Executive Assistant, Strategic Initiatives

Summary

We are seeking an Executive Assistant, Strategic Initiatives, to serve as a highly proactive partner to the Chief People Officer. This role combines sophisticated executive support with project management, executive preparation, and operational follow-through across a broad portfolio of priorities. The Executive Assistant will create leverage for the executive by managing complex logistics, maintaining visibility across commitments, preparing decision-ready materials, and ensuring that important work moves from discussion to completion.

This is a hands-on role. Core responsibilities include calendar management, end-to-end travel planning, meeting and offsite coordination, and expense reporting, as well as ownership of project plans, KPI and budget tracking, talent-related workstreams, executive briefings, and process improvement initiatives. The successful candidate will be equally comfortable handling detailed administrative execution and stepping back to identify what matters most, what is at risk, and what needs to happen next.

This role requires 4 days in office at our San Francisco, CA location. This position is not eligible for immigration support or sponsorship now or in the future.

The ideal candidate has exceptional executive function, sound judgment, and a strong instinct for anticipation. This person is strategic, organized, discreet, and relentlessly reliable, with the ability to bring structure to ambiguity, synthesize information quickly, and manage multiple moving workstreams without losing sight of priorities or details.

Responsibilities

Executive Support

• Own and actively manage a complex executive calendar, including scheduling, prioritization and conflict resolution.
• Understand the purpose and relative importance of meetings so calendar decisions reflect business priorities rather than simply accommodating requests in the order received.
• Plan and coordinate domestic travel from end to end, including flights, hotels, ground transportation, reservations, detailed itineraries, meeting agendas, and contingency planning.
• Prepare and submit accurate, timely expense reports; maintain receipts and supporting documentation; and resolve discrepancies or reimbursement issues.
• Coordinate internal and external meetings, working sessions, and offsites, including participant schedules, locations, materials, technology, catering, and follow-up logistics.
• Provide coverage for other Executive Assistant team members during vacations and other absences, as needed.

Executive Readiness & Operating Management

• Provide a concise daily and weekly briefing that highlights upcoming meetings, deadlines, decisions, outstanding commitments, schedule changes, and items requiring executive attention.
• Review the calendar in advance and determine what context, materials, background reading, or stakeholder information is needed for the executive to enter each meeting fully prepared.
• Create meeting briefs, read-aheads, agendas, talking points, decision summaries, and other materials that allow the executive to quickly understand the purpose, history, participants, and desired outcome of a discussion.
• Maintain a reliable system for tracking commitments, decisions, delegated work, follow-ups, and due dates across meetings and workstreams.
• Translate discussions into clear action items, owners, and timelines, and drive follow-through until matters are resolved or formally reprioritized.

Strategic Initiatives & Project Management

• Manage executive-sponsored projects and special initiatives from definition through completion, creating practical workplans, milestones, trackers, and status updates.
• Coordinate and maintain visibility across key priorities, including KPI development and progress tracking, department budget management, talent tracking and assessment, and company offsites.
• Partner with project owners and cross-functional stakeholders to clarify deliverables, establish realistic timelines, identify dependencies, and keep work moving.
• Support annual and quarterly planning processes, including organizing input, documenting decisions, tracking commitments, and preparing progress updates.
• Take ownership of additional projects in which the Chief People Officer is involved, flexing between project leadership, coordination, analysis, and hands-on execution based on the needs of the work.

Executive Materials, Reporting & Analysis

• Draft and produce executive-ready presentations, reports, memos, dashboards, meeting documents, talking points, and communications with a high standard of accuracy and polish.
• Gather, organize, and synthesize information from multiple sources into concise, decision-useful summaries, clearly distinguishing facts, open questions, risks, and recommended next steps.
• Maintain KPI, budget, talent, and project reporting tools; ensure information is current; and follow up with owners when updates are missing or incomplete.
• Support sensitive talent assessment and succession work by maintaining organized records, meeting materials, trackers, and follow-up documentation with appropriate confidentiality.
• Develop repeatable templates and reporting formats that improve consistency, transparency, and the executive's ability to quickly understand the status of important work.

Process Improvement, Technology & Vendor Management

• Identify opportunities to simplify administrative and operational processes, reduce manual work, improve handoffs, and create clearer ownership across recurring workflows.
• Document and maintain practical processes, checklists, templates, playbooks, and operating routines that support consistent execution and continuity.
• Evaluate, coordinate, and help implement new vendors, technology platforms, automation tools, and AI-enabled solutions that improve productivity or organizational effectiveness.
• Manage vendor relationships and implementation logistics as assigned, including requirements gathering, timelines, stakeholder coordination, issue resolution, and adoption follow-through.

Relationship Management

• Build strong working relationships across the organization and use sound interpersonal judgment to adapt communication, follow-up, and escalation to the situation.
• Handle highly sensitive business, employee, performance, and organizational information with exceptional discretion and care.
• Represent the Chief People Officer with professionalism, responsiveness, and good judgment, while understanding when to act independently, when to consult, and when to escalate.

Qualifications

Required

• 7-9 years of progressively responsible experience in executive support, executive operations, project or program management, operations, or a related role.
• Demonstrated experience supporting a senior executive in a fast-paced, high-accountability environment, with ownership of calendaring, travel planning, meeting preparation, and expense management.
• Exceptional project management and organizational capability, including the ability to manage multiple workstreams, deadlines, stakeholders, and details simultaneously.
• Strong executive-function skills: anticipation, prioritization, working memory, sequencing, follow-through, and the ability to maintain a clear view of many moving pieces.
• Excellent written communication and document-production skills, with experience creating polished presentations, reports, briefing materials, and executive summaries.
• Ability to synthesize incomplete or complex information, identify what is most important, and develop a practical recommendation or next step.
• High degree of discretion, judgment, and professionalism when handling confidential, sensitive, or high-stakes information.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Teams, along with comfort learning new technology and productivity tools.
• Ability to work in the San Francisco office four days per week and to provide occasional support outside standard business hours when travel, time zones, or urgent priorities require it.

Preferred

• Experience in real estate, investment management, financial services, professional services, or another sophisticated, relationship-driven environment.
• Experience supporting KPI management, budgeting, talent planning, organizational initiatives, leadership meetings, or executive offsites.
• Experience evaluating or implementing technology platforms, process improvements, automation, or AI-enabled workflows.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.

Core Competencies

• Strategic, proactive organizer who creates order, momentum, and clarity.
• Exceptional executive function and ability to anticipate around corners.
• Strong judgment in determining priorities, sequencing work, and escalating issues.
• High ownership, accountability, and follow-through; closes loops without repeated prompting.
• Ability to move fluidly between strategic context and detailed execution.
• Concise, polished written communicator with strong synthesis skills.
• Composed, adaptable, and resourceful in a fast-moving environment.
• High EQ and strong interpersonal judgment with executives and cross-functional partners.
• Meticulous attention to detail without losing sight of the broader objective.
• Discreet and trusted handler of confidential information.
• Service-oriented, low-ego team player who takes pride in making others more effective.
• Curious, technology-forward, and motivated to improve how work gets done.

The person in this position must be able to:

• Remain in a stationary position for 75% of the time working on a computer and attending in-person or virtual meetings.
• Occasionally move about the office to access meeting rooms, files, office technology, and other work areas.
• Travel occasionally for company meetings, offsites, or other business needs.

Compensation

• $120,000 - $130,000
• Annual bonus opportunity
• Full benefits 
• 401k match
• Flexible vacation policy
• Weekly lunch stipend