Executive Assistant (UK Based)

About Us

Pickle is a business enablement service. We provide fractional, embedded, human-led support across the functions that quietly keep growing businesses moving. EA and executive support, admin, customer support, operations, bookkeeping and HR.

We're not a recruitment agency, a consultancy or a software product. We sit in the gap between all three, and that gap is where the real work happens.

We work alongside founder and operator-led businesses at the moments when they need more capacity, more structure, or more support than they currently have. Our people embed into client businesses and take genuine ownership of the work. No task-ticking, no arm's-length delivery. Just real judgement and follow-through.

What it's like to work here

We value autonomy and accountability. We are human-first in how we treat our clients, our candidates, and each other. We don't chase growth at the expense of quality, and we don't treat people like resources.

We are a small, growing team building something we genuinely believe in, and we are looking for people who want to be part of that.

What we care about

Good work. Honest relationships. Doing things properly. We use technology and AI intentionally and we never let it replace the human judgement that actually makes the difference. We value calm over chaos, clarity over comfort, and ownership over excuses.

If that sounds like your kind of place, we'd love to hear from you.

What you need to know

This is a zero-hours PAYE engagement with Pickle. It is not self-employed, freelance, umbrella or limited company work. Tax and National Insurance are deducted at source, and you receive holiday pay and pension enrolment in line with your hours.

£16 to £18 per hour, depending on experience.

Remote and UK-based, with occasional travel into central London (if possible, but not essential)

You must have the right to work in the UK. We carry out right to work checks on every hire before a start date is confirmed.

The Role

This is an Executive Assistant role (on a PAYE basis) with diary management at its centre. You will work as one of a pair, reporting to an experienced in-house Executive Assistant who leads support for one of our clients. You will hold the diaries for several senior people, anticipate what is coming, and make sure the right things happen in the right order.

The difference between this role and a straight administrative one is judgement. You will be trusted to make calls on priority, to push back sensibly when a diary will not work, and to bring solutions rather than problems.

What you will be doing

• Owning complex diaries across several senior people, including competing priorities, travel time, prep time and last-minute changes
• Protecting time properly: knowing what takes precedence, what can move and what must not
• Preparing people for their meetings, including agendas, papers, context and follow up actions
• Inbox management, correspondence and drafting on behalf of the people you support
• Travel, itineraries, expenses and routine finance admin
• Handling confidential and sensitive information with discretion
• Working with your Pickle colleague to divide the workload between you and flex it as demand shifts
• Spotting what is slipping and dealing with it before it becomes a problem

What we are looking for

Essential

• Excellent diary management across multiple senior stakeholders. This is the core of the job and we will test it properly at interview.
• Sound judgement on priority and sequencing, and the confidence to ask when it is not clear
• Proactivity. You anticipate rather than react, and you flag things early.
• A genuine team player. You share workload, cover your colleague and do not keep score.
• No ego. You take direction and feedback well, and you do not draw lines around what is or is not your job.
• Direct, clear, calm communication with senior people
• Discretion and sound handling of confidential information
• Strong Outlook or Google Workspace skills, and comfort picking up new tools
• Available during UK business hours on a consistent, agreed pattern

Helpful

• Good working knowledge of London geography and business culture
• Experience supporting a leadership team rather than a single individual
• Experience working alongside an in house Executive Assistant or Chief of Staff

The practical detail

• This is a zero-hours PAYE engagement with Pickle. It is not self employed, freelance, umbrella or limited company work. Tax and National Insurance are deducted at source, and you receive holiday pay and pension enrolment in line with your hours.
• £16 to £18 per hour, depending on experience.
• Remote and UK based, with occasional travel into central London (if possible, but not essential)
• You must have the right to work in the UK. We carry out right to work checks on every hire before a start date is confirmed.