Senior Executive Assistant in Birmingham

About RMC

RMC Charity (RMC) is an established, award-winning, regional charity working across the West Midlands to support newcomers and people facing barriers to accessing services, rights and opportunities. RMC is a growing and ambitious organisation. As we continue to develop our services, partnerships and organisational infrastructure, we are strengthening the support available to our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and Trustee Board.

The Senior Executive Assistant will play an important role in supporting the SLT through this period, including helping to coordinate meetings, information, actions and communications involving external parties. The postholder will need to bring structure, organisation and follow-through to a lengthy and evolving programme of work, ensuring that key actions, decisions, commitments and deadlines are effectively tracked.

We are looking for an exceptional Senior Executive Assistant who can operate at a senior level, bring structure and discipline to executive and governance activity, and act as a trusted partner to the SLT and the Board. This is not simply an administrative role. The postholder will be an important part of how RMC ensures that decisions are followed through, commitments are delivered, information flows effectively and governance remains strong.

About the Role:

The Senior Executive Assistant will provide high-level executive, governance and organisational support to the SLT, working particularly closely with the CEO and Executive Director of Services. The postholder will manage complex diaries and relationships, support the effective operation of the Trustee Board, prepare high-quality information and reports, and ensure that important actions and commitments do not get lost.

The successful candidate will have the confidence to work with senior leaders and managers, trustees and external stakeholders while maintaining the highest levels of discretion and professionalism. They will also be someone who is prepared to "keep the executives honest" constructively challenging where appropriate, identifying gaps, following up on commitments and helping the SLT to anticipate and manage organisational risks.

Key Responsibilities

• Trustee Board and Governance
  • Coordinate the effective administration and operation of Trustee Board meetings, including scheduling meetings, preparing agendas and papers, circulating documentation and managing follow-up actions.
  • Attend Trustee Board meetings and produce accurate, concise and timely minutes and records of decisions.
  • Maintain an effective system for tracking Board decisions and actions and ensure that these are followed through.
  • Act as an important conduit between the Trustee Board and SLT, ensuring appropriate information flows between governance and executive leadership.
  • Support the SLT in maintaining an effective overview of governance requirements, deadlines, decisions and actions.
  • Maintain appropriate governance records and documentation and support the preparation of relevant papers.
  • Identify gaps, inconsistencies or emerging governance issues and appropriately flag these to the SLT.
  • Maintain absolute confidentiality in relation to Board discussions and sensitive organisational matters.
• Executive Support and Diary Management
  • Provide high-level diary management and executive support to the CEO and Executive Director of Services.
  • Proactively manage complex and competing priorities, identifying diary conflicts and resolving them before they become problems.
  • Help executives prioritise meetings and commitments according to organisational importance and strategic priorities.
  • Ensure executives are properly prepared for important meetings by coordinating papers, briefings, agendas and relevant information.
  • Arrange travel, accommodation, meeting logistics and expenses where required.
  • Manage meeting schedules involving internal teams, trustees, funders, partners, commissioners and other external stakeholders.
  • Act as an appropriate first point of contact on behalf of the SLT, maintaining positive and professional relationships.
  • Support the SLT in coordinating the new asset development project, which will involve a significant programme of work over the next two years and require engagement with a range of external parties.
  • Coordinate meetings and communications with external professionals, partners, funders, and other parties involved in the asset project.
  • Maintain an overview of key milestones, deadlines, and dependencies associated with the project and ensure that the relevant members of the SLT are appropriately briefed.
  • Ensure important commitments, deadlines and follow-up actions are tracked and completed as well as anticipate the needs of the Executives and proactively identify issues before they arise.
• Executive Information and Reporting
  • Draft, edit and coordinate reports, briefing papers, presentations and other executive-level documentation.
  • Compile information from across the organisation and turn it into clear, concise and useful briefings, identifying areas requiring further consideration and raise these appropriately.
  • Prepare agendas and supporting information for SLT, Senior Management Team (SMT) and other senior meetings.
  • Attend relevant meetings and produce precise, action-focused minutes and records.
  • Support the preparation of information for strategy sessions, appraisals and organisational reviews.
  • Ensure that information presented to senior leaders is accurate, appropriately sourced and clearly communicated.
• Leadership Accountability and Organisational Follow-Through
  • A key part of this role will be ensuring that decisions and commitments made by the SLT translate into action.
  • Maintain oversight of key leadership and senior management commitments and actions.
  • Track commitments made to staff, service users, trustees, partners and other stakeholders.
  • Prompt senior leaders and managers where actions or deadlines are approaching or have not been completed.
  • Identify gaps between agreed decisions and implementation.
  • Constructively challenge where commitments appear to be at risk of being missed.
  • Help the SLT maintain visibility of emerging organisational risks, issues and dependencies.
  • Support the SLT to maintain oversight of the asset development project, ensuring that key actions, deadlines and dependencies are captured and followed through.
  • Help coordinate the flow of information between the SLT and the range of external parties involved in the asset project, ensuring that requests, actions and decisions are appropriately followed up.
  • Help the SLT maintain visibility of emerging organisational and project risks, issues and dependencies.
  • Escalate concerns appropriately and proportionately.
  • Support a culture of accountability, transparency and delivery.
• Relationships and Communication
  • Communicate confidently and professionally with people at all levels of the organisation.
  • Contribute to the existing environment where colleagues feel able to share concerns, provide candid information and challenge decisions appropriately.
  • Handle sensitive conversations with empathy, discretion and objectivity.
  • Represent the SLT professionally when communicating with internal and external stakeholders.
  • Maintain appropriate boundaries and confidentiality at all times.

Person Specification:

Essential Criteria:

• Minimum 5 years’ experience of providing high-level executive, senior administrative or governance support.
• Excellent organisational and time-management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple competing priorities and complex schedules.
• Exceptional attention to detail and ability to work accurately under pressure.
• Experience preparing professional reports, briefings, minutes and correspondence.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Governance:

• Understanding of effective governance and the relationship between trustees and senior leadership.
• Experience supporting Boards, committees or senior-level meetings.
• Ability to understand complex information and identify actions, risks and gaps.
• Strong understanding of confidentiality and appropriate information handling.

Technology:

• Strong proficiency in Microsoft 365, particularly Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams.
• Confidence using CRM systems, digital collaboration platforms and online meeting tools.
• Ability to use technology to improve organisation, information management and workflow.

Judgement and Discretion:

• Demonstrable ability to handle highly confidential and sensitive information.
• Excellent professional judgement and understanding of when information should be shared, withheld or escalated.
• Ability to remain calm, balanced and objective in difficult or sensitive situations.

Suitable Candidate Leadership Profile:

We are particularly interested in people who demonstrate the following qualities:

• High Courage: You will need the confidence to ask difficult questions, challenge assumptions and respectfully tell senior colleagues when something needs attention.
• Deep Empathy: You will understand that leadership decisions affect real people. You will listen carefully, understand different perspectives and approach sensitive situations with humanity.
• Sharp Objectivity: You will be able to separate facts from assumptions, remain impartial and provide senior leaders with an honest and clear view of an issue – even when that view may be uncomfortable.
• Strategic Thinking: You will understand the bigger picture. You will not simply manage diaries and actions; you will understand why they matter, how they connect to RMC's priorities and where a missed action or emerging issue could create wider organisational risk.

What Success Looks Like:

Within this role, success will mean:

• The CEO and Executive Director of Services are well organised, properly briefed and able to focus on strategic priorities.
• Trustee Board meetings are well planned, professional and supported by accurate information and records.
• Board and SLT decisions are translated into clear actions and followed through.
• Important commitments do not get lost.
• Risks, gaps and emerging issues are identified early and appropriately escalated.
• Information provided to senior leaders is accurate, concise and useful.
• Internal and external relationships are handled professionally and with discretion.
• The SLT has a trusted partner who can provide challenge as well as support.
• RMC's governance and executive functions operate with greater consistency, discipline and accountability.

The Person We Are Looking For:

We are looking for someone who is more than an administrator. You will be highly organised, but also intellectually curious. You will be discreet, but not passive. You will be supportive of senior leaders, but willing to challenge them. You will be empathetic, but able to remain objective. You will be comfortable dealing with detail while keeping sight of the wider strategic picture. Above all, you will be someone the SLT and Trustee Board can trust completely, someone who will see what needs to be done, make sure it happens, and have the courage to speak up when it doesn't.

Flexibility: In order to deliver the stated aims of this post, a degree of flexibility is needed and the post holder may be required to perform work not specifically referred to above. This could include data, administrative and/or project support to other cross-organisational departments. Such duties will fall within the scope of the job within the appropriate pay grade. The job description will therefore be subject to periodic review with the post holder to ensure it accurately reflects the duties that are being performed.

Equal Opportunities: We're an equal opportunity employer, which means we'll consider all suitably qualified applicants regardless of gender identity or expression, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or beliefs, age, sexual orientation, disability status or any other protected characteristic. We recruit and develop our people based on merit and their passion for creating better outcomes, and we're committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Closing Date: Thursday 1st October 2026. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early, if we receive enough suitable applications to take forward to interview prior to the published closing date. Please note that RMC is not a sponsoring organisation. If your visa requires an extension within the next 12 months with the support of employer sponsorship, the RMC Charity is unable to provide assistance with this.