Senior Executive Assistant / Business Operations Partner

UK Hours – READ APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE APPLYING

Full-time | Remote | Philippines | UK working hours

This is not a standard Virtual Assistant role.

I am looking for an exceptionally capable, commercially minded and experienced person to become my right hand across several growing UK businesses.

I run a commercial finance brokerage and am also involved in launching a lending business and a vehicle-hire business.

My own strength is business development: meeting clients, introducers and lenders, building relationships and originating new opportunities.

The challenge is that too much of the day-to-day communication, follow-up and coordination across the businesses currently comes back to me.

I am looking for someone who can change that.

What I Need From You

I do not simply need someone to manage a diary, book meetings and complete tasks I give them.

I need someone who can progressively become an extension of me.

You will sit between me and our small team, clients, lenders, introducers, suppliers and other external contacts.

You will need to be confident enough to communicate with people on my behalf, sensible enough to know what needs my attention, and commercially aware enough to deal with many issues without automatically passing them back to me.

The goal is simple:

I want to spend more of my time generating business, while knowing that everything behind me is being dealt with properly.

Your Responsibilities

You will be responsible for areas including:

Managing and triaging email and other communications
Drafting and, where appropriate, sending responses on my behalf
Liaising directly with clients, lenders, introducers and suppliers
Coordinating our small internal team
Managing my diary and business-development schedule
Chasing outstanding actions and making sure things actually get completed
Keeping track of priorities across several businesses
Preparing concise daily summaries of what is happening
Identifying what genuinely requires my attention
Following up clients, lenders and team members
Helping manage projects and new business initiatives
Maintaining task lists, CRM information and internal systems
Spotting problems before they become bigger problems
Improving processes where things could be handled better
Learning how the businesses operate so you understand the commercial context behind the work

Over time, I want you to become someone who thinks:

“I understand the situation. I can deal with this.”

rather than:

“I need to ask him what to do.”

The Person I Am Looking For

This is a senior support role and requires maturity, confidence and judgement.

You will probably have previously worked as a:

Senior Executive Assistant
Executive Business Partner
Operations Manager
Chief of Staff
Senior Personal Assistant
Business Support Manager

You should ideally have substantial experience supporting a business owner, CEO, Managing Director or other senior executive.

You must have:
Exceptional spoken English
Exceptional written English
Experience working with UK businesses or UK working hours
Strong business and commercial awareness
Excellent organisation
Excellent judgement
Confidence dealing with senior people
The ability to communicate naturally and professionally
The ability to work independently
Strong follow-up skills
Excellent attention to detail
The confidence to chase people
The confidence to challenge me when necessary
Complete discretion
A strong sense of ownership

I am particularly interested in candidates who have previously worked in financial services, lending, property, professional services, automotive businesses or other commercial environments.

However, attitude, intelligence and judgement are more important than industry experience.

What This Role Is NOT

Please do not apply if you are looking for:

A basic administrative VA role
A role where you simply wait for instructions
A job consisting mainly of data entry
A position where every decision needs to be referred back to me
A role that you intend to combine with several other full-time clients
A position where you are uncomfortable speaking directly with clients or senior businesspeople

I need someone who wants responsibility.

What Success Looks Like

Within six months:

I should be receiving significantly fewer routine emails and messages.
Clients and introducers should be comfortable dealing directly with you.
Our team should see you as someone who can move things forward.
Outstanding actions should be chased without me remembering them.
You should understand which issues require me and which do not.
I should be able to spend several hours away from my desk developing business without returning to chaos.

The best person for this role will become genuinely important to the businesses.

There is significant scope for responsibility to grow.

IMPORTANT – HOW TO APPLY

Please read this section carefully.

I expect to receive a large number of applications.

To make sure I only review applications from people who have genuinely read the job description, please follow the instructions below exactly.

Your application subject/title must begin with:

RIGHT HAND –

Followed by your first name and your number of years supporting senior executives.

For example:

RIGHT HAND – Maria – 7 Years

Applications that do not follow this instruction may not be reviewed.

In your application, please include ALL of the following:

1. A brief introduction

Do not send me a generic cover letter.

In no more than 200 words, tell me:

Who you have previously supported
What level of responsibility you personally held
Why this particular role interests you

2. Your CV / Resume

Please include your most relevant previous positions.

3. A short video

Send a link to a 2–3 minute video introduction.

Please do not read from a script.

Tell me:

A little about yourself
The most senior person you have supported
What you believe makes an exceptional Executive Assistant or Business Partner
Why you believe you could represent me confidently with UK clients and business contacts

4. UK experience

Tell me specifically about any experience you have:

Working UK business hours
Working for UK companies
Communicating with UK clients or businesspeople

If you do not have UK experience, say so honestly and explain why you believe you would still be suitable.

5. Salary

Please state your expected monthly salary in either USD or GBP.

6. Answer these four questions

Please answer them in your own words.

Question 1

A client has emailed twice asking for an update on their finance application.

The lender has not responded to the email we sent yesterday.

I am in meetings and unavailable until 3pm.

What would you do?

Question 2

While I am out at meetings you receive 15 emails.

Five are routine
Four require action from another member of the team
Three require somebody to be chased
Two need a decision
One is genuinely urgent

Explain what you would do with them and what information you would send me.

Question 3

An important introducer contacts you and says:

“Can you just get him to call me?”

You understand the issue and believe you can resolve it yourself.

How would you handle the conversation?

Question 4

Tell me about a genuine situation in a previous role where you identified a problem and solved it without waiting for your manager to tell you what to do.

Please explain:

What the situation was
What you d ---------- to do
Why you made that decision
What happened as a result
One Final Instruction

At the very end of your application, please write:

“I understand that this role is about ownership, not administration.”

This is deliberately included to identify candidates who have actually read the entire job description.

If that sentence is missing, your application may not be considered.

A Note About AI-Generated Applications

Using AI to help improve your English or structure your application is perfectly acceptable.

However, I am not interested in generic, copied or obviously AI-generated answers.

The examples you give should be real and specific to your own experience.

If every answer sounds polished but tells me nothing about you, your application will not progress.

Recruitment Process

Shortlisted candidates should expect:

An initial review of their written application
Review of their video introduction
A video interview
A short practical exercise based on real situations you would encounter in the role
A final conversation before appointment

This is intended to be a long-term position.

I am looking for someone who wants to become deeply involved in the businesses, earn significant trust and progressively take more responsibility.

If that sounds like you, I would be very interested to hear from you.