Executive Assistant

The Opportunity

Reporting to the UK EA Manager, the successful Executive Assistant will provide high‑calibre administrative support to up to three Partners. You will act as a trusted business partner, enabling decision‑making and partner productivity, managing their and your time, and representing the firm with discretion and professionalism. This role requires strong organisational skills, a proactive mindset and the ability to prioritise a high volume of email and competing demands.

The position is a hybrid role with a minimum of 60% based in our Newcastle office with the other 40% working from home. Hours are 9 am-6 pm (including one hour lunch break).

• Own the end‑to‑end administrative lifecycle for assigned Partners: anticipate needs, manage complex diaries and prioritise requests to ensure Partners are prepared and briefed.
• Provide proactive and strategic diary management: schedule and coordinate internal and external meetings, including multi‑time‑zone video conferences (Teams, Zoom), and propose creative solutions to conflicts while protecting focus time.
• Manage and prioritise your own inbox and workload: triage high volumes of incoming correspondence, apply consistent prioritisation and colour coding, elevate to Partners when necessary, and ensure timely action or response where appropriate.
• Arrange sometimes complex domestic and international travel: plan and book flights using our travel agency, hotels and visas; prepare detailed itineraries, keep up to date details in the partner diary and coordinate ground transport and other logistics.
• Maintain accurate timesheets and project documentation in our inhouse database, Certinia; prepare timely expense reports and support travel and expense approvals in line with firm policy.
• Support contract workflows, tracking and compliance requirements: gather and upload required documentation, follow contract processes and liaise with Legal/Commercial teams as needed.
• Liaise proactively with cross‑functional partners (Finance, IT, HR/HC, DTP, Facilities) to resolve operational issues and deliver seamless service.
• Use approved technology, including available AI tools, responsibly to streamline routine tasks while maintaining confidentiality and quality control.
• Support ad‑hoc events or office initiatives for assigned Partners as required.

• Act as a proactive business partner to support Partners’ client and business development priorities; understand client landscapes and help align administrative support to commercial objectives.
• Maintain and update CRM contact lists and business activity records; track pipeline and sales activity, ensuring next actions are recorded and followed up.
• Coordinate business development and client meeting logistics end‑to‑end: prepare meeting packs with the help of our inhouse document production team and help with meeting set‑up if required (rooms, passes, catering, tech), and ensure meetings proceed with minimal disruption.
• Identify and flag client opportunities or follow‑ups; arrange introductions and follow‑through actions in line with Partners’ priorities.
• Build strong relationships with client assistants and internal stakeholders to facilitate access and smooth delivery of client interactions.
• Coordinate travel and meeting itineraries to optimise client engagement and efficiency, grouping meetings where appropriate to reduce travel time and cost.

• Provide reliable short‑term cover for other EAs and Partners as required to ensure continuity of service.
• Support onboarding, mentoring and training of new EAs; contribute to the EA community by sharing best practice and participating in team initiatives and meetings.
• Help identify and implement process improvements to increase…