Senior Executive Assistant to UK Director – Operations, Finance & Private Office

About the role
We are looking for an exceptional Senior Executive Assistant to provide comprehensive business and personal support to a UK-based Company Director.
This is not a standard Virtual Assistant or administrative role.
We are looking for someone intelligent, commercially aware, highly organised and proactive who can become the Director's trusted right hand.
You will take ownership of the Director's diary and inbox, draft professional correspondence on his behalf, follow up actions across the management team, assist with financial and operational reporting and manage selected personal and family administration.
The successful candidate will have excellent judgement and will be expected to solve problems and close loops rather than simply pass information back to the Director.
You will have access to confidential business, financial and personal information, so discretion, integrity and professionalism are essential.
Key responsibilities
Executive & Diary Management

• Take ownership of the Director's business diary.
• Coordinate meetings, calls and appointments.
• Identify and resolve diary conflicts.
• Prioritise meetings and protect the Director's time.
• Prepare daily and weekly schedules.
• Ensure the Director is prepared for important meetings.
• Coordinate appointments across UK and Philippine time zones.
• Arrange travel and accommodation where required.

Inbox & Communications

• Take day-to-day control of a busy executive inbox.
• Review and prioritise incoming email s.
• Identify matters requiring urgent attention.
• Draft high-quality professional email s on behalf of the Director.
• Respond to routine correspondence when authorised.
• Maintain follow-up systems for outstanding email s.
• Ensure important communications are not overlooked.
• Communicate professionally with employees, customers, accountants, solicitors, suppliers and other external parties.

Your written English must be exceptional.
You should be capable of receiving a short instruction or rough message from the Director and turning it into polished professional correspondence without requiring extensive guidance.
Business Operations

• Maintain the Director's executive action list.
• Follow up with department heads and employees regarding outstanding actions.
• Monitor deadlines and deliverables.
• Chase overdue information without waiting to be instructed.
• Attend selected management meetings.
• Produce concise minutes and action points.
• Assign actions, deadlines and responsible persons.
• Follow actions through until completion.
• Prepare briefing notes for the Director.
• Summarise complex information into clear points requiring decisions.
• Escalate important operational issues appropriately.

We want someone who is comfortable politely holding senior members of the team accountable.
Finance & Commercial Support
You do not need to be a qualified accountant, but you must be financially literate.
You may be required to:

• Review management information.
• Maintain cash-flow trackers.
• Monitor debtors and creditors.
• Track outstanding payments.
• Liaise with the finance department and accountants.
• Chase internal teams regarding invoices and financial information.
• Review Excel spreadsheets.
• Identify missing or inconsistent financial information.
• Prepare simple financial summaries for the Director.
• Monitor budgets and expenditure.
• Track important financial deadlines.

You should understand basic concepts including:
Turnover | Gross Profit | Net Profit | Cash Flow | Debtors | Creditors | VAT | PAYE | Working Capital
Personal & Family Administration
You will also act as a private assistant to the Director.
Responsibilities may include:

• Managing personal appointments.
• Coordinating family calendars.
• Booking appointments.
• Organising travel and accommodation.
• Making restaurant and other reservations.
• Managing reminders and important personal dates.
• Researching and booking services.
• Managing personal correspondence.
• Ensuring personal and business commitments do not conflict.

Absolute confidentiality is essential.
What good performance looks like
We do not want someone who simply reports problems.
For example, rather than:
"The Finance Manager hasn't sent the cash-flow report."
We would expect:
"The cash-flow report was due yesterday. I followed up yesterday afternoon and again this morning. The Finance Manager has confirmed it will be provided by 2pm today. I have scheduled a follow-up for 2pm and will escalate it if it is not received."
That difference is extremely important.
We want someone who takes ownership, follows through and gets things done.
Daily Director Briefing
Each morning, you will prepare a concise briefing covering:

• Today's diary.
• Key priorities.
• Important email s.
• Decisions required.
• Outstanding management actions.
• Financial matters requiring attention.
• Upcoming deadlines.
• Personal/family appointments.
• Anything the Director needs to know.

Who we're looking for
Ideally you will have:

• 3–5+ years' experience as an Executive Assistant, Senior EA, Executive Operations Assistant or similar.
• Previous experience supporting a CEO, Founder, Managing Director or senior executive.
• Exceptional written and spoken English.
• Excellent professional email -writing ability.
• Strong Outlook and diary-management experience.
• Strong Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets skills.
• Good financial and commercial understanding.
• Experience coordinating senior employees.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Strong organisational skills.
• Excellent judgement.
• Confidence communicating with senior professionals.
• Ability to prioritise independently.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision.
• Experience supporting a UK, Australian, US or other international executive is advantageous.
• Previous finance, bookkeeping, accounting or operations experience would be particularly attractive.

Systems
You should be comfortable using:
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Word
OneDrive / SharePoint
Experience with project-management software such as ---------- , ClickUp or Asana would be beneficial.
Working hours
This is a full-time position working predominantly UK business hours.
You must therefore be comfortable working an evening schedule from the Philippines.
There may occasionally be flexibility around working hours depending upon the Director's schedule.
Salary
?30,000–?55,000 per month depending upon experience and capability.
There will be an initial probationary period and a performance and salary review following successful completion.
We are looking for someone interested in developing a long-term position of trust and responsibility, rather than a short-term VA assignment.

IMPORTANT – How to Apply
Please read this carefully. Applications which do not follow these instructions will not be considered.
Start your application with the words:
RIGHT HAND
Then answer the following questions:
1. In no more than 150 words, explain how you would manage the inbox and diary of a busy UK Company Director while ensuring that actions delegated to his management team are completed on time.
2. Tell us about the most senior person you have previously supported and what responsibilities you personally managed for them.
3. Rate your knowledge from 1–10 in each of the following:

• Executive diary management
• Outlook
• Professional email writing
• Excel
• Cash-flow management
• Debtors/creditors
• Bookkeeping
• Operations management
• Project/task management

4. Give an example of a situation where you identified and resolved a problem before your executive had to become involved.
5. Email exercise
Your Director sends you the following WhatsApp message:
"Need to email accountant. Still haven't got management accounts. Was supposed to have them Friday. Need them today because meeting tomorrow. Ask him what's going on and get them over asap."
Write the email you would send to the accountant on the Director's behalf.
6. Finance question
A company has:

• £50,000 cash in the bank
• £300,000 debtors
• £220,000 creditors
• £40,000 monthly payroll
• A customer owing £100,000 is 60 days overdue.

In 100 words or less, explain what you would flag to the Director.
7. What monthly salary are you seeking?
8. Are you comfortable working full-time UK business hours including some Saturdays from the Philippines?