Executive Assistant job description template
A template you can use, plus the part most templates skip: how to assess each requirement once candidates start applying.
Executive assistants manage the time, information and priorities of senior leaders. The role rewards anticipation, discretion and the confidence to protect an executive's attention. A good executive assistant job description separates genuine must-haves from preferences, describes what the person will actually do, and defines the criteria interviewers will assess against.
About the role
Executive assistants manage the time, information and priorities of senior leaders. The role rewards anticipation, discretion and the confidence to protect an executive's attention.
Also advertised as: EA, Personal Assistant, Chief of Staff (junior).
Responsibilities
- Manage complex calendars and competing priorities
- Coordinate travel and logistics
- Prepare materials and manage information flow
- Act as a gatekeeper and first point of contact
- Handle confidential information appropriately
Requirements
Essential
- Experience supporting senior stakeholders
- Exceptional organisation under changing priorities
- Discretion
- Confidence to push back
Nice to have
- Board-level support
- Your sector
- Multiple executives at once
Keep the essential list genuinely essential. Long requirement lists measurably reduce applications from candidates who would meet your actual bar, with a stronger effect among under-represented groups. Everything you can train, move to nice-to-have.
How to assess each requirement
This is the part most job description templates omit, and it is the part that determines whether the description was worth writing. Each requirement needs a way to test it:
| Requirement | How to assess it |
|---|---|
| Experience supporting senior stakeholders | Ask: "Two urgent things need your executive at the same time. How do you decide?" |
| Exceptional organisation under changing priorities | Ask: "Tell me about a time you protected your executive's time from someone senior." |
| Discretion | Ask: "How do you anticipate what they need before being asked?" |
| Confidence to push back | Ask: "Something you arranged goes wrong while they are travelling. What do you do?" |
Full question set with strong and weak answer guidance: executive assistant interview questions.
On salary
Publish a range. Pay transparency requirements are expanding across the EU and parts of the US, candidates increasingly filter out roles without one, and omitting it mainly advantages whoever negotiates hardest — which correlates with confidence rather than contribution. See compensation bands.
Generate a version specific to your company and role with the free job description generator.