Female Executive Assistant and Legal Officer at HRLeverage Africa

The Role

• Reporting to the MD / CEO; the Executive Assistant and legal officer is responsible for managing the day to day operations of the MD/CEO’s office. He or She work closely with the MD and undertake assignments which are highly confidential, delicate, and require skill and discretion.
• This individual will act as an ambassador for the MD providing high level support, working in partnership with senior leadership and management to ensure smooth running of the office.
• They are actively involved in decision making and have a hybrid of duties in additional to complex diary and travel arrangements; such as financial planning, communications, events and project management, and business development.
• The incumbent is responsible for liaising with internal and external key stakeholders; managing and facilitating agendas, action points, and follow-ups on behalf of the MD / CEO.

Responsibilities

• To act as first point of contact for the MD within the network, proactively and promptly reviewing and tracking incoming enquiries such as emails, invitations, complaints and correspondence and responding directly, delegating to colleagues, or advising on responses to the MD, providing clarity of outcome / actions and ensuring these are followed to resolution in a professional manner;
• To maintain short, medium and long-term diaries for the MD, making necessary travel, meeting and other arrangements for appointments;
• To make administrative arrangements and the planning for internal and external meetings and conferences and attend as necessary, operating a system to ensure the MD (where required) are fully briefed for meetings, including recommending solutions where appropriate;
• To provide high-level secretariat support to key internal and external meetings involving the MD, including preparing agendas, coordinating or writing papers, producing minutes, and ensuring follow-up actions are progressed;
• To liaise with external bodies with which the MD require representation and are involved as required;
• To ensure the effective operation of the MD’s office;
• To prepare correspondence, reports, memos and presentation material as required, noting the need for accessibility in all documentation from all sources
• To work with the management and support this role where required in carrying out secretariat duties for the Executive team this includes:
  • Working with respective management team to prepare agendas and relevant papers
  • Ensuring the timely distribution of management papers in formats appropriate for the readership
  • Taking minutes of the meetings and recording and monitoring the actions agreed at meetings
  • Support the Chief Executives in forward planning for the Executive team meetings and evaluating managements team’s performance to ensure continued effectiveness
• To provide high level administrative support to the management which may include assisting with:
  • Liaison with management team members in relation to their induction and governance activities
  • Arranging the annual general meeting, and any other general meetings as required throughout the year, ensuring proper records are taken and maintained
  • Taking the lead role in overseeing work directly commissioned by MD / CEO
• To work closely and in cooperation with management team across the network, providing mentoring &support arranging and chairing regular meetings of this group to:
  • Ensure workload is shared and resourced across the group; o
  • Shared processes & resources are fit for purpose
• To undertake specific areas of responsibility and special projects as required to support the MD.
• To undertake other such tasks as may be necessary to ensure the smooth administration of the respective teams;
• To undertake any other duties as directed by management.

Qualifications

• Degree in Law or related field
• 5+ years’ executive level experience
• Impeccable managerial and interpersonal skills
• Proven track record of effectively interacting with senior management
• Ability to work strategically and collaboratively across departments
• Effective, versatile and action-oriented
• Excellent communication skills
• Must be able to work collaboratively, with a range of colleagues in the wider organisation, as well as with external stakeholders.
• Excellent interpersonal, diplomatic, oral communication skills
• Demonstrable level of numeracy and ability to analyse statistical and financial data
• Confidence in working with senior internal and external stakeholders at director and trustee level
• Well placed sense of judgment and political skills, able to exercise absolute discretion and confidentiality