Operations Partner to Founder (EA-level execution)

Job Title: Operations Partner to Founder (EA-level execution)

Location: London, EC4R 1AP

Salary: £45,000 - £55,000 depending on experience, with potential to stretch for an exceptional operations-focused EA

About The Procurement Group

The Procurement Group helps UK businesses with £10m-£100m turnover reduce overheads and improve profitability. We are a lean, founder-led business, not a big corporate.

The Role

This is not a traditional EA role. If you mainly coordinate others rather than doing the work yourself, it will not be the right fit. You will work directly with the founder as your main (often only) stakeholder - running the day to day, building and using systems, and making sure things get finished without relying on a wider team. Dealing directly with clients and suppliers, using your initiative to move things forward without waiting for detailed instructions. Your job is to create enough structure and follow through that the founder can step back from firefighting and focus on strategy and developing our Overhead Advantage System

What you'll do

You'll be responsible for both execution and follow through:

• Own and send a concise daily stats report of key operational metrics
• Take one meaningful "weekly Rock" - you define it, plan it, execute it and close it out.
• Manage inbox, diary, tasks and simple credit control
• Maintain and improve/update workflows, checklists and procedures
• Act as first point of contact for clients and suppliers
• When a client or supplier issue comes in investigate, propose options and, where appropriate, implement the agreed action - not simply forwarding emails.
• Support core revenue generation work - pulling together data, drafting, checking consistency to ensure proposals go out on time and in good order.
• Stay on the hook for effective delivery where using external support

Success looks like the founder touching far less day to day, renewal rates staying above 90% and smiley face reviews from clients & suppliers

Who we're looking for

We are not looking for someone who coordinates teams or manages other people's work. We are looking for someone who:

• Has recent experience working directly 1:1 with a founder/CEO in a small/micro business, with little or no wider support team.
• Personally delivers the work - managing inboxes, diaries, reports, invoicing, chasing, organising. Interacting with clients and suppliers - not assigning tasks to others.
• Naturally sees things through from start to finish, keeps lists and does not leave loose ends.
• Is experienced in a high-expectation environment with a demanding, direct founder, staying calm and adult-to-adult when pressure or emotion shows.
• Likes building simple systems, then using them every day.
• Is confident dealing directly with clients and suppliers & able to represent the business well.

This role is for someone wanting to move from traditional EA work into true operational ownership within a growing business.

What we offer

• Competitive salary c. £45,000-£55,000 with potential to stretch.
• Annual performance bonus of up to 10%
• Varied & real responsibility at the heart of a specialist consultancy.
• Direct involvement in how the business scales
• Dedicated development budget plus regular 1:1s focused on your growth.

How to apply

Click 'Apply' to register and receive an email with next steps (check spam/junk). Follow the instructions in that email to send an email with the subject line: "Operations Partner" including your CV and a short note answering:

• The most recent role where you worked directly for a founder or CEO with little or no wider support team (what you were responsible for; what would have stopped happening without you).
• In that role, what percentage of your time was spent doing the work yourself vs coordinating/delegating to others (2-3 examples of tasks you always did yourself and 1 example where you coordinated others, and why).
• An example where your follow through made the difference (situation, what you did step by step, how you knew it was fully finished and not just "mostly done").
• When you worked with a demanding/blunt founder/leader and things got tense or emotional (what happened, what you did in the moment, whether the work still got done).

Important: We will only consider applications that follow this process. Candidates with experience as Executive Assistant, Personal Assistant/PA to CEO or Founder, EA/PA to Managing Director, Office Manager, Operations Administrator/Assistant, Operations Executive/Coordinator may also be considered for this role.

Please click on the APPLY button to send your CV and covering email answering our questions for this role.

Candidates with experience of; Personal Assistant, EA to Associate, PA to Associate, EA to Partner, PA to Partner, Operations Administrator, Operations Partner Admin Partner, Business Partner, Office Manager, Business Administrator, Executive Assistant, may also be considered for this role.