Executive Assistant

Abbey Sales and Lettings Ltd, trading as Shires Estate & Letting Agents, is looking for a highly organised, commercially minded and detail-focused Executive Assistant to support our Managing Director and Senior Leadership Team.

This is an outsourced role and would suit an experienced Executive Assistant who is comfortable supporting a fast-moving business with a large number of active tasks, projects, meetings and priorities.

The most important part of the role is simple:

Making sure nothing gets dropped.

There will often be hundreds of live tasks, projects, follow-ups and conversations happening across the business at any one time. We need someone who can bring structure to that, keep track of what has been agreed and make sure actions are followed through.

The Role

You will work closely with the Managing Director and Senior Leadership Team to help keep the business organised and moving forward.

A large part of the role will involve managing information, actions, follow-ups and communication.

You will need to understand what is important, what needs chasing, what needs diarising and what needs dealing with immediately.

You will also regularly write and respond to emails on behalf of the Managing Director, so excellent written communication and the ability to understand tone, context and commercial situations is essential.

Key Responsibilities

• Keep hundreds of active tasks, projects and follow-ups organised

• Maintain clear task lists and project trackers

• Make sure actions agreed in meetings are completed

• Set reminders and follow-ups for the Managing Director and Senior Leadership Team

• Chase outstanding actions where necessary

• Make sure important details, deadlines and commitments are not forgotten

• Help prioritise tasks and identify what needs attention

• Transcribe meeting notes and recordings into clear notes and actions

• Produce concise meeting summaries

• Record decisions, responsibilities and deadlines from meetings

• Prepare action lists following management meetings

• Manage and organise the Managing Director's diary

• Arrange meetings and appointments

• Prepare information ahead of meetings

• Monitor and help manage the Managing Director's inbox

• Draft and send emails on behalf of the Managing Director

• Reply to emails where appropriate

• Follow up emails where responses have not been received

• Draft professional letters, updates and internal communications

• Keep communication organised across different projects and departments

• Help coordinate projects involving several members of the business

• Keep track of deadlines and outstanding information

• Maintain organised records and documents

• Support the Senior Leadership Team with administrative and organisational tasks

• Carry out research where required

• Help prepare reports, documents and presentations

• Handle sensitive and confidential information appropriately

• Identify where things are becoming delayed or overlooked and raise them before they become a problem

What We Are Looking For

You will need to be extremely organised.

This role will suit someone who naturally keeps track of details and enjoys creating order out of a large number of moving parts.

You will need:

• Excellent organisation skills

• An exceptional eye for detail

• Strong task and project management skills

• Excellent written English

• The ability to write professional emails confidently on behalf of the Managing Director

• Strong judgement and commercial awareness

• The ability to understand the context behind conversations rather than simply completing administrative tasks

• The confidence to chase people for information and actions

• The ability to manage a large number of tasks at the same time

• Strong diary and inbox management skills

• Excellent note-taking and transcription skills

• The ability to turn meetings into clear actions

• Strong Microsoft Office or Google Workspace skills

• The ability to work independently

• The ability to prioritise without needing constant direction

• A proactive approach

• The confidence to flag something when it does not look right

• Absolute discretion and confidentiality

Commercial Awareness

This is particularly important.

We do not simply need somebody who is good at administration.

You will regularly see commercially sensitive information, discussions around employees, finances, acquisitions, performance, clients, suppliers and business strategy.

You therefore need to understand that not every email, task or conversation carries the same level of importance.

You should be able to understand the wider commercial picture and use good judgement when deciding what needs escalating, following up or prioritising.

Confidentiality

You will have access to a significant amount of confidential information.

This may include financial information, employee matters, business performance, acquisitions, senior management discussions and commercially sensitive projects.

A very high level of discretion and professionalism is therefore essential.

The Right Person

You are likely to be someone who enjoys being organised.

You notice details other people miss.

You remember that something was promised three weeks ago and make sure it gets done.

You can finish a meeting, look at a page of notes and quickly turn it into:

Who is doing what, by when, and what needs following up?

You are comfortable reminding senior people that something is still outstanding.

You write extremely well and can confidently communicate with clients, employees, suppliers and professional contacts on behalf of the Managing Director.

Most importantly, you take ownership.

If something has been handed to you, we should feel confident that it is being tracked and will not simply disappear.

The Arrangement

This will be an outsourced Executive Assistant position, working remotely.

You will need to be available and responsive during agreed UK working hours and work closely with the Managing Director and Senior Leadership Team.

For the right person, this will become a highly trusted and important role within the business.