Executive Assistant to the CEO at Futurelect

Futurelect is seeking a seasoned, dynamic and highly driven Executive Assistant to the CEO as we rapidly expand our programme offering throughout Africa. The Executive Assistant will play an integral support role in our fast-paced and growing organisation. Reporting to the Chief of Staff, the Executive Assistant will provide executive support to the Chief Executive Officer and the Director of Programmes in a pair of one-on-one working relationships. In addition, you will serve as the primary point of contact for internal and external stakeholders on all matters pertaining to the Office of the CEO.

The Executive Assistant serves as a liaison between Futurelect’s Board Chairperson, the board of directors and senior management teams; organises and coordinates executive outreach and external relations efforts, and oversees special projects on behalf of the CEO. The Executive Assistant must be professional, agile, creative and innovative, and enjoy working in a highly entrepreneurial and growing team that is both mission-driven and results-driven.

The ideal candidate will have the ability to exercise good judgment in a variety of situations, with strong written and verbal communication skills, administrative, and organisational skills, and the ability to maintain a realistic balance between multiple, competing priorities. You will have the ability to work independently on projects, from conception to completion, and given the dynamic nature of the field, we will rely on your flexibility and consistency, while maintaining the confidentiality of high-level systems and operations.

You will have both internal and external facing responsibilities, gaining insights into a breadth of activities across the organisation, while also gaining insight into the day-to-day principles of running a growing, pan-African non-profit organisation. Working primarily with the Special Projects and Programmes teams, the Executive Assistant’s principal responsibilities will be to render administrative support, manage workflows, and ensure excellence in external communications and stakeholder engagement in order to support the CEO and Director of Programmes as they lead Futurelect’s expansion and growing public leadership and civic education programme offerings.

About Futurelect

Futurelect is an independent, non-profit organisation established in 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Our mission is to make the public service work better for more people throughout the African continent by supporting a new generation of ethical civic, political and government leaders.

To achieve this, Futurelect designs and delivers a series of non-partisan, intensive and interdisciplinary leadership development, and training programmes to diverse groups of ethical and innovative leaders annually – particularly young people and women – in order to prepare them for leadership in the public service.

Women and young people are often limited to participating in political life as voters rather than as elected representatives. We seek to stimulate the creation of a new generation of political insiders from typically marginalised groups in African societies.

Futurelect also supports those who will elect our leaders in the future. We want to empower vibrant and engaged electorates with the knowledge necessary to participate energetically in civic and democratic processes and hold their elected leaders to account both at the ballot and in-between elections.

Role & Responsibilities

Meeting and Diary Management:
Manage, coordinate, and oversee the CEO and Executive Director of Programmes’ diaries, meeting schedules and travel schedules;

Coordinate complex scheduling and calendar management, as well as content and flow of information to the CEO and senior managers;

Maintain the CEO’s diary, ensuring that time is suitably allocated to the highest priorities;

Coordinate and carry out duties relating to scheduling meetings, whether in person or remotely;

Conduct research and prepare briefing documents/collate information for the CEO, Director of Programmes, and senior management team members ahead of critical internal and external meetings;

Take detailed and accurate meeting minutes when required and distribute action items to meeting participants in a timely manner;

Track the CEO and Executive Director of Programmes’ commitments, goals, projects, tasks and deadlines;

Ensure items are effectively delegated, reprioritised, or addressed, navigating conflicting demands and time pressures;

Handle selected matters expeditiously and proactively and ensure follow-through to successful completion;

Maintain professionalism and the strict confidentiality of meetings and related materials;

Anticipate and address problems swiftly and effectively.

Travel and Logistics:
Plan and book travel arrangements – including flights, accommodation, transfers, dinners, venues, suppliers, etc. for the CEO and Director of Programmes;

Coordinate together with the relevant service provider all travel and travel-related bookings to ensure meeting schedules are properly coordinated with travel and travel dates;

Manage Futurelect’s international calendar of events and engagements, and the diaries and travel commitments of the CEO and Director of Programmes;

Prepare itineraries, meeting schedules and briefing documents as well as manage competing priorities for the CEO and Director of Programmes when they are travelling;

Ensure all travel by the CEO and Director of Programmes is properly coordinated by planning all logistics and submitting expense reports in a timely manner.

Finance and Administration:
Manage and assist in the preparation of presentations, agendas, reports, special projects, and other documents in support of the CEO’s priorities and Futurelect’s objectives;

Request and compare quotes from service providers when required;

Raise purchase orders based on quotes and submit to the Chief of Staff and finance team for approvals;

Check expenses and submit claims against the approved budget and assist the Chief of Staff and Finance & Fundraising Manager to ensure that overall expenditure is always within budget;

Support the effective and transparent use of financial and other resources;

Provide administrative support in relation to expenses and assist with budgets and ensure deviations from budgetary limits are reported to the relevant line manager;

Support the Chief of Staff in essential internal organisational planning and administration activities – including human resources, finance, fundraising and legal;

Conduct research for policies, position papers, proposals and other materials that will assist in drafting documents;

Assist with all CEO’s communication – including emails, newsletters, audio-visual and other stakeholder presentations;

Liaise with the team to keep the organisational calendar and project plans updated with timelines, responsibilities, and action steps;

Manage paperwork and filing and ensure all information is stored and appropriately filed in the company drive;

Organise and maintain organisational systems (Slack, Monday.com, Trello, Miro, Google Calendar, Zoom and Airtable);

Assist with organising the logistics of company events – including webinars, conferences, and seminars;

Manage sensitive matters with a high level of confidentiality and discretion especially decisions directly impacting the overall operations of the organisation;

Screen incoming telephone calls; take and deliver accurate messages; respond to requests by gathering and providing information and referring non-routine calls to the appropriate team members;

Apply thoroughness and accuracy in all tasks – including monitoring and checking work and information, planning, and organising time and resources efficiently;

Assist with any task related to the efficient and effective running of operations and special projects, when requested.

Communications and Stakeholder Management:
Maintain an up-to-date database of key organisational stakeholders, especially those regularly interacting with the CEO and Director of Programmes;

Manage and maintain relationships with multiple groups of Futurelect programme participants, programme alumni, partner organisations, guest speakers, guest lecturers and expert facilitators;

Follow up on contacts made by the CEO and support the cultivation of ongoing relationships;

Track relationship developments in Futurelect’s CRM software, including adding contacts, creating accounts, updating notes;

Assist in the management of all stakeholder relationships, both internally and externally;

Draft and edit correspondence that is often sensitive and confidential;

Receive incoming communication or memoranda on behalf of the CEO, review contents, determine importance, summarise and/or distribute contents and priorities to the appropriate team members;

Identify and solve problems whilst demonstrating a high level of integrity in line with Futurelect’s core values.

Board and Governance:
Act as a liaison with the Board Chairperson’s office, including scheduling meetings requiring the Chairperson’s participation, answering questions from their team members, and forwarding materials as necessary;

Coordinate with Board Chairperson to schedule Board of Directors’ meetings;

Work closely with the CEO and Chief of Staff to draft, edit, and assist in the development and distribution of board meeting materials;

Support virtual and in-person board meeting logistics such as hosting and distributing dial-in information, venue rental, catering, and on-site needs;

Secure offsite locations and support travel logistics as needed;

Ensure compliance with company legislation by preparing minutes and liaising with company secretarial firm to file and submit for compliance purposes.

General:
Assist the CEO and Executive Director of Programmes in the management of all stakeholder relationships;

Manage documents and filing effectively and with attention to detail, and ensure documents are properly shared and stored in the company cloud storage service;

Ensure thoroughness and accuracy in all tasks – including monitoring and checking work and information, planning, and organising time and resources efficiently.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
Qualifications:
Minimum qualification: Bachelor’s Degree in Office Administration / Business Administration, Communications or related fields, from a leading University.

Experience:
A minimum of 7-10 years’ experience in progressively senior administrative roles, providing operational, financial, research and stakeholder management support to C-level / C-suite executives as an executive assistant, personal assistant, office manager or head of office;

Experience in a non-profit / political organisation, media company, government or multi-lateral agency or public institution;

Digitally competent – able to adopt and use new software for operational and project management purposes and troubleshoot IT issues;

Extremely proficient with Google Suite, Keynote (creating, updating, managing, coordinating presentations for events) and Microsoft Suite;

Must have the ability to learn and implement new or updated software;

Extensive knowledge of office administration, clerical procedures, and record-keeping systems.

Attributes:
Excellent and proven organisational skills; paying close attention to detail;

A track record of delivering superior results;

Excellent written and verbal communication skills;

Outstanding interpersonal skills are essential;

Success in roles requiring the execution of varied tasks while responding to multiple priorities;

Operates with excellence in mind in all matters, with the confidence to defend and debate ideas without the interference of ego;

A creative and imaginative self-starter, who possesses the self-discipline to meet outcomes in a nimble, entrepreneurial working environment;

Remains focused when faced with pressure, delivers against timelines, is not intimidated by major tasks / time limitations;

Proven ability to work with efficiency, flexibility, empathy and good humour;

Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with a wide array of stakeholders – junior and senior, for-profit and nonprofit, from a diversity of backgrounds;

Enthusiastic about building an organisation that runs smoothly, and building the right systems to support this objective;

Passionate about Futurelect’s mission; committed to reforming and diversifying public sector leadership and civic engagement in Africa.

BENEFICIAL / ADVANTAGEOUS:
Additional qualifications or background in Public Relations, Corporate Communication or related fields;

Member of an internationally recognised body;

Fluency in Pan-African languages other than English (French, Kiswahili, Portuguese, Arabic);

Experience in political campaigns, government or public leadership;

Proficiency in iWork Suite;

Experience creating or contributing to websites, newsletters, audio and visual content;

Some social media management experience.

Our Work Style

Futurelect values hard and smart work, encouraging creativity and innovation whilst having fun along the way. We respect and support people’s lives outside of work. We are an agile, high-performing team in a flexible and supportive workplace — from location to hours and holidays — asking all members to consider the needs and deadlines of the team. We are committed to building an organisation that is great for Africa and the world, and great for the people who work with us.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy

Futurelect was founded on the principle of diversity and inclusion in the public sector in Africa, where politics and government remain dominated by one gender and age demographic. We believe deeply in the importance of diversity and inclusion, and have these values embedded in our programme selection processes, as well as in our hiring practises. We operate on the principle that a candidate recruitment or selection process can never be considered meritorious unless it is also rooted in diversity.

Futurelect does not and shall not discriminate based on race, colour, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, hiring and firing of staff, selection of volunteers and vendors, and provision of services. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our staff, volunteers, sub-contractors, vendors, and clients.

Futurelect is an equal opportunity employer. We will not discriminate and will take affirmative action measures to prevent discrimination against any employee or job applicant on the basis of race, colour, gender, national origin (ancestry), age, religion, disability, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression in recruitment, advertisements for employment, compensation, termination, upgrading, promotions, and other conditions of employment.

Candidates should submit the following by 11 August 2023:
1) A comprehensive Resumé / CV

2) Motivation letter

3) Availability and

4) Salary Expectations