Executive Assistant to the Principal
11 days ago
Oxford
Job Description Executive Assistant to the Principal - Full-Time Position Summary This is a newly created role supporting the Principal of Haynes Group, a privately held real estate development and materials company operating across multiple entities and concurrent projects. The Executive Assistant will serve as the operational backbone for a high-volume, relationship-driven principal — managing communications, organizing information, and ensuring nothing gets lost across a fast-moving portfolio. The right candidate is someone who can “read the room” without being told, proactively pushes for what needs to happen next, and genuinely enjoys using technology to solve problems and create efficiency. This person must be comfortable managing up — meaning they will hold the principal accountable, flag missed items, and own follow-through even when the principal has moved on to the next thing. Key Responsibilities • Manage a complex, integrated calendar spanning business meetings, site visits, legal hearings, lender calls, and personal/family commitments — ensuring the principal is always prepared and never double-booked, • Anticipate scheduling conflicts and resolve them independently — coordinating with architects, engineers, attorneys, tenants, and lenders on the principal’s behalf, • Coordinate and confirm all meetings across multiple projects and entities (Haynes Group, Haynes Materials, Haynes Aggregates), ensuring all parties, materials, and logistics are in place, • Prepare the principal for every meeting — pull relevant documents, lease status, project updates, and background on attendees in advance so no time is wasted getting up to speed, • Actively triage a high-volume inbox — identify what requires the principal’s direct attention, what can be delegated internally to leasing, finance, or project management, and what can be handled outright, • Draft, edit, and send correspondence on behalf of the principal — including follow-up emails to attorneys, contractors, tenants, and lenders — in a tone that matches how he communicates, • Own follow-up across all open threads — track outstanding items, send reminders, and close loops without being asked; be the person who ensures nothing gets dropped, • Maintain organized digital filing systems across deal files, legal documents, permits, lease agreements, loan packages, and project materials — including uploading to secure lender and legal portals, • Track milestones, deadlines, and deliverables across simultaneous development projects — flag what’s at risk and prompt the principal before items become urgent, • Coordinate across internal teams (leasing, finance, project management, construction) and external parties (legal, engineering, architecture) on multi-stakeholder projects, • Prepare agendas, circulate materials, and set up Teams calls or in-person logistics for multi-party project meetings involving architects, engineers, attorneys, lenders, and contractors, • Attend key meetings to capture notes, decisions, and action items — especially when the principal is the sole company representative and needs documentation, • Distribute meeting summaries promptly and follow through on assigned action items — holding both internal staff and external parties accountable for their commitments, • Handle sensitive and confidential information — including deal financials, loan documents, litigation materials, and personal family matters — with the highest level of discretion, • Manage select personal and household administrative tasks as needed — including scheduling, travel, and coordination of personal commitments alongside professional obligations, • Maintain and update the principal’s contact database across brokers, tenants, contractors, lenders, attorneys, architects, and civic contacts — ensuring accuracy and fast retrieval Required • 3–5+ years of experience supporting a senior executive, business owner, or principal-level leader in a fast-paced, multi-project environment, • Exceptional organizational skills — able to hold many concurrent projects, conversations, and deadlines in their head and on paper simultaneously, • Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to represent the principal professionally across a wide range of stakeholders from tenants to attorneys to lenders, • High proficiency in Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel), similar project management platforms, and AI productivity tools — with genuine curiosity to learn and adopt new technology, • Demonstrated ability to handle confidential business and personal information with discretion, integrity, and sound judgment, • Proactive, solutions-oriented mindset — does not wait to be asked, finds the answer, solves the problem, and reports back; thrives with limited oversight, • Experience in or exposure to real estate, construction, or development preferred but not required — what matters most is the ability to quickly learn a complex business and hit the ground running Key Competencies • Anticipation — anticipates what the principal will need next before he asks for it; reads between the lines of a two-word email and acts accordingly, • Discretion — trusted handler of sensitive information at all levels, • Adaptability — in a development company, today’s priority can change by 10 AM; this person resets without friction, • Influence without authority — able to coordinate attorneys, architects, engineers, and contractors who do not report to them and get commitments honored, • Attention to detail — in real estate, missed deadlines and dropped threads have real financial and legal consequences; this person closes every loop, • Managing Up — not afraid to push back, remind, or redirect a busy principal; owns the follow-through even when the principal has moved on, • Tech Fluency & Problem Solving — naturally gravitates toward AI tools, automation, and project management software to work smarter; experiments, learns, and implements without being asked