Executive Assistant to CEO

Job description / Role

Our client is a newly established JV between two large entities, one being semi-government.

You will be among the very first employees of this new company and participate in the growth into a large operational organization. As a start-up team, during the first year or two, everyone will all be hands on, also in tasks not necessarily part of the longer-term job description. You should be excited about working in such an environment. The role reports to the CEO and will be based at Khalifa Port, UAE.

EA/PA EXPERIENCE AND UAE WORK EXPERIENCE IS MANDATORY.

The role:
• The key objective of the role is to maximize quality and productivity of the CEO’s work. You will have an opportunity to have real impact of the path and success of this new company.
• At the outset, as we are in startup, support other members of the team. Long-term support the leadership team beyond the CEO.
• Plan, organize and follow-up on activities involving the CEO.
• Serve as the CEO’s administrative liaison to the Board of Directors and manage Board activities such as Board meetings and adjacent events.
• Plan Senior Leadership meetings and liaise with other senior managers for preparation and follow-up.
• Prepare meeting agendas, perform research for meetings, document meeting outcomes and at times accompany the CEO at internal/external meetings.
• Oversee/administrate regular reporting cadence from the CEO to the Board and shareholder head offices and from senior managers to the CEO.
• Personally undertake ad-hoc projects and research and present data in a succinct and well-written manner.
• Follow-up on performance in internal and external ad-hoc tasks and projects.
• Plan the CEO’s travel and prepare associated arrangements, expenses etc.
• Coordinate with all levels of the organization on behalf of the CEO as necessary, maintaining professional discretion and confidentiality.
• Filter, prioritize and follow up on incoming matters and concerns, including those of a sensitive nature. Determine the appropriate course of action, referral or response.
• Work directly with all teams in fulfilling the EA role.
• Monitor relevant local industry news sources and provide alerts to the CEO.
• Provide assistance to VIP visitors and take charge of visitor logistics.
• Prepare facilities for meetings or events (including on-line/virtual meetings).
• Prepare corporate documents, ensure proper filing (whether paper or electronic) of CEO correspondence, documents, presentations etc.
• For the right candidate the role could in time include additional office management duties including overseeing certain admin. functions and staff.

Salary:
AED 15,000 to 20,000 per month inclusive of fixed allowances.

Requirements

Candidate requirements:
• You must have at least 3 years’ experience as EA/PA to a senior executive in an internationally active company.
• You must have at least 2 years’ recent relevant work experience in the UAE and preferably currently based in the UAE.
• You must have at least 8 years professional work experience.
• You hold a University Bachelor’s degree or similar.
• Native or fluent in English (Arab would be advantageous).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Able to independently complete professional level slide presentations.
• Perhaps experienced in managing professional social media.
• Experience from the ports, shipping or logistics industry would be advantageous.
• Experience from multiple functions (e.g. HR, Marketing etc.) would be advantageous.
• Experience from expatriate onboarding including UAE visa processes would be advantageous.

Personal skills and abilities:
• By nature, energetic, tackling issues to solve them and confident in making decisions.
• Able to mould yourself, discreetly, into the work environments of the CEO.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, composed personality and high integrity.
• Embodies a positive attitude, fast thinker yet calm, also under pressure.
• Interest in and ability to establish work relationships across the organization and externally.
• Self-directed, displays initiative and can work independently with excellent follow-up, problem solving skills and the ability to seek alternative solutions for dilemmas, problems and situations at hand.
• Ability to expand the role beyond responsive support to proactive contributions and taking ownership of tasks.
• Possesses strong organizational skills, can perform and prioritize multiple tasks seamlessly with attention to detail.
• Professional, comfortable and respectful with counterparts at all organizational levels.
• High degree of tact, discretion and diplomacy in dealing with confidential information and with sensitive situations and concerned groups and individuals.
• Unpretentious personality with a team player mindset seeking success for everyone.
• Healthy sense of humour contributing to the atmosphere we seek to maintain across our organization.
• Comfortable with flexible work hours (and this is mutual) as this is a role with highs and lows in terms of workload.
• Can maintain the same support and efficiency whether the CEO is in office or away.

This role will start in September

Thank you for your interest. All applications are viewed and evaluated according to the role requirements. We aim to contact shortlisted candidates within 2 weeks. As we often receive a high volume of applications, we are unable to reply to everyone. If you have not heard back from us within 2 weeks, please consider your application unsuccessful. (LV)

About the Company

Inspire Selection is an award winning recruitment agency, headquartered in Dubai which recruits across the Middle East region. We employ highly knowledgeable, professional consultants who are experts in connecting the right people with the right opportunities. Our reputation has been built upon our honesty, integrity and our ability to source candidates of the highest calibre right across our specialist sectors. As a result, we are recruitment partners to a wide spectrum of organisations - from leading blue chip companies to smaller, local businesses. Sectors we cover include HR, Administration, Finance & Accounting, Legal, Sales & Marketing including Digital Marketing, IT, Oil/Gas/Energy, Engineering, Procurement, Manufacturing, Higher Education.