Executive Assistant to Chief Executive Officer

📍 South Africa (Remote) | Executive Assistant to the CEO

Salary: Up to R35,000 per month, depending on experience.

Are you an exceptional Executive Assistant who loves operating at pace, thrives under pressure, and takes pride in making yourself indispensable?

We're hiring on behalf of a fast-growing international e-commerce group generating approximately £20 million in annual revenue . With ambitious expansion plans across multiple markets, they're looking for a world-class Executive Assistant to become the CEO's trusted right hand.

This isn't a traditional Executive Assistant role.

You'll work directly alongside the CEO across multiple businesses, helping manage their world—from diary and inbox management to travel, projects, hiring and business operations.

You'll anticipate problems before they arise, drive initiatives forward, and ensure nothing ever falls through the cracks.

If you're someone who enjoys working with high-performing founders, loves taking ownership, and gets genuine satisfaction from making things happen, this could be the opportunity you've been waiting for.

🎯 The Opportunity

Supporting a fast-growing founder requires far more than managing a calendar.

This role sits at the heart of the business, ensuring the CEO can focus on making high-impact decisions while you keep everything else moving seamlessly.

You'll become involved in almost every aspect of the business—from coordinating international travel and preparing executive presentations to managing projects, following up with stakeholders, supporting recruitment, and handling personal administration.

No two days will ever look the same.

One day you could be coordinating international travel, the next you're preparing board packs, helping recruit new team members, organising company events, or ensuring critical business initiatives stay on track.

If you love variety, enjoy solving problems before anyone else notices them, and want genuine ownership in a rapidly growing business, you'll thrive here.

🛠️ What You'll Be Doing

You'll become the CEO's trusted partner, ensuring both business and personal priorities are managed with precision.

Executive Support

• Own and manage the CEO's diary, ensuring every day is structured around the highest priorities.
• Manage the CEO's inbox, drafting responses, prioritising communications and ensuring nothing important is missed.
• Attend meetings, capture action points and drive follow-ups through to completion.
• Prepare meeting briefs, reports, presentations and executive documentation.
• Protect the CEO's time while ensuring key stakeholders remain informed.

Travel & Personal Administration

• Coordinate domestic and international travel, accommodation, itineraries and logistics.
• Arrange restaurant bookings, appointments and personal commitments.
• Manage confidential personal administration, gifts, renewals and family travel.

Projects & Operations

• Drive projects from planning through to execution across multiple businesses.
• Coordinate internal teams and ensure deadlines are consistently met.
• Prepare board packs, presentations and executive documentation.
• Manage expenses, reconciliations and finance administration.
• Organise company events, leadership meetings and offsites.
• Support executive communications and personal branding initiatives.
• Anticipate challenges before they arise and proactively implement solutions.

Recruitment Support

• Draft job adverts and coordinate hiring processes.
• Screen candidates and arrange interviews.
• Support onboarding for new team members, including contracts, equipment and system access.

🧠 What We're Looking For

The ideal candidate will:

• Have 5+ years' experience supporting a Founder, CEO or Senior Executive.
• Have previous experience working in a fast-paced or high-growth business.
• Be exceptionally organised with outstanding attention to detail.
• Be an excellent written and verbal communicator.
• Have experience managing complex diaries, inboxes and international travel.
• Be confident managing multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Be highly proactive and naturally take ownership.
• Be comfortable handling confidential business and personal information.
• Be commercially minded with strong project management skills.
• Be highly proficient in Google Workspace and Microsoft Office.

⭐ Bonus Points If You Have

• Experience supporting a founder within an e-commerce or high-growth business.
• Experience coordinating board meetings or executive reporting.
• Experience writing executive communications or LinkedIn content.
• Exposure to recruitment, hiring or HR administration.
• Experience working across international teams and time zones.

Most importantly, you're someone who enjoys bringing structure to busy environments, loves solving problems, and takes genuine pride in helping others perform at their very best.

🕒 Working Hours

This is a fully remote position based in South Africa , supporting a CEO who operates across UK and UAE time zones .

This is an outcomes-driven role rather than a traditional 9-to-5 position. While flexibility is offered, you'll be expected to remain highly responsive throughout the day as business priorities evolve.

• Monday to Friday , aligned to UK business hours.
• Comfortable working across UK and UAE time zones .
• Occasional availability outside of standard working hours may be required for urgent priorities.
• Light weekend support may be needed from time to time to keep key projects moving.

⚠️ Please Note

This is a high-performance role supporting the CEO of a fast-growing international business. It's designed for someone who enjoys operating in a fast-paced environment where priorities can change quickly.

Success in this role requires someone who is highly organised, proactive and comfortable taking ownership without needing constant direction.

This role may not be the right fit if you're looking for a traditional 9-to-5 position with predictable routines. While flexibility is offered, you'll be expected to remain responsive when business priorities require it and comfortable working across UK and UAE time zones.

If, however, you're someone who loves solving problems, thrives under pressure, enjoys supporting ambitious leaders, and wants to become an indispensable part of a growing business, you'll find this to be an incredibly rewarding opportunity.

💎 Why Join?

• Join a fast-growing international business with ambitious expansion plans.
• Work directly alongside a highly successful founder and become their trusted right hand.
• Gain exposure to multiple businesses and exciting international projects.
• Enjoy significant ownership and autonomy from day one.
• Build a career in a role where your impact will be seen and valued every day.
• Fully remote opportunity based in South Africa.

📅 What is the Process?

• Apply. Submit your application through the Scaled platform.
• Video Profile. If your CV is shortlisted, you'll be invited to complete a short video interview. (Please check your spam folder.)
• Meet the Scaled Team. A short introductory conversation with one of our recruitment team.
• Interview. Meet directly with the hiring company.

Ready to become the trusted right hand to a CEO leading a fast-growing international business?

📩 Apply today—we'd love to hear from you!