Executive Assistant to the CTO

Syenta; Sydney; On-site; AUD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Syenta, a Sydney-based deep-tech startup, is looking for an Executive Assistant to the CTO. You will manage the CTO’s calendar, inbox and travel, and own the office notes, decisions and knowledge base, while leveraging AI tools to draft briefs and first drafts for the CTO.

You’ll work directly with the CTO and a small R&D team, shaping a new role in a fast-moving technical environment. This is a full-time, on-site position in Sydney with 70k–90k AUD plus 12% superannuation.

Qualifications

• Experience as executive support to a senior leader, ideally in a technical, engineering or scientific setting, including managing their calendar, inbox and commitments.
• Proficient with AI tools as part of everyday work, with experience building repeatable workflows that improve the quality and speed of executive support.
• Excellent professional communication, written and verbal, with internal colleagues and external contacts at all levels; strong writing, including technical writing, producing clear and accurate documents, briefs and correspondence.

Responsibilities

• Calendar — manage the CTO's calendar, including scheduling meetings, interviews and visitors, and resolving conflicts.
• Protecting time and focus — hold focus time, filter requests, and redirect or decline what doesn't need the CTO.
• Inbox and communications — triage the inbox, handle routine correspondence, draft replies, and flag what needs attention.
• Travel — organise the CTO's travel end to end; occasional travel to support meetings and events.
• Documents and presentations — prepare, format and polish reports, updates and slide decks from the CTO's material; check team documents for consistency before they go out.
• Document and notes management — keep the CTO office's documents, meeting notes, decision records and reference material filed and findable. Capture meetings, turn notes into actions and decisions, and keep the team's knowledge base current.
• AI-assisted workflows and research — build and maintain the reference material and reusable AI workflows that produce meeting briefs, summaries, document checks and regular scans of competitors, conferences and publications. Run assigned research and first-pass drafts, verify outputs against source, and bring back something the CTO can act on.
• Tasks and commitments — maintain an overview of the CTO office's tasks and commitments, and keep it current.
• Coordination — collaborate on tasks across the CTO office and coordinate with other parts of the business; run the office's weekly meeting logistics.
• Confidentiality and data handling — handle IP, customer, investor and personnel material with discretion; classify material before it goes into any tool, use approved tools only, and verify before anything is sent or recorded.

Skills

Executive support

AI tools proficiency

Strong written communication

Job description

About Syenta

Syenta is pioneering a new era in semiconductor manufacturing with our groundbreaking Localized Electrochemical Manufacturing (LEM) technology. Our manufacturing products build cutting edge advanced packaging for the semiconductor industry by combining patterning and metallization into a single tool. We do that by achieving high-speed, high-resolution metallization at significantly lower costs and energy use, while minimizing emissions and waste.

Founded in Australia, our growing footprint in the US represents a key milestone in our journey. We are building a world-class team where seasoned engineers and ambitious emerging talent collaborate to solve some of the toughest challenges in semiconductor manufacturing.

About the role

Syenta is a deep-tech startup in Sydney developing a new way to make the fine metal interconnects inside advanced semiconductor packages. The CTO leads the company's technical direction and runs a small R&D team, the CTO office, that assesses new technical opportunities and derisks them ahead of the main engineering and process teams.

As Executive Assistant, you keep the CTO's time, information and commitments in order and help the CTO office get its work done. The job is the core of executive support (calendar, inbox, travel, documents) plus two things that make this role different: owning the office's notes, decisions and reference material so the team's knowledge is well organised and easy to find, and using AI tools as part of daily work to turn that material into briefs, summaries, checks and first drafts the CTO can act on.

You’ll suit this role if you like bringing order to a fast-moving technical environment, write well, and are already using AI tools to do more with your day. No technical background is needed; curiosity about the work and comfort with technical people are.

Why this role

• You'll work directly with the CTO and a small R&D team, close to the technical decisions that set the company's direction.

• The role is new and you'll shape it: executive support built around AI tools and well-run information, not just the calendar.

• A small team with direct access and quick decisions; your work is visible and its effect is immediate.

• Flexibility, salary range and benefits: to confirm before posting.

Responsibilities

1. Calendar — manage the CTO's calendar, including scheduling meetings, interviews and visitors, and resolving conflicts.

2. Protecting time and focus — hold focus time, filter requests, and redirect or decline what doesn't need the CTO.

3. Inbox and communications — triage the inbox, handle routine correspondence, draft replies, and flag what needs attention.

4. Travel — organise the CTO's travel end to end; occasional travel to support meetings and events.

5. Documents and presentations — prepare, format and polish reports, updates and slide decks from the CTO's material; check team documents for consistency before they go out.

6. Document and notes management — keep the CTO office's documents, meeting notes, decision records and reference material filed and findable. Capture meetings, turn notes into actions and decisions, and keep the team's knowledge base current.

7. AI-assisted workflows and research — build and maintain the reference material and reusable AI workflows that produce meeting briefs, summaries, document checks and regular scans of competitors, conferences and publications. Run assigned research and first-pass drafts, verify outputs against source, and bring back something the CTO can act on.

8. Tasks and commitments — maintain an overview of the CTO office's tasks and commitments, and keep it current.

9. Coordination — collaborate on tasks across the CTO office and coordinate with other parts of the business; run the office's weekly meeting logistics.

10. Confidentiality and data handling — handle IP, customer, investor and personnel material with discretion; classify material before it goes into any tool, use approved tools only, and verify before anything is sent or recorded.

What good looks like

After the first few months:

• The CTO's calendar and inbox run to plan without day-to-day intervention, and focus time holds.

• The office's notes, decisions and reference material are current, and anyone on the team can find what they need.

• The standard workflows (meeting briefs, summaries, document checks, regular scans) run reliably, and the CTO gets first drafts to act on rather than blank pages.

• Actions and commitments are tracked and followed through without being chased.

What we're looking for

Experience and skills

• Experience as executive support to a senior leader, ideally in a technical, engineering or scientific setting, including managing their calendar, inbox and commitments.

• Proficient with AI tools as part of everyday work, with experience building repeatable workflows that improve the quality and speed of executive support.

• Excellent professional communication, written and verbal, with internal colleagues and external contacts at all levels; strong writing, including technical writing, producing clear and accurate documents, briefs and correspondence.

How you work

• Discretion with confidential material (IP, customer, investor and personnel matters) and sound judgement about what to raise, when, and with whom.

• Action-oriented: takes initiative independently, can take a brief and run with it, moves things forward without waiting to be asked, and follows through to completion.

• High standards for your own work: competent, thorough, and committed to getting things right rather than just done.

• Hardworking and dependable under pressure, delivering results when priorities shift and timelines are tight.

• Excellent interpersonal and relationship-management skills: builds trust with colleagues, partners and external contacts, and represents the CTO well.

Nice to have

• Experience in a startup, R&D or engineering environment.

• A technical background, or knowledge of or experience working in semiconductors or advanced manufacturing.

• Experience with knowledge-management and documentation systems, and with meeting capture and transcription tools.

• Experience supporting or coordinating a small team as well as an individual.

Details

• Full-time, reporting to the CTO.

• Based in Sydney (Alexandria), primarily in the office.

• Occasional travel to support meetings and events.

• Salary range: $70k – $90k + 12% superannuation

Why Choose Syenta?

We're passionate about building a diverse, people-first company. Our culture of collaboration and mutual respect fuels innovation capable of redefining an industry. At Syenta, you'll sit at the centre of a fast-growing deep-tech company and see how a startup is built from the inside.