Executive Assistant (EA) and Office Manager

Apolitical's mission is to make governments smarter for people and the planet and we reach over 40 million public servants through our partnerships with governments globally. We are the largest global network for governments, used by 500,000+ public servants in 160 countries to find and share best practices and gain skills on critical topics from AI, to climate change, to emerging technologies.

Role

Apolitical is growing, and the demands on our leadership team are increasing as we expand our partnerships, product and commercial work globally. This is a high-trust role at the centre of our daily operations: you will serve as Executive Assistant primarily to our CEO with additional responsibility for supporting the CCO and CPO, and coordinating travel for several other members of the leadership team. Working closely with the Chief of Staff, you will exercise active judgment on priorities and access, anticipate needs before they are voiced, and ensure nothing falls through the cracks in a fast-moving, internationally-dispersed organisation.

Alongside executive support, you will oversee the smooth running of our London office by coordinating facilities suppliers, supporting meetings and visitors, and ensuring the workplace operates effectively day to day.

Remit

Executive support

Own the CEO’s time and priorities, exercising confident judgment about what gets scheduled, what can wait, and how leadership bandwidth is deployed.

• Managing the CEO’s calendar across time zones, protecting space for deep work and ensuring leadership bandwidth goes where it matters most
• Managing the CEO’s inbox, triaging correspondence and drafting or preparing responses on their behalf
• Managing calendars for the CCO, CPO and other leadership team members when required, coordinating across time zones and competing priorities
• Scheduling and coordinating key internal and external meetings, including board sessions and leadership forums, with the judgment to know what each one needs to run well
• Anticipating and planning international travel end-to-end, coordinating with our travel management service and staying ahead of disruptions
• Staying two steps ahead on scheduling; resolving conflicts and adapting quickly when plans change
• Managing executive expenses with accuracy and discretion

Office operations

Oversee the operational coordination of our London office and act as the main point of contact for facilities suppliers.

• Managing relationships with facilities vendors and coordinating maintenance visits
• Managing office supplies, deliveries and equipment needs
• Preparing meeting rooms and arranging catering when required
• Welcoming and registering visitors to the office
• Supporting internal meetings and company gatherings where needed (incl. testing AV)

Onboarding milestones

Within one month, you will...

• Build working relationships with the CEO, Chief of Staff and leadership team
• Become familiar with executive calendars, travel processes and internal tools
• Begin coordinating meetings and managing diary scheduling
• Understand the operational needs of the London office

Within three months, you will...

• Confidently manage the CEO’s calendar and travel coordination
• Establish effective coordination rhythms with the leadership team
• Take ownership of office operations and vendor coordination
• Identify opportunities to improve coordination workflows or processes

Within six months, you will...

• Be the CEO and Chief of Staff’s trusted partner, with full ownership of their time, priorities and access
• Proactively manage executive schedules and travel, anticipating and resolving issues before they surface
• Maintain a well-run and welcoming office environment
• Implement at least one improvement to executive coordination or office operations

About you

This is a great fit if you:

• Are a career Executive Assistant and take pride in the craft of executive support
• Have experience supporting C-level executives
• Are highly organised and able to manage complex schedules and logistics
• Stay calm and focused when plans change quickly
• Communicate clearly and professionally with a wide range of stakeholders
• Anticipate what the CEO and leadership team will need before they ask, bringing structure and order so commitments run smoothly even when plans change quickly
• Make confident, independent decisions in a fast-moving environment where priorities shift and there isn’t always time to consult
• Take ownership of operational details and follow through reliably
• Handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion and sound judgment at all times

This role is particularly well suited to people who have previously worked in fast-paced environments such as venture capital firms, consulting organisations, or technology scale-ups, where executives’ schedules are busy, international and often change at short notice.

This likely won’t be the right role if you:

• Are looking to move out of executive support into another profession in the near future
• Are most comfortable when the work is clearly defined and doesn't require reading ahead
• Prefer highly predictable schedules and workloads

Don’t meet every single expectation? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. Apolitical is dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Application Process

Apolitical uses Applied in our recruitment. Applied aims to overcome unconscious bias in recruiting. Instead of using your CV alone, we'll be asking you to answer questions to test skills needed for the role. The answers are then anonymised, and reviewed in a random order by members of our team. 

The Applied platform also asks some demographic questions before you start your application. These answers are never visible to the hiring team and don’t affect your application in any way. We only see summary statistics to help us check if our candidate pool is balanced and if everyone has an equal chance to get hired irrespective of their background. If you prefer, you can easily opt out of answering these questions.

Using AI in your application answers

At Apolitical, we embrace new technologies and encourage the use of AI in our work. However, as AI becomes more prevalent, it can be difficult to distinguish between machine-generated content and the unique perspectives of candidates. We’re excited to see how you use AI tools to structure and refine your answers, but we value your unique insights above all else. Ensure your application reflects your voice and how your skills align with our mission.