Executive Assistant to Sales Leadership (Contract)

Benchling; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Benchling, the AI platform for biotech R&D, is seeking a senior Executive Assistant to support VP-level leaders in a fast-paced, global sales environment.

This 6-month in-office role with hybrid schedule requires calendar management, travel planning, event coordination, and confidential correspondence across AMER/EMEA. You will partner with Workplace, Events, and IT, coordinating multi-time-zone meetings and large-scale events while maintaining discretion and strategic thinking.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of VP/C-level executive support in enterprise SaaS or tech.
• Proven ability to manage multiple executives with high-stakes priorities.
• Experience planning multi-day events for 50–100+ people with budget ownership.
• Comfort working in a fast-paced, metrics-driven sales organization with last-minute changes.
• Excellent organizational skills, discretion, and proactive problem solving.
• Polished communicator with strong emotional intelligence and collaboration tools.
• Familiarity with Salesforce and procurement/expense tools is a plus.
• Biotech or innovation interest is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Perform extensive calendar management and prioritization across time zones for senior executives.
• Prepare domestic and international travel arrangements, itineraries, and expense filings.
• Manage daily correspondence with confidentiality and professionalism.
• Collaborate on and manage key projects across functions.
• Lead planning for presentations, meetings, and dissemination of strategic information.
• Plan and execute high-profile events and off-sites with precision.
• Own end-to-end logistics for Sales events including venues, travel, and budgets.
• Coordinate the executive meeting program during the annual customer conference.
• Support weekly pipeline/forecast logistics and regional standups.
• Coordinate interview scheduling for Sales hiring across time zones.
• Maintain cross-region calendar coordination between AMER and EMEA sales leadership.
• Attend meetings, take notes, and track action items to completion.
• Partner with Workplace, Events, and IT for on-ground logistics support.
• Build relationships as a trusted, proactive connector and mentor peers.

Skills

Executive support

Calendar management

Travel planning

Discretion

Cross-functional collaboration

Event planning

Vendor coordination

Budget ownership

Google Workspace

Slack

Zoom

Navan

Salesforce

Procurement tools

Expense tools

Event/travel platforms

Tools

Google Workspace

Slack

Zoom

Navan

Salesforce

Procurement tools

Expense tools

Event platforms

Job description

We are rebuilding biotech for the AI era.

When a breakthrough is delayed, the world waits. Getting a molecule from discovery to patients, or a crop from lab to field, involves thousands of slow, manual, disconnected steps. AI has the potential to change this, compressing decades of R&D work into years. But that only happens when clean, structured scientific data and AI are built into how science gets done.

Benchling is the AI platform for biotech R&D. Scientists use Benchling to design experiments, capture structured data, and run AI agents and models directly in their workflows. Over 200,000 scientists around the world trust Benchling to power their most important work, from academic labs to Sanofi, Moderna, and more than half of the world's top 50 biopharma.

We’re building an AI scientist for our customers. We can’t do that if we haven’t built the muscle ourselves. AI fluency is the foundation we build on; it's core to how we work, and we're committed to helping every new hire integrate it into their day-to-day. As part of our interview process, you'll complete a brief AI-focused exercise or discussion so we can understand how you think about and use AI to drive impact in your role. Feel free to reference any tools, platforms, or workflows you use today.

Role Overview

This is a 6 month contract in-office role with a required hybrid schedule — a minimum of three days per week (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday) at our San Francisco HQ.

The Benchling Executive Admins are strategic partners who deliver best‑in‑class support to our executives and their functions. We are a team built on trust, transparency, and mutual accountability — challenging and supporting each other to continually raise the bar. We are inclusive and welcoming with everyone at Benchling, which shows up in our processes, events, and everyday work. We set the tone for the company culture, making ourselves and our executives accessible and approachable to all. At our core, we are hardworking, collaborative individuals who create a safe environment to share ideas, have a voice, make mistakes, and learn from our collective experiences.

Responsibilities

• Perform extensive calendar management and prioritization across multiple time zones for senior executives.
• Prepare domestic and international travel arrangements, itineraries, and timely expense filings.
• Manage all forms of daily correspondence, ensuring timely, professional, and accurate responses with a high degree of confidentiality.
• Collaborate on and manage key projects and priorities across multiple functions.
• Lead planning and coordination for presentations, meetings, and dissemination of strategic information.
• Plan and execute high-profile events, off‑sites, and special functions with precision and creativity.
• Lead full‑cycle planning and own end‑to‑end logistics for Sales events including venue contracting, travel, budget, and workback planning. Events include Quarterly Business Reviews (“QBRs”) across AMER & EMEA, CKO/SKO, H2KO, and other ad‑hoc offsites.
• Manage the executive customer‑meeting program during Benchling's annual customer conference, coordinating private meeting rooms, scheduling, and onsite flow between Sales/CX teams and customers.
• Administer the recognition program (High5s) for the Sales organization — nominations, approvals, budget tracking.
• Support weekly pipeline/forecast call logistics and follow‑ups for regional sales standups.
• Coordinate interview scheduling for Sales hiring across multiple time zones (AMER/EMEA).
• Manage cross‑region calendar coordination between AMER (Pacific & East Coasts) and EMEA (UK‑time) sales leadership.
• Attend key meetings, help develop and communicate agendas, take notes, and track action items through to completion.
• Partner closely with Workplace, Events, and IT teams to provide on‑the‑ground logistics support.
• Build strong relationships across the organization, establishing yourself as a trusted, proactive connector.
• Serve as a senior member of the EA team, providing strategic thought partnership and mentorship to peers.
• Support ad‑hoc projects and initiatives as needed.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience supporting VP or C-level leaders, ideally in enterprise SaaS sales or tech organizations.
• Proven success managing multiple executives with competing, high‑stakes priorities.
• Experience managing multi‑day, 50–100+ person corporate events (kickoffs, regional offsites) including budget ownership and vendor/contract coordination.
• Comfort supporting a fast‑moving, metrics‑driven sales organization with frequent last‑minute schedule changes.
• Exceptional organizational skills and a proactive, solutions‑oriented mindset.
• Polished communicator with high emotional intelligence and impeccable discretion.
• Adept with productivity and collaboration tools including Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom, and Navan. Familiarity with Salesforce (viewer‑level), procurement/expense tools (ZIP or equivalent), and event/travel logistics platforms is a plus.
• Thrives in a fast‑paced, evolving environment while maintaining a calm, steady presence.
• Passionate about biotech, innovation, and working with purpose‑driven teams.

How We Work

We offer a flexible hybrid work arrangement that prioritizes in‑office collaboration. Employees are expected to be on‑site 3 days per week (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday).

#BI-Hybrid

Benchling welcomes everyone.

We believe diversity enriches our team so we hire people with a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences.

We are an equal opportunity employer. That means we don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.