on experience.
• A high-impact, high-trust role as a critical partner to the CEO and a key enabler of the Leadership Team.
• The opportunity to lead and shape an Executive Assistant function, with two Executive Assistants reporting to you.
• A fast-growing company with a real mission and a culture of doing meaningful work.
• A collaborative, non-hierarchical culture: they work together and win together.
• An office-based role in King's Cross, London, where you will be a visible part of the day-to-day.
• Personal mentoring from me during your first three months, as with every Second Brain Talent placement.

If you are a senior EA who combines exceptional judgement with the ability to lead and bring clarity to the top of a fast-moving organisation, I'd love to speak with you.