Personal Assistant

CooperVision; Southampton; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

Pension scheme

Healthcare cover

Life assurance

Wellness Platform

Discounted contact lens scheme

Job summary

CooperVision is seeking a Personal Assistant to provide executive support to the Cluster General Manager, UKI & Russia, while enabling the effectiveness of the UKI Leadership Team. This role drives leadership, employee, customer, and commercial events, and backs key initiatives across the UKI market and wider EMEA region.

You will engage with senior leaders, employees, external vendors, customers, and partners with discretion and professionalism.

Qualifications

• Exceptional organisation and ability to priorities multiple tasks.
• Strong stakeholder management, including senior leaders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Discretion with confidential information and sound judgement.
• Proactive problem solving and proactive approach.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft 365 apps (Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, Word, Excel).
• Fluent written and spoken English.

Responsibilities

• Provide proactive executive support to the Cluster GM and UKI Leadership Team.
• Prepare briefing materials, agendas, and business insights for decision-making.
• Plan, coordinate, budget, execute, and evaluate leadership and corporate events.
• Coordinate leadership meetings, town halls, offsites, and communications forums.
• Track actions and commitments from leadership forums and drive accountability.
• Support cross-functional communication and governance across the organisation.
• Develop leadership communications and business updates for consistent messaging.
• Manage purchase orders, invoices, and fleet administration per policy.

Skills

Exceptional organization

Stakeholder management

Written communication

Discretion with confidential info

Problem solving

Microsoft 365

Fluent English

Executive support experience

Tools

Outlook

Teams

PowerPoint

Word

Excel

Job description

Job Description

Job title: Personal Assistant

Department: Commercial Operations

Location: The Vision Centre, Nursling, Southampton

GLS: P02

Working hours: 37.5 hrs weekly

Minimum 3 days a week in office

A brighter future awaits you

CooperVision is one of the world's leading manufacturers of soft contact lenses with a presence in over 100 countries. Being part of CooperVision means helping improve the way people see each day. It’s more than making contact lenses, it’s about giving lens wearers freedom and confidence to move about their daily lives. We’re all about bright futures - for our people and those who wear our contact lenses.

Job summary – What to expect:

We are seeking a Personal Assistant to provide executive support to the Cluster General Manager, UKI & Russia, while enabling the effectiveness of the UKI Leadership Team. This role is responsible for the planning and delivery of leadership, employee, customer, and commercial events, and supports key business initiatives across the UKI market and wider EMEA region. The position regularly engages with senior leaders, employees, external vendors, customers, and business partners, operating with a high degree of professionalism, discretion, and sound business judgement. The role also provides basic administrative support to the VP, Sales Excellence.

Essential Functions & Accountabilities

• Provide proactive and confidential executive support to the Cluster General Manager, managing priorities, calendar commitments, travel, and business activities.
• Prepare briefing materials, presentations, agendas, and business insights to support effective decision-making and leadership effectiveness.
• Lead the planning, coordination, budgeting, execution, and evaluation of leadership, employee engagement, customer, and commercial events.
• Coordinate Leadership Team meetings, town halls, offsites, workshops, and communication forums, ensuring effective governance, documentation, and follow-through.
• Track actions, decisions, and commitments arising from leadership forums, providing visibility and driving accountability for agreed outcomes.
• Facilitate cross-functional communication, collaboration, and alignment to support the execution of strategic and operational priorities.
• Develop leadership communications, presentations, and business updates to ensure consistent and effective messaging across the organization.
• Manage purchase orders, invoices, fleet administration activities, and other business operations in line with company policies and governance requirements.
• Support the management of the Car Fleet, liaising with relevant internal departments such as procurement, finance, HR and payroll as required.
• Support projects and additional business initiatives as required

A Full Job Description Is Available Upon Request.

About you:

Required

• Exceptional organization, prioritization, and project coordination skills
• Strong stakeholder management and relationship-building capability, including experience working with senior leaders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to manage sensitive and confidential information with sound judgement and discretion.
• Strong problem-solving capability with a proactive and solutions-oriented approach.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft 365 applications, including Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.
• Ability to operate independently with a high level of accuracy, attention to detail, and accountability.
• Fluent in written and spoken English.
• An understanding of executive and leadership team operations within a commercial environment.
• Knowledge of business processes, governance, budgets, financial controls, and corporate policies.

Preferred

• Knowledge of commercial business operations and business performance metrics.
• Experience supporting strategic projects or business initiatives within a multinational organization.
• Experience coordinating large-scale leadership, employee, or customer events.

Experience

• Previous experience in a Personal Assistant, Executive Administrator, Chief of Staff support, or executive business support role.
• Experience supporting senior executives, General Managers, or commercial leaders within a complex matrix organization.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating business activities, projects, and stakeholders across multiple functions and geographies.
• Experience handling confidential and commercially sensitive information.
• Experience supporting leadership meetings, strategic planning activities, and business events.
• Strong commercial awareness and understanding of organizational priorities, business performance, and customer-focused operations.

What we offer:

You’ll receive competitive compensation and a fantastic benefits package including 25 days holiday, pension scheme, healthcare cover, life assurance, access to our Wellness Platform to support you in mental health and wellbeing, a discounted contact lens scheme and much more!

We are committed to our employees’ personal and professional development and offer extensive training to support your career growth and help every individual to reach their full potential. To help us achieve our goals, we’ll give you everything you need to help you achieve yours.

We also provide access to LinkedIn Learning to help you develop in your career and grow with CooperVision.

What you can expect:

As a CooperVision employee, you’ll be welcomed into a diverse and progressive global business. We appreciate how important fostering an inclusive culture is and how different perspectives add value and contribute to our success.

All suitably qualified applicants will receive equal consideration and opportunities from CooperVision.

Please view our careers page at https://hcjy.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1 to view all other opportunities.