Business Support Manager

An exciting 12 month contract has arisen for an experienced candidate to join a purpose-led organisation operating at the forefront of science, healthcare and innovation. This is a senior and varied role supporting the Chief Communications Officer (CCO), bringing structure and follow-through to a broad and fast-moving portfolio across Communications, Marketing and Corporate Affairs.

Working closely with the CCO, their Executive Assistant and senior stakeholders across the organisation, you will play a key role in ensuring priorities are clearly defined, decisions are well prepared and actions are progressed effectively. This is much more than a traditional Executive Assistant position; it is an opportunity for a commercially minded and highly organized individual to act as a trusted business partner and help shape how the wider function operates.

Duties will include:

• Act as a trusted business partner to the Chief Communications Officer, managing priorities and ensuring effective follow-through on key actions and decisions.
• Prepare and draft high-quality briefings, presentations, emails, committee papers and strategic communications.
• Coordinate work across the CCO office, providing visibility of priorities and ensuring key issues are escalated appropriately.
• Line manage and support the CCO's Executive Assistant, providing direction, workload planning and development support.
• Lead and support planning and governance processes, including team planning, executive updates, committee reporting and risk or escalation inputs.
• Prepare concise, decision-ready briefings for senior stakeholder meetings, projects, sponsorships and events.
• Coordinate budgets, approvals, sponsorships, memberships, reporting and other operational processes.
• Build strong relationships across the organisation and work collaboratively with Finance, HR, Policy, Corporate Affairs and Events.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, templates and ways of working across the function.

The Ideal Candidate

• The successful candidate will have significant experience providing senior-level Executive Assistant or business support within a complex organisation, ideally supporting C-suite or senior leadership.
• You will be an excellent written communicator, confident producing polished and concise materials for a senior audience. You will naturally bring structure to a busy environment, have strong attention to detail and be comfortable managing multiple priorities and deadlines simultaneously.
• You will be highly proactive and resourceful, with the confidence to work independently, anticipate what is needed and find solutions rather than waiting for direction.
• Strong stakeholder management skills are essential, as is the ability to build trusted relationships across different teams and levels of seniority.
• Experience of planning, governance, reporting, committee processes, budgets or sponsorships would be highly valuable. Experience supporting Communications, Marketing or Corporate Affairs functions would be advantageous, as would previous experience improving processes or working within a shared Executive Assistant support model.
• Above all, we are looking for someone who is calm under pressure, discreet, resilient and highly professional, with the judgement and emotional intelligence to operate effectively alongside senior leadership.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Executive Assistant or Executive Business Partner who is looking for a role with greater strategic exposure and the opportunity to influence how a senior leadership function operates. You will join a collaborative and purpose-driven organisation where your contribution will extend well beyond traditional executive support, with genuine scope to take ownership, improve processes and make a meaningful impact.

Bain and Gray is an equal opportunities employer. We continually strive to improve our processes around our diversity, equity and inclusion strategy.