Operations Assistant to Senior Leadership (Cape Town, ZA | Remote | English & German)

Open Energy Transition; Cape Town; Remote; ZAR 50 000 - 200 000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative non-profit organization is seeking an Operations Assistant to support its senior leadership. In this remote-first role based in Cape Town, you will manage calendars, coordinate meetings, draft correspondence, and assist with various administrative tasks. The ideal candidate will have over 3 years of experience in a similar position, alongside proficiency in English and German. You will thrive in a detail-oriented, self-managed environment while playing a key role in supporting top executives.

Qualifications

• 3+ years experience as an Ops, Executive or Administrative Assistant.
• Experience supporting senior managers in remote environments.
• Experience with financial management and accounting is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Manage complex calendars and scheduling requests.
• Prepare meeting agendas and take comprehensive notes.
• Draft and respond to professional correspondence.

Skills

Fluent in English

Proficient in German

Detail-oriented

Proactive

Tech-savvy

Tools

Google Workspace

Asana

HubSpot CRM

Microsoft 365

Job description

Overview

Open Energy Transition (OET) is a non-profit organisation advancing the global energy transition by developing innovative open-source tools and data solutions for energy and grid planning. Our vision is to make open approaches the global standard by 2030, enabling energy planning that is more accessible, transparent, and effective. This shift is essential to better guide trillion dollar worth public and private investment toward affordable, sustainable, and secure energy systems. This is not a distant aspiration; our work is already being adopted by leading system operators, regulators, and philanthropic partners.

We are currently looking for an Operations Assistant to support 2 of our senior leadership members - our Head of People and our Finance Manager. This is a remote-first position that requires a high degree of discretion, initiative, self-management, professionalism, and confidentiality. Language proficiency in English is required, as our working language is English. Proficiency in German is also required, for comms with some of our external stakeholders.

Location: Fully Remote; Cape Town, ZA
Employment Type: Full-Time
Languages Required: English and German proficiency (both mandatory)
Experience Required: 3+ years as Operations Assistant, Executive Assistant, or Administrative Assistant
Salary Range: Competitive, based on experience
Reports to: Head of People (as Manager)
Works Closely With: Head of Finance
Work Travel Requirements: None
Start Date Goal: October/November 2025

🎯 About the Role

As an Ops Assistant to 2 of our Directors, you will be the right hand to very busy members of our senior leadership team—supporting their daily operations, optimizing time management, and ensuring a smooth flow of information across the company. You will be the trusted point of contact between them and a variety of internal and external stakeholders. You will also perform various administrative tasks, sometimes on tight deadlines, and will be required to manage your workflow autonomously across the 2 Directors, prioritizing and reprioritizing as necessary.

This is a remote-first position and requires a high degree of discretion, initiative, self-management, professionalism, and confidentiality. Language proficiency in English is required, as our working language is English. Proficiency in German is also required, for comms with some of our external stakeholders.

We’re all about transparency, and want to give you the best possible opportunity to prepare for any potential interviews. To learn a bit more about the people you’ll be working most closely with, click here:

• Calendar & Time Management: Proactively manage complex calendars across multiple time zones, prioritize and process scheduling requests, and protect leadership focus time.
• Meeting Coordination: Prepare agendas, manage logistics, take comprehensive notes (minutes), and follow up on action items. Sometimes you’ll attend meetings on behalf of someone else.
• Communication Management: Draft, translate, and respond to professional correspondence from internal and external stakeholders (emails, documents, memos), liaising with other staff to get input where required. This includes keeping our CRM up-to-date, as well as responding timeously to queries and flagging any potential issues to relevant parties.
• Travel Planning: Organize international and domestic travel, accommodations, and itineraries, for things such as conferences, client pitches, and in-person meetings.
• Documentation & Filing: Keep administrative platforms and records up to date, including presentations, contracts, and other sensitive documents.
• Event Assistance: Helping to organize events that OET may host or take part in.
• General Admin: Help fill in and format applications, project briefs, tenders, internal and external presentations, research documents, grant applications, and historical (archival) documents for internal use.
• Stakeholder Liaison: Act as a communication hub between leadership and internal teams, including our various Heads of Department, Team Leads, and Lead Maintainers.
• Project Assistance: Provide project support (e.g., setting up workflows on tools like Asana, following up on tasks, etc.). This requires oversight of all tasks that are being worked on by the leadership team members in question, so that you have good context with which to make decisions.
• Other Assistance: various other ad hoc administrative tasks, including those relating to our Business Development activities, e.g., finding the right person at a potential client a business developer should talk to.

You’ll Be a Great Fit If You Are/Have...

• 3+ years experience as an Ops, Executive or Administrative Assistant or supporting senior managers in fast-paced, highly-autonomous, fully-remote environments.
• Bonus points if you’ve supported multiple such individuals simultaneously, and worked across numerous departments at once. Further bonus points if you’ve worked at a startup, in the energy sector, have supported business development professionals, and/or in a similarly-sized team (around 50 people).
• Are fluent in English and German
• Have some experience with financial management, accounting, and/or payroll systems and reports
• Bonus points if you have experience with drafting and submitting tender and grant applications, and working with compliance and risk-related matters
• Thrive in a highly self-managed, remote, transparent work culture, where you don’t wait around to be told what to do by your manager but show initiative and ownership, and where you give and receive honest feedback to help all, regardless of their role, grow and develop.
• Are detail-oriented, proactive, and exceptionally organized.
• Handle sensitive information with integrity and confidentiality.
• Have a strong sense of ownership and the ability to juggle multiple leaders\' needs effectively, including prioritizing on the fly, as operational requirements change over time (even daily).
• Are tech-savvy (and familiar with tools such as LLMs, Google Workspace, Discord, HubSpot CRM, Asana, Microsoft 365, Adobe, DocuSign, and other office and project/task management tools).
• Have excellent interpersonal skills—warm, professional, confident, and diplomatic.

A university degree is not required—your experience, communication skills, and work ethic matter most. However, if you happen to have a degree in business or a similar field, that may be considered a bonus.

✅ What Our Hiring Process Entails

We take hiring seriously and want to bring on candidates who will contribute positively towards our culture just as much as they will succeed in their roles. Our hiring process is as follows:

• Candidates apply via Greenhouse, and include as much information as possible and comfortable.
• Various team members of OET will shortlist candidates in our ATS.
• Certain shortlisted candidates will be contacted to arrange a screening call.
• Screening calls are conducted, and feature a max. 30 minute chat with our People Team.
• Certain candidates will go through to a first-round interview, of max. 1 hour, with our People Team. This interview will screen for a combination of competency and culture fit.
• Finalists will go through to a second-round interview, of max. 1 hour, with the OETers with whom they’ll work most closely.
• Bonus round - there may be a short written assignment, depending on the role.
• The chosen candidate will be provided with an offer letter, and opportunity to ask any questions.
• Onboarding with our People Team begins.

➡️ How to Apply

If you're excited to bring clarity and efficiency to the chaos of the lives of our senior leadership team, we’d love to hear from you! Please submit an application via Greenhouse (our ATS), and include the following:

• Your CV (in English), including information about prior work and education, and current skills
• A short cover letter explaining why this role is a great fit for you (please add a bit of personality if you wish)
• A link to your LinkedIn profile, and any other social profiles you wish to include
• Any relevant written references or testimonials (optional, but appreciated, and may give your application a boost)
• Your gross salary expectations, annually, in Euros (EUR)
• Any special needs requirements that may apply

If you have any questions about OET or the role, we’d be happy to answer them should we invite you to take part in a screening call or interview.

Please note that due to the volume of applications we receive, we are not able to respond to individual emails or LinkedIn requests. Kindly submit your application via Greenhouse, and we will shortlist and reach out to candidates.

Deadline to apply: ongoing, so long as this role is live on our website.

We look forward to meeting the next person who will become an invaluable part of our team! Thank you for your time, and for considering joining OET. If this role is not for you, feel free to check back later for any future positions that may have been posted.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity and comply with applicable EEO requirements.