Executive Assistant

• Role: Executive Assistant to the Global Managing Director (GMD)
• Location: Cape Town - South Africa
• Contract Type: Full Time – open to considering part-time or flexible working requests.
• Reports to: Global Managing Director
• Salary Range: R600,000 – R750,000 pa for full time role

About CPI

Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) is an analysis and advisory organization with deep expertise in finance and policy. Our mission is to help governments, businesses, and financial institutions drive economic growth while addressing climate change. CPI has offices in Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

About the role

CPI is seeking an Executive Assistant to provide high-level administrative and operational support to our San Francisco based Global Managing Director (GMD). Based in Cape Town, South Africa, this role is critical to ensuring the GMD’s time is optimized, communications are clear and effective, and internal operations run smoothly.

Reporting directly to the Global Managing Director, the Executive Assistant will coordinate schedules, prepare materials for meetings, manage communications and travel, and support cross-functional collaboration across teams. This South Africa–based role will support a San Francisco–based CEO and therefore requires flexibility to regularly accommodate Eastern Standard Time hours to maximise cross over time.

This position requires a highly organized, detail-oriented, and discreet individual who can anticipate needs, juggle multiple priorities, and operate with professionalism and sound judgment.

Roles and responsibilities

Support to the Global Managing Director

• Manage the GMD’s complex and high-volume diary, including scheduling and prioritizing internal and external meetings, events, and conferences across multiple time zones. This includes coordinating with senior stakeholders, anticipating scheduling conflicts, and providing the GMD with timely briefings and relevant materials.
• Coordinate all travel arrangements for the GMD, including itineraries, visas, hotel bookings, and logistics.
• Manage and maintain the GMDs contact, including categorizing, updating, creating and maintaining relevant stakeholder lists, tracking preferences, relevant contextual information, and action items
• Prepare and submit expense reports on behalf of the GMD and manage related documentation.
• Draft and send internal communications on behalf of the GMD, including sharing SMT and Executive Team decisions with staff.
• Respond to and manage external correspondence on behalf of the GMD, particularly with key partners, funders, and other high-level stakeholders.
• Track and manage the GMD’s expense budget, liaising with Country Directors and Country Delivery Leads (CDLs) to understand spending requirements.
• Support time allocation and scheduling for the GMD.
• Accompany the GMD to various external/internal international events. At least two short trips per year.

Senior Management Team (SMT) Support

• Coordinate and prepare agendas for SMT meetings and capture accurate meeting minutes.
• Track and manage SMT action items.
• Prepare SMT/Board presentation material as requested using PowerPoint, Excel and Word
• Plan and coordinate logistics for annual SMT meetings and related events.
• Support the coordination of the organization’s annual strategic planning process.

Board Support

• Schedule board meetings and coordinate availability with all board members.
• Collect agenda inputs, talking points, and relevant materials from country offices and internal stakeholders.
• Circulation of clear and timely minutes
• Track and manage board-related action items and ensure timely follow-up.
• Lead logistics planning for board meetings, including the organization of the annual in-person board meeting and any associated events.

Other

• Act as a trusted liaison between GMD and all other departments, cascading critical information as appropriate.
• Support the Communications Manager with the coordination and delivery of key internal and external events involving the GMD
• Carry out any other ad hoc tasks or support duties as requested by the Global Managing Director (GMD).

About you

• You have 7+ years of experience providing executive-level administrative support, ideally to C-suite or senior leadership.
• You are highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple priorities with discretion and poise.
• You are committed to CPI’s mission and values
• Previous experience in a non-profit will be advantageous
• Experience with Microsoft Office suite is required: Word, PowerPoint, and Excel are used heavily in the organization, and solid proficiency with these tools is required
• Experience with contact management and contact management systems
• Excellent written and spoken English, with the ability to communicate clearly, concisely, and professionally across diverse audiences.
• You enjoy working with others and building team culture
• You are self-motivated with a passion for learning
• You are independent and self-directing
• You are calm under pressure and professional at all times
• You are flexible and willing to jump into tasks as needed
• You are detail-oriented while being aware of the big picture
• You are flexible with working across multiple time zones and office cultures
• You are able to travel internationally

Position Details

CPI is recruiting for one full-time position to be based in our Cape Town, South Africa office.

Candidates must have the existing right to work. Visa sponsorship is not being offered for this role.

CPI has adopted hybrid working whereby staff work 20-40% on site per week.

Interested?

To Apply please submit your CV and upload a compelling cover letter which sets out your motivations and how your work aligns to the role by 9am BST on Monday 14th July.

To ensure you don't miss any updates, please add [email protected] to your email contacts.

Climate Policy Initiative is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and we are working to embed DEI across every facet of our organisation. We seek to establish a working environment where all board members, staff, volunteers, and contractors feel respected and valued regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation or identity, disability, education, or any other bias. We want to create an inclusive culture where all forms of diversity are openly valued as critical to the success of our organization and the achievement of our mission and vision.

If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of application. We will then work with you to identify the best way to assist you through the recruitment process.