Executive Assistant

Arca.ph; Philippines; On-site; PHP 1,116,000 - 1,562,000; Full time

Job summary

Arca.ph in the Philippines is seeking an experienced, resourceful professional to support two founders by taking substantial work off their plates. This is not inbox management or scheduling; you will own projects from initial request through delivery.

You will conduct research, evaluate vendors, build processes, and create trackers and SOPs. The role requires high-level English, seven-plus years of experience in operations or consulting, and the ability to work with minimal supervision across

Qualifications

• Seven+ years of professional experience in project coordination, operations, or a related generalist role.
• Experience supporting senior executives or founders in demanding environments.
• Strong writing, research, and documentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Execute founder-delegated projects from initial request through final delivery.
• Translate informal instructions into clear action plans and timelines.
• Coordinate tasks, owners, deadlines, and dependencies across multiple assignments.
• Gather missing information and keep participants moving toward completion.
• Identify bottlenecks and escalate only when necessary while solving routine obstacles.

Skills

Project coordination

Research

Vendor evaluation

Process documentation

Executive support

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Google Workspace

Notion

Excel

Job description

Schedule: Full-time, with substantial U.S. business-hours overlap

Reports to: Two Co-Founders

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced, exceptionally resourceful professional to support two founders by taking substantial work directly off their plates.

This is not an inbox-management, calendar-management, travel-booking, or traditional Executive Assistant position.

The founders regularly encounter important projects and operational tasks that need to be completed but do not require their personal involvement. You will take ownership of that work-from an initial request or loosely defined problem through research, organization, execution, and final delivery.

• "Research this issue and tell me what you recommend."
• "Compare these vendors and identify the best option."
• "Turn these notes into a complete process."
• "Figure out why this project is stuck and get it moving."
• "Organize this information and build a useful tracker."
• "I need this completed today, but I don’t have eight hours to do it."
• "Take this off my plate and bring it back finished."

Your responsibility is to understand the intended outcome, ask the right questions, and complete the work with minimal supervision.

What You Will Do

Execute founder-delegated projects

• Accept a broad range of administrative, operational, research, and coordination assignments from two founders.
• Translate informal instructions, voice notes, rough ideas, or incomplete information into a clear plan of action.
• Take projects from initial request through final completion.
• Determine what information, people, tools, and decisions are required.
• Provide polished, decision-ready work—not unfinished research or a list of new questions.
• Manage multiple assignments while keeping urgent and high-value work moving.

Conduct research and analysis

• Research companies, vendors, products, people, industries, software, services, and business questions.
• Evaluate options using clearly defined criteria.
• Verify important information instead of relying on the first available answer.
• Summarize complex findings into concise recommendations.
• Build comparison tables, briefing documents, reports, and decision memos.
• Clearly distinguish facts, assumptions, risks, and recommendations.

Coordinate projects and people

• Break projects into tasks, owners, deadlines, and dependencies.
• Contact vendors, contractors, candidates, clients, or internal team members when needed.
• Gather missing information and keep participants moving toward completion.
• Follow up persistently until commitments are fulfilled.
• Identify delays, unclear ownership, and operational bottlenecks.
• Escalate genuine decision points while resolving routine obstacles independently.

Create structure and improve operations

• Turn recurring founder work into documented processes.
• Build SOPs, checklists, templates, trackers, dashboards, and internal documentation.
• Organize scattered information into systems that are clear and maintainable.
• Identify inefficient or unnecessarily manual workflows.
• Recommend and implement practical improvements.
• Use automation and AI tools to reduce repetitive work while checking outputs carefully.
• Help prevent completed work from becoming a recurring founder responsibility again.

Produce high-quality deliverables

Depending on the assignment, deliverables may include:

• Research briefs and recommendations
• Vendor or software comparisons
• Project plans and status trackers
• Standard operating procedures
• Spreadsheets and data organization
• Written reports and summaries
• Presentation materials
• Process maps and checklists
• Draft communications and documentation
• Implementation plans
• Organized records or knowledge bases

Required Experience

• At least seven years of professional experience in project coordination, operations, administration, consulting support, client services, or a similarly demanding generalist role.
• At least five years working in a respected agency, consultancy, professional-services firm, family office, high-growth company, or directly for a high-profile client or founder.
• Demonstrated experience completing complex, loosely defined assignments with limited supervision.
• Proven ability to manage projects involving research, documentation, coordination, and implementation.
• Experience working directly with demanding senior executives, founders, business owners, or major clients.
• Strong professional writing, research, spreadsheet, and documentation skills.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Experience working remotely with U.S. or international teams.

What We Are Looking For

You finish the work

You do not simply forward information, schedule the next step, or tell the founder what still needs to be done. You take responsibility for moving the assignment as close to completion as your authority allows.

You can work from imperfect instructions

The founders may explain what they need quickly or give you an incomplete starting point. You can identify the intended outcome, resolve reasonable ambiguity, and begin making progress.

You are resourceful

When you do not know how to do something, you research it, find the right person, learn the necessary tool, or develop another path forward.

You exercise good judgment

You know which questions genuinely require a founder’s decision and which ones you should resolve independently. You bring founders concise choices and recommendations—not avoidable problems.

You care about the final product

Your work is accurate, organized, polished, and ready to use. You check details, verify facts, and think about how the deliverable will help someone make a decision or take action.

Success means the founders can delegate substantial work to you confidently and recover hours of their time without creating more supervision or cleanup.

Technology

You should be comfortable using:

• Google Workspace and Microsoft Office
• Advanced spreadsheets
• Notion or similar documentation systems
• CRM and data-management tools
• AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude
• Automation platforms and online research tools

Specific software can be learned. The ability to understand unfamiliar tools and apply them independently is more important.

What Success Looks Like

• The founders can delegate substantial assignments in minutes rather than spending hours completing them personally.
• Projects return completed, organized, and ready for a decision or immediate use.
• Assignments do not require repeated reminders or extensive follow-up.
• Important details and deadlines do not fall through the cracks.
• Research produces clear answers and recommendations.
• Recurring work becomes documented and easier to delegate.
• Operational problems are solved instead of repeatedly resurfacing.
• The founders recover meaningful time for leadership, strategy, clients, and growth.

This Role Is Not a Fit If

• Your experience is primarily calendar, inbox, travel, or personal-assistant support.
• You need detailed step-by-step instructions before beginning.
• You regularly return assignments with information but no conclusion or recommendation.
• You consider sending an email or assigning a task to be the same as completing the work.
• You are uncomfortable owning unfamiliar or ambiguous projects.
• You require frequent reminders, check-ins, or deadline management.
• You prefer a predictable position with a narrow list of recurring duties.

Application Requirements

Please submit:

• A description of the founders, executives, agencies, or high-profile clients you have supported.
• An example of a substantial project that was delegated to you with limited instructions.
• What the initial request was, what actions you took, and what you ultimately delivered.
• An example of a system or process you created or materially improved.
• A short research exercise provided during the application process.
• Two references from founders, executives, managers, or major clients familiar with your work.

The most important qualification is a demonstrated history of receiving complicated work, figuring it out, and returning it finished.