Executive Assistant

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CEO

Trusted executive partner • Operational force multiplier • High-accountability support

Reports to

Chief Executive Officer

Location

Arlington, Virginia or New York, NY

Status

Full-time

Work model

Primarily in-person; flexibility required

About the Role

NALEJ is seeking an exceptionally capable Executive Assistant to serve as a trusted right hand to the CEO. This is a high-trust, high-responsibility role for someone who can protect the CEO’s time, create order from ambiguity, and drive priorities to completion in a fast-moving defense technology environment.

This is not a traditional administrative support position. The Executive Assistant will manage complex professional priorities and selected personal logistics that directly affect the CEO’s availability and effectiveness. The right person will anticipate needs, exercise excellent judgment, and act without waiting for a detailed playbook.

What You’ll Do

Executive and Professional Support

• Act as a force multiplier for the CEO by protecting time, sharpening priorities, and reducing administrative and operational friction.
• Own a complex, rapidly changing calendar spanning internal meetings, customer and government engagements, travel, dinners, conferences, and other high-priority commitments.
• Prepare the CEO for meetings by assembling the right context, materials, people, decisions, and follow-up requirements.
• Track commitments, decisions, and action items; proactively follow through until each item is completed or intentionally closed.
• Coordinate across senior executives, employees, board members, investors, customers, partners, government stakeholders, and external advisors.
• Draft and coordinate polished correspondence, presentations, briefing materials, talking points, agendas, and executive communications.
• Organize board meetings, investor meetings, leadership off-sites, conferences, and other critical events.
• Handle confidential business, personnel, financial, personal, and potentially sensitive defense-related information with exceptional discretion.

Research, Communications, and Decision Support

• Research people, organizations, markets, technologies, events, and unfamiliar issues quickly; convert findings into concise, actionable information.
• Surface scheduling conflicts, missing information, decision points, and emerging risks before they become problems.
• Represent the CEO professionally in written and verbal interactions and ensure communications are clear, timely, and appropriately prioritized.
• Maintain organized, reliable systems for notes, contacts, files, follow-ups, and recurring executive processes.

Personal and Logistical Support

Because professional and personal demands frequently compete for the CEO’s time, this role includes selected personal support. Candidates should be comfortable with this responsibility and understand that it is an intentional part of the position.

• Coordinate personal scheduling and logistics alongside the CEO’s professional calendar.
• Arrange complex business and personal travel, reservations, appointments, events, and related details.
• Research and coordinate service providers, time-sensitive needs, and occasional personal projects requiring discretion and strong follow-through.
• Resolve unexpected issues and last-minute requests calmly, resourcefully, and with sound judgment.

Problem Solving and Special Projects

• Take ownership of ambiguous goals, determine what is needed, and drive the work to a clear outcome.
• Build lightweight systems, processes, and tools that make the CEO and executive office more efficient.
• Coordinate multiple stakeholders, remove roadblocks, and maintain momentum across competing priorities.
• Support special projects across the company when executive-level coordination or rapid execution is required.
• Continuously look for appropriate work to take off the CEO’s plate.

What We’re Looking For

Required Capabilities

• Proactive judgment. You anticipate needs, identify what matters, and know when to act independently versus when to escalate.
• Relentless execution. You close loops, solve problems, and take personal ownership of outcomes.
• Exceptional organization. You can manage dozens of moving pieces, competing deadlines, and frequent changes without losing details.
• Adaptability and composure. You can change direction quickly, operate with incomplete information, and remain calm under pressure.
• You know how to find answers, locate the right people, and create practical solutions when the path is unclear.
• Clear communication. You write and speak with precision, discretion, and polish across audiences ranging from employees to senior external stakeholders.
• Trust and discretion. You demonstrate unimpeachable integrity and can appropriately safeguard confidential and sensitive information.
• Low-ego service orientation. You are comfortable handling both strategic work and routine details when either is necessary to support the mission.
• Digital fluency. You are highly capable with calendars, communications, documents, presentations, travel tools, collaboration platforms, and modern productivity technology.
• Relevant experience. You have demonstrated success supporting a senior executive or operating in an equivalent high-performance environment where judgment, coordination, and execution were essential.

Preferred Background

• Experience in defense, national security, technology, government contracting, startups, professional services, or another complex operating environment.
• Prior work as an executive assistant, senior administrative partner, executive operations professional, chief of staff, founder’s associate, military officer or senior enlisted leader, consultant, or comparable role.
• Experience coordinating board, investor, customer, government, or senior-leader engagements.
• Experience arranging complex domestic and international travel and managing sensitive or time-critical logistics.
• Ability to satisfy any customer, facility-access, security, or background requirements associated with the role.

The Person Who Will Thrive Here

You are the person people call when something important needs to get done. In the same day, you may rework a travel itinerary, resolve a scheduling conflict across several time zones, research an unfamiliar issue, prepare the CEO for a consequential meeting, and handle an unexpected personal logistics problem.

You do not need every step explained. You see around corners, create structure where none exists, and remain effective when priorities shift. You measure success by the outcome—not by whether the work fit neatly within a predefined lane.

Work Environment and Schedule

This is a primarily in-person role supporting the CEO of a growing defense technology company. The position requires close coordination, responsiveness, and the flexibility to support occasional early mornings, evenings, weekends, travel, and last-minute changes when business or personal circumstances require it. These demands will vary, but candidates should enter the role with a clear understanding of its high-accountability nature.

Success in the First Six Months

• The CEO’s calendar, priorities, and commitments are organized, current, and aligned to the company’s highest-value work.
• Meetings are better prepared, decisions are better supported, and follow-ups reliably reach completion.
• The executive office has clear systems for scheduling, travel, briefing materials, contacts, and action tracking.
• Internal and external stakeholders experience timely, professional coordination with fewer dropped handoffs.
• The CEO is more focused, effective, prepared, and meaningfully less burdened by operational and logistical details.

Compensation and Growth

NALEJ offers competitive compensation based on experience and qualifications. This role provides significant responsibility, visibility, and exposure to senior leadership, defense technology, major business decisions, and company-building. For the right person, the position may grow into a broader Executive Operations or Chief of Staff role as the company scales; such progression is based on organizational needs and demonstrated performance and is not guaranteed.

Equal Employment Opportunity

NALEJ is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law. Reasonable accommodations are available for qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the hiring process and employment.