Executive Assistant to the Founder

Executive Assistant to the Founder – Recruitment, Marketing & Business Operations

Full-time | Remote | UK working hours | Self-employed contractor

Role overview
Garry Howling Recruitment is seeking an exceptional, high-calibre Executive Assistant with extensive experience and a substantial, demonstrable track record of providing high-level support directly to a founder, entrepreneur, senior executive or business owner.

This role will only suit an established professional who has already operated as a trusted right hand, taken ownership of complex and commercially important responsibilities and consistently delivered results with minimal supervision.
Garry Howling Recruitment is a specialist recruitment business operating across the UK accountancy profession. We have ambitious plans to build a high-growth, market-leading recruitment business and are assembling an exceptional remote team to support that growth.

Working directly with the Founder, you will be involved across virtually every part of the business, including recruitment, candidate and client outreach, marketing, executive support, administration and business operations.
This is not a conventional or narrowly defined virtual assistant position. You will be expected to understand the wider commercial purpose behind your work, anticipate what needs to happen and take responsibility for ensuring important actions are completed accurately and on time.

The purpose of the role
Your central purpose will be to increase the Founder’s capacity by taking ownership of operational, administrative and growth-related activity across the business.

You will be expected to:

• Protect and organise the Founder’s time.
• Drive candidate, client and prospective client outreach.
• Maintain ---------- ntum across commercial opportunities, projects and follow-ups.
• Support recruitment delivery and marketing activity.
• Ensure important actions are completed and nothing is overlooked.
• Introduce greater organisation, structure and accountability across the business.
• Become a trusted, commercially aware and highly dependable right hand to the Founder.

Key responsibilities

Executive support and priority management

• Work closely with the Founder to understand immediate and longer-term priorities.
• Maintain clear action lists and ensure agreed tasks are progressed through to completion.
• Manage diary commitments, meetings, reminders and follow-up activity.
• Prepare information and briefing notes ahead of calls and meetings.
• Monitor outstanding actions and proactively chase anything that remains incomplete.
• Identify matters requiring the Founder’s attention before they become problems.
• Turn the Founder’s ideas and instructions into structured, completed actions.
• Draft professional email s, reports, summaries and other business communications.
• Anticipate requirements rather than waiting to be instructed at every stage.
• Ensure important commitments, deadlines and commercial opportunities are not overlooked.
• Constructively challenge priorities where appropriate and help keep the Founder focused on the highest-value activity.

Recruitment and candidate outreach

• Identify and research suitable candidates through LinkedIn, the CRM and other available sources.
• Create accurate, targeted candidate lists for vacancies and recruitment campaigns.
• Undertake candidate outreach through email , LinkedIn and other appropriate channels.
• Monitor responses and ensure interested candidates receive prompt, professional follow-up.
• Arrange candidate calls, interviews and follow-up conversations.
• Request and follow up CVs, identification documents, signed Candidate Terms of Business and other required information.
• Prepare candidate summaries, profiles and initial drafts of candidate marketing materials.
• Maintain consistent contact with active candidates throughout the recruitment process.
• Prevent promising candidate relationships and opportunities from becoming dormant.
• Support candidate mailers and targeted introductions to prospective employers.
• Assist the Founder with vacancy research, candidate matching and recruitment delivery.
• Identify suitable professionals who may not be actively seeking a new position.
• Help deliver an exceptional and highly responsive candidate experience.

Client outreach and business development

• Research accountancy firms, senior decision-makers, vacancies and potential recruitment opportunities.
• Build accurate and commercially relevant prospect lists.
• Support personalised outreach to prospective and existing clients.
• Draft high-quality email s, LinkedIn messages and follow-up communications.
• Monitor responses and ensure every potential opportunity receives prompt attention.
• Follow up unsigned Terms of Business, outstanding vacancy information, interview feedback and other agreed actions.
• Maintain clear records of active opportunities and the next action required.
• Help reactivate dormant clients and develop relationships with new firms.
• Identify vacancies, recruitment requirements and relevant market developments.
• Maintain ---------- ntum from an initial approach through to the development of an active client relationship.
• Recognise the commercial importance of individual actions and prioritise accordingly.

Marketing and campaign support

• Assist with candidate mailers, vacancy campaigns, newsletters and other marketing activity.
• Support Brevo campaign preparation, segmentation, contact selection and quality control.
• Work closely with the Marketing Manager to ensure campaigns are accurate, timely and commercially focused.
• Gather information for social media content, candidate marketing and client communications.
• Review written materials for grammar, spelling, accuracy, consistency and overall quality.
• Monitor campaign responses and ensure potential opportunities are acted upon.
• Help maintain a consistent pipeline of candidate-led and vacancy-led marketing campaigns.
• Track results and ensure all appropriate follow-up actions are completed.
• Assist with competitor research, market intelligence and content opportunities.
• Help convert marketing activity into meaningful candidate and client conversations.

CRM and information management

• Ensure Vincere records are accurate, complete and current.
• Confirm that candidates, contacts, companies, vacancies and activities are linked correctly.
• Record relevant calls, email s, meetings, notes and agreed actions.
• Ensure vacancies are assigned to the correct client contact before candidate information is submitted.
• Monitor CRM tasks and follow-ups to ensure actions are completed when promised.
• Support data validation, duplicate checking and general CRM accuracy.
• Work with the Administrator to ensure information is recorded consistently and to the required standard.
• Identify missing, inaccurate or outdated information and take responsibility for resolving it.
• Ensure the CRM provides a reliable and commercially useful picture of relationships, activity and opportunities.

Business operations and team coordination

• Act as a central point of coordination between the Founder and other members of the remote team.
• Monitor agreed tasks, deadlines and deliverables.
• Follow up incomplete work and provide clear progress updates.
• Ensure instructions are understood and implemented properly.
• Review work for accuracy and completeness before it reaches the Founder, where appropriate.
• Help create and improve templates, procedures, trackers and operating processes.
• Identify inefficiencies and recommend practical solutions.
• Take ownership of individual projects from initial instruction through to completion.
• Provide support across recruitment, marketing, administration and business operations as priorities evolve.
• Handle confidential candidate, client, financial and commercial information with complete discretion.
• Take accountability for achieving outcomes, rather than simply reporting that activity has been undertaken.

Essential requirements

Applicants must have:

• A bachelor’s degree.
• Absolutely fluent spoken and written English.
• Exceptional English grammar, spelling and attention to detail.
• A substantial and proven track record of supporting a founder, entrepreneur, senior executive or business owner at a high level.
• Demonstrable experience of operating as a trusted right hand.
• Extensive experience as an Executive Assistant, senior virtual assistant, operations executive or in a similarly demanding position.
• Evidence of taking ownership of complex responsibilities from initial instruction through to completion.
• The ability to work independently, exercise sound judgement and deliver results without close supervision.
• The confidence to communicate professionally with UK candidates, clients and senior business leaders.
• Outstanding organisational, administrative and research capabilities.
• Experience using LinkedIn for professional research and outreach.
• The ability to produce exceptionally high-quality business communications.
• The ability to manage multiple competing priorities in a fast-moving environment.
• Strong technology skills and the ability to learn unfamiliar systems quickly.
• A reliable computer, high-speed internet connection and professional home-working environment.
• The ability to work full-time during UK business hours.

Previous experience within recruitment, professional services, marketing, business development or a UK-facing organisation would be highly advantageous.

The person we are looking for

You will be:

• Highly proactive and naturally inclined to take ownership.
• Exceptionally organised, dependable and responsive.
• Commercially aware and interested in how a business generates revenue.
• Comfortable working directly with a fast-moving and ambitious Founder.
• Able to anticipate requirements instead of waiting for every instruction.
• Persistent in following up actions and ensu