Executive Assistant

Executive Assistant to the CEO & Founder

Reports To

CEO & Founder

Location

DIFC Headquarters, Dubai, UAE (primary); international travel as required

Direct Reports

N/A

About j. awan & partners

At j. awan & partners, we believe in "challenging the status quo every day", delivering seamless excellence to our customers across the world. We challenge the status quo by making tailor-made solutions to meet the specific requirements of our clients' business interests and delivering our solutions to their needs with effective simplicity. We understand that time is precious and, as such, our tailor-made solutions are simple to understand, simple to embed, and simple to use.

We are a fast-growing international Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Consultancy headquartered in the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC), with offices across the UAE, KSA, UK & Ireland, Singapore, Portugal, Pakistan, Qatar, and South Africa. We also have our own technology company, azakaw, creating bespoke, cutting-edge RegTech solutions. We provide Regulatory Governance, Risk, Compliance, Finance, Recruitment, and Technology services to a large number of clients including global, regional, and local financial services institutions, governments, and other industry partners.

The CEO & Founder leads the Group across all entities and jurisdictions, operating at the intersection of international regulatory consulting, technology, and rapid global expansion. The Executive Assistant to the CEO is the engine that keeps that leadership running at full capacity — a trusted, senior, and irreplaceable member of the executive office.

About this Role

This is not a standard administrative role. The Executive Assistant to the CEO & Founder of j. awan & partners operates at the heart of a fast-moving international business, providing comprehensive and proactive support to one of the most active senior executives in the GRC and RegTech space. The role demands exceptional judgement, discretion, and organisational capability, combined with the warmth, cultural intelligence, and personal commitment to serve as a seamless extension of the CEO in every interaction.

The EA manages the CEO's professional world in its entirety — diary, communications, travel, meeting preparation, stakeholder liaison, and board-level coordination — while also providing trusted personal and family support where needed. The role-holder must be equally comfortable drafting a board briefing note and coordinating a family travel itinerary, managing a global schedule across eight time zones and anticipating what the CEO needs before they need to ask.

The ideal candidate brings prior experience supporting a founder-level or C-suite executive in a high-growth international environment, combines a proactive mindset with meticulous attention to detail, and understands that the measure of an exceptional EA is the degree to which the person they support can operate at their absolute best.

Mission / Purpose of the Role

The Executive Assistant to the CEO & Founder exists to maximise the effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of the CEO. Every hour saved through better organisation, every meeting run on time and well-prepared, every communication handled with professionalism, and every logistical detail managed without friction is a direct contribution to the firm's performance.

The role-holder is the primary gatekeeper, coordinator, and trusted confidant of the CEO, responsible for ensuring that the CEO's time is protected, their commitments are honoured, their communications are handled with accuracy and discretion, and their personal and family requirements are managed seamlessly alongside professional obligations.

The EA operates across three dimensions simultaneously: executive support (professional schedule, communications, and board coordination), operational liaison (connecting the CEO with the Group's teams, clients, and partners), and personal support (family logistics, travel, and private administrative matters). The role-holder handles all three with equal professionalism, confidentiality, and care.

12–18 Month Mission Outcomes ("What Success Looks Like")

These are the specific, measurable outcomes the Executive Assistant will be evaluated against during the first 12–18 months:

1. The CEO operates at full capacity with zero avoidable friction in their professional schedule, communications, or logistics.

No missed meetings, appointments, or commitments attributable to scheduling or logistical failures. The CEO's time is consistently protected from avoidable interruptions. All meetings begin on time with the CEO fully briefed. Response rate to priority communications within agreed SLA at all times.

2. All CEO communications are managed with accuracy, professionalism, and appropriate prioritisation.

Inbox managed with zero important correspondence missed or delayed. Draft communications produced to the CEO's tone and standard within agreed turnaround times. Internal and external stakeholders consistently experience prompt, professional, and considered responses. The CEO's brand is protected and enhanced in every interaction.

3. All domestic and international travel is organised flawlessly, with the CEO and their family experiencing seamless, stress-free journeys.

Zero travel disruptions attributable to poor planning or booking errors. All visa, health, and documentation requirements met in advance. Contingency plans in place for all critical trips. Travel preferences consistently applied without the need to be reminded.

4. The CEO is fully prepared for every meeting, board session, client engagement, and public appearance.

Briefing packs prepared and delivered in advance of every significant meeting. Research notes, agenda items, and relevant documents available before the CEO needs to ask. No meeting attended underprepared. Presentations, speeches, and materials drafted to a high standard and on time.

5. All UAE government, visa, residency, and documentation requirements for the CEO and family are managed proactively and compliantly.

Zero lapses in visa, residency, or document validity. All renewals initiated and completed well in advance of expiry. Medical insurance and health requirements current at all times. Government obligations met without exception.

6. The CEO's personal and family administrative requirements are handled with the highest level of discretion, care, and reliability.

Personal and family matters handled seamlessly and confidentially. The CEO expresses confidence in the EA's handling of personal matters. Family travel, school, medical, and household coordination managed proactively and without prompting.

7. The EA operates as a trusted, highly regarded member of the executive office, building productive relationships across the Group and with external stakeholders.

Positive feedback from the CEO, ExCo members, and external stakeholders on the professionalism and effectiveness of the executive office. The EA is recognised as a trusted and capable representative of the CEO. All Group team members receive consistent, clear, and professional communication from the executive office.

Key Accountabilities

Diary & Schedule Management

• Own and manage the CEO's calendar across all time zones, ensuring all appointments, meetings, calls, and commitments are accurately recorded, prioritised, and protected.
• Proactively identify and resolve scheduling conflicts, prioritising the CEO's time in line with business priorities and personal preferences.
• Maintain a forward-looking schedule view of at least 4–6 weeks, anticipating upcoming commitments, preparation requirements, and travel implications.
• Coordinate complex multi-party meeting scheduling across international time zones, including board sessions, ExCo meetings, client engagements, and regulatory appointments.
• Manage the CEO's time boundaries, ensuring adequate preparation time before significant meetings and appropriate recovery time between high-intensity commitments.
• Provide the CEO with a daily briefing on upcoming schedule, priorities, and any time‑sensitive matters requiring attention.
• No missed or double‑booked commitments.
• CEO consistently arrives at meetings on time and fully prepared.
• Schedule reflects CEO's stated priorities at all times.
• Daily briefing delivered without fail.

Communications Management

• Manage the CEO's email inbox and other communication channels, triaging, prioritising, and flagging correspondence requiring the CEO's personal attention.
• Draft responses, communications, letters, briefing notes, and correspondence on behalf of the CEO to a standard that is indistinguishable from the CEO's own voice.
• Manage and coordinate the CEO's LinkedIn and other professional social media activity as directed, drafting posts and monitoring engagement.
• Handle incoming calls, messages, and enquiries addressed to the CEO with professionalism, discretion, and appropriate judgement about escalation.
• Maintain a systematic approach to communication records, ensuring all significant correspondence is filed, traceable, and accessible.
• Manage communications with the Board, ExCo, senior clients, regulatory contacts, and external partners on behalf of the CEO, ensuring all interactions reflect the highest standard of professionalism.
• No important correspondence missed or delayed.
• Draft communications consistently meet the CEO's tone and standard.
• All stakeholders experience prompt and professional responses.
• Communication records maintained and accessible.

Meeting Preparation & Follow-Through

• Prepare comprehensive briefing packs for all significant meetings, including background research, attendee profiles, agenda items, relevant documents, and key talking points.
• Attend internal meetings as directed, taking accurate minutes and ensuring all action items are captured, assigned, and followed up to completion.
• Coordinate pre‑meeting logistics including venue, AV equipment, catering, dial‑in details, and attendee confirmations.
• Prepare presentations, reports, and board papers on behalf of the CEO, working with internal teams to gather inputs and producing polished outputs.
• Ensure post‑meeting follow‑up actions are tracked and completed, chasing owners where necessary and reporting back to the CEO on progress.
• Manage the CEO's preparation for board meetings, investor briefings, media engagements, public speaking, and industry events.
• Briefing packs delivered before every significant meeting.
• Minutes accurate and distributed within 24 hours.
• All action items tracked and followed up to completion.
• Board papers and presentations produced on time and to standard.

Travel & Logistics

• Plan and execute all domestic and international travel arrangements for the CEO, including flights, hotels, ground transport, airport transfers, and ancillary services, consistently applying the CEO's preferences.
• Research and book travel arrangements for the CEO's family as required, including family holidays, school‑related travel, and personal trips.
• Manage all visa, travel documentation, and health requirement processes for every destination, ensuring requirements are met well in advance.
• Prepare detailed, accurate travel itineraries that include all relevant confirmations, contact numbers, addresses, and contingency arrangements.
• Anticipate and mitigate travel disruption risks, including flight changes, connection times, and unforeseen delays, with contingency plans in place for all critical trips.
• Manage travel expense reconciliation, ensuring all travel costs are accurately recorded and submitted in line with Group policy.
• Zero travel disruptions due to planning or booking errors.
• All documentation and health requirements met in advance.
• Travel preferences applied consistently without prompting.
• Expense submissions accurate and timely.
• Manage all UAE visa, residency, and government‑related processes for the CEO and their family, including employment visas, residence permits, Emirates ID, and health cards.
• Track expiry dates for all relevant documentation across the CEO and family members, initiating renewals proactively and well before deadlines.
• Liaise with DIFC Authority, GDRFA (immigration), Ministry of Labour, and other relevant UAE government bodies on behalf of the CEO and firm as required.
• Manage medical insurance enrolment and renewals for the CEO and eligible family members, coordinating with the CPAO and HR team.
• Maintain comprehensive and up‑to‑date records of all government documentation, visa status, and regulatory filings for the CEO and their family.
• Assist with government‑related requirements for visiting executives, international employees, and guests as directed by the CPAO.
• Zero lapses in visa, residency, or government document validity.
• All renewals initiated and completed before deadlines.
• Government documentation records complete and current.
• Medical insurance current for CEO and family at all times.

Personal & Family Support

• Manage a range of personal and family administrative matters on behalf of the CEO, including household coordination, school liaisons, medical appointments, and personal scheduling.
• Research, book, and coordinate family travel, leisure activities, and personal events, applying the same level of care and quality as professional arrangements.
• Coordinate with household staff, contractors, and service providers on personal matters as directed by the CEO.
• Manage personal purchases, gift procurement, and personal correspondence on behalf of the CEO where required.
• Handle personal financial administration tasks including expense tracking, personal invoices, and personal account matters, with the utmost discretion.
• Anticipate personal and family needs proactively, bringing relevant matters to the CEO's attention before they become time‑consuming problems.
• Personal and family matters handled seamlessly and confidentially.
• CEO able to fully delegate personal logistics without concern.
• All personal commitments and family requirements managed on time.
• Highest level of discretion maintained at all times.

Stakeholder & Relationship Management

• Build and maintain productive, professional relationships with the CEO's key internal stakeholders, including ExCo members, department heads, and office managers across all jurisdictions.
• Manage relationships with the CEO's external network including clients, regulators, investors, advisory contacts, and professional service providers.
• Coordinate with EAs and PAs of senior external contacts to schedule meetings and manage joint logistics professionally.
• Maintain a comprehensive and current contact database for the CEO, ensuring all contact details, relationship notes, and interaction history are accurately recorded.
• Manage event invitations, speaking engagements, industry memberships, and conference attendance on behalf of the CEO, triaging opportunities and managing responses.
• Host visitors to the DIFC office on behalf of the CEO with warmth, professionalism, and appropriate hospitality.
• External stakeholders consistently experience a professional and responsive executive office.
• Contact database current and accessible.
• Event and speaking invitations managed without important opportunities being missed.
• Visitors to DIFC office receive an excellent experience.

Office & Operational Coordination

• Manage the day‑to‑day running of the CEO's DIFC office environment, ensuring all facilities, equipment, supplies, and services are functioning and available.
• Coordinate with the wider office management and CPAO team on facilities matters, ensuring the executive office always operates to the highest standard.
• Manage the CEO's expense reporting, submitting accurate and complete expense claims in line with Group policy and maintaining personal budget tracking.
• Maintain organised and secure filing systems (physical and digital, including SharePoint) for all CEO correspondence, contracts, board documents, and personal records.
• Manage the procurement of office supplies, equipment, gifts, and other items required by the CEO or executive office.
• Ensure the CEO's office environment reflects the professional standard and brand of j. awan & partners at all times.
• DIFC executive office operating smoothly at all times.
• Expense reports submitted accurately and on time.
• Filing systems current, organised, and accessible.
• Office environment maintained to the highest standard.

Confidentiality & Information Governance

• Maintain the strictest standards of confidentiality in all matters relating to the CEO's professional activities, commercial dealings, personal affairs, and family.
• Handle all sensitive information — including board papers, financial data, personnel matters, and personal correspondence — with absolute discretion and appropriate information security.
• Ensure all documents and files containing sensitive information are stored securely and accessible only to authorised parties.
• Exercise sound judgement about what information to share, with whom, and when, always acting in the best interests of the CEO and the firm.
• Zero breaches of confidentiality.
• CEO expresses full confidence in the EA's discretion.
• All sensitive information handled and stored securely.

Firm Technology Proficiency

• Demonstrate full proficiency across all JAP‑mandated technology platforms including azakaw, ClickUp, Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint), and any other tools designated by the firm.
• Manage the CEO's technology environment including device management, app coordination, and troubleshooting minor technical issues, liaising with IT where required.
• Use technology proactively to improve the efficiency and quality of executive support, including automation of routine tasks, document management, and communication workflows.
• Stay current with platform updates and new tools, adopting improvements that enhance the CEO's productivity.
• 90%+ proficiency across all firm‑mandated platforms.
• CEO's technology environment functions smoothly at all times.
• Technology actively used to improve efficiency and quality of support.

Core Competencies

The following competencies will be assessed during the interview process. Candidates must demonstrate specific, verifiable examples from their career history for each:

Judgement & Discretion

• The single most important quality in this role. The EA to the CEO handles information of the highest sensitivity — commercial, personal, and financial — and must exercise impeccable judgement at all times about what to act on, what to elevate, and what to hold in confidence. Trust, once extended in this role, must never need to be questioned.
• Does not wait to be asked. Reads the schedule, the context, and the CEO's priorities, and acts in advance. Prepares the briefing before it is requested, resolves the conflict before it becomes a problem, and thinks three steps ahead as a matter of habit. The CEO should never have to chase this person for anything.

Organisational Excellence

• Manages extraordinary complexity — multiple time zones, simultaneous workstreams, competing urgent priorities, and an ever‑changing schedule — with calm, structured precision. Nothing falls through the cracks. Every deadline is met. Every commitment is honoured.

Communication & Drafting

• Exceptional written English. Able to draft correspondence, briefing notes, board papers, and social media content in the CEO's voice, requiring minimal revision. Communicates verbally with confidence and professionalism at all levels, from reception to Board.
• Builds genuinely warm and trusted relationships with colleagues, clients, and external contacts across multiple cultures and backgrounds. Represents the CEO with the same blend of professionalism, warmth, and cultural sensitivity that characterises the firm's own values.

Resilience & Calm Under Pressure

• The environment around a founder‑level CEO is fast‑moving, unpredictable, and at times intensely pressurised. The ideal candidate remains composed, solutions‑focused, and reliable regardless of the circumstances. Does not visibly struggle; delivers quietly and consistently.

Integrity & Accountability

• Takes full ownership of every commitment. Never deflects or makes excuses. If something goes wrong, acknowledges it, fixes it, and ensures it does not happen again. Aligns with j. awan & partners' core values of Excellence, Integrity, and Innovation.
• Proven experience supporting a CEO, Founder, Managing Partner, or equivalent C‑suite principal in a high‑growth, fast‑paced international business environment, with a track record that references can verify.
• Deep familiarity with UAE government procedures, DIFC regulatory requirements, and the end‑to‑end visa, residency, and documentation processes applicable to senior executives and their families in Dubai.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex international travel at senior executive level, including multi‑destination itineraries, family travel, VIP logistics, and contingency management.
• Strong experience preparing board packs, briefing notes, executive presentations, and meeting minutes to a professional standard with minimal direction.
• Experience handling personal and family administrative matters on behalf of a senior executive, with an understanding of the unique discretion and care this requires.
• Ability to draft communications, correspondence, and social media content in a principal's voice, requiring minimal revision before sending.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint) and the ability to learn new platforms quickly.
• Experience managing multi‑party, multi‑time‑zone scheduling at executive level, with a demonstrable track record of zero scheduling failures over a sustained period.

Education

• Bachelor's degree from a leading university, in any discipline. A degree in Business Administration, Communications, or a related field is an advantage.

Experience

• Minimum 4–6 years of proven experience as an Executive Assistant, Personal Assistant, or Chief of Staff to a CEO, Founder, Managing Partner, or equivalent senior principal. Experience in a professional services, financial services, consulting, or high‑growth technology or startup environment is strongly preferred. Prior experience working in the UAE, ideally within DIFC, and familiarity with the UAE government and visa procedures is essential.

Personal Attributes

• Exceptional character references from previous principals. A verifiable track record of discretion, reliability, and professional excellence in a senior EA role. Comfortable travelling internationally with or on behalf of the CEO when required. Able to be available outside standard working hours when business demands require it, with appropriate reciprocation and respect for personal boundaries.

Languages

• Fluent written and spoken English is mandatory. Arabic is a strong advantage. Any additional language is a plus.

Culture & Values Alignment

• Embodies a growth mindset and a genuine desire to be exceptional in this role — not merely competent, but truly outstanding.
• Demonstrates the composure, reliability, and professionalism expected at the heart of a senior executive's office in a leading international firm.
• Treats every person who interacts with the executive office — from a first‑time caller to a Board member — with equal courtesy, warmth, and respect.
• Handles sensitive information about the CEO, the firm, clients, and the CEO's family with absolute discretion and takes personal responsibility for maintaining confidentiality.
• Approaches the role with a service mindset: derives genuine satisfaction from enabling the CEO to operate at their best, and measures personal success through the CEO's effectiveness rather than individual visibility.
• Aligns fully with j. awan & partners' core values of Excellence, Integrity, and Innovation.

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