Executive Business Partner

Executive Business Partner to our Head of Brand & Exec Member

We're hiring an operator, not an administrator. If you've run a startup's back office, worked in fast-paced roles in operations, finance, engineering or similar, or been the person who quietly held a business together — read on, even if EA has never been your job title.

The official title for this role is Executive Assistant. We lead with Executive Business Partner because that is what the job actually is.

Hours: Full-time, with strong daily overlap to NZ time

About Manukora

Manukora is a New Zealand-based Manuka honey brand on a mission to bring the world's most authentic, ethically sourced honey to people who care about what they put in their bodies. We sell direct-to-consumer, on Amazon, and through retail partners across the US, GCC, and UK. We're a fast-growing team that moves with urgency, values real relationships, and sets the bar — not just meets it.

Learn more: manukora.com | @manukora on Instagram

About the opportunity

This is not a calendar-and-inbox job. It is a chance to become the right hand of a senior brand and marketing leader at one of the fastest-growing wellness brands in the US — and to grow your own career alongside hers.

We are looking for a true force of nature: a sharp, commercially-minded operator who thinks in systems, moves fast, and takes complete ownership of whatever lands in front of them. Someone who has held real responsibility in a business — not just supported someone who did. You will run an executive's professional and personal world so seamlessly that she is freed to do only her highest-value work.

Some of our strongest people came into roles like this from banking, operations, engineering, partnerships or startup generalist backgrounds rather than from an EA track. We care about judgement, business understanding and operating instinct far more than we care about what your last job title was.

The scope is deliberately broad and the ceiling is high: project coordination, meeting preparation, marketing operations, communications, travel, and the systems that hold it all together. The better you anticipate, the more you will own.

For the right person, there is plenty of opportunity in this role for growth.

What you'll own

Project & team coordination. Keeping projects, deadlines, and follow-ups on track across the team so the executive is freed from chasing and project-managing others. You are the person who knows the status of everything and makes sure nothing stalls.

Meeting readiness & agenda-setting. Not just a tidy calendar, but real preparation — because you have full context on what's going on, you help set agendas, build briefing notes, and ensure the executive walks into every meeting fully prepared.

Marketing & production operations. Coordinating production, sourcing and negotiating with suppliers, vetting talent, and running outreach and organisation for marketing activities. You will engage with the work, not just administer it.

Systems & process building. Turning recurring work into documented, repeatable systems — for the inbox, travel, projects and reporting — so problems get solved once rather than managed forever. Where a tool or an AI workflow can do the job, you build it.

Communications on her behalf. As trust is built, you draft and send replies that are an accurate representation of her voice, and proactively reach out to people on her behalf to keep things moving.

The foundation: inbox, calendar and travel. None of the above works without this, so it has to be flawless. Nothing missed, lost, mis-filed, or accidentally archived or sent to spam. Inbox tightly triaged with a clear understanding of who the key contacts are and how each should be handled. Drafts prepared in anticipation of responses. Calendar planned and protected 2-4+ weeks ahead, with detailed context built into every entry (interview notes, meeting agendas, dial-in details, prep links). Trips documented and planned end-to-end, with accommodation options presented and preferences learned and refined over time. Personal administration handled without it ever needing to be asked for.

Who you are

• A fast learner who increases the executive's bandwidth from day one — not someone who needs to ask questions on everything.
• You take full ownership and run with ambiguity. You make sound calls, bring recommendations rather than open-ended problems, and only escalate when you genuinely should.
• You anticipate needs, spot risks early, and prepare before being asked.
• You are exceptionally organised and pride yourself on it, with a very high level of comprehension and an instinct for systems that prevent problems recurring.
• You communicate with precision and structure — clear, concise, and proactive.
• You are hungry and driven, motivated by a long-term career growing alongside a senior leader and career growth is one of your biggest life priorities.

Experience required

• Several years in a role with broad, end-to-end business exposure in a fast-paced or high-growth environment. That could be operations, finance, engineering, partnerships, account or project management, a founder's-office or chief-of-staff-style role, a startup generalist role where you wore many hats — or executive support at a genuinely senior level. We are open on the path.
• A demonstrable track record of owning outcomes rather than tasks: making decisions, coordinating other people, and being trusted with things that mattered.
• Evidence of building or improving how something runs — a process, a system, a workflow — not just executing an existing one.
• Excellent written English and communication.
• Strong with AI tools and structured workflow tools (Notion or similar).
• A bachelor's degree, or an equivalent track record that speaks for itself.

If your experience is purely virtual-assistant work — inbox, scheduling, data entry, cold calling — this role will not be the right fit, however well you have done it.

To Apply

As part of your application, please send through a 2-3 minute Loom video:

• Introduce yourself - Further walk me through your EA experience and what caught your eye about this role at Manukora.

• A quick scenario: Freya messages you, Can you pull something together on our Q3 targets for a catch-up I have Friday Keep it tight. She's then unavailable for the rest of the day. Walk us through how you'd handle it - what you'd look for, what assumptions you'd make, and what you'd deliver.

• Walk us through a specific situation where you had to manage a complex, time-sensitive piece of work on behalf of your executive — something with moving parts, multiple stakeholders, or real consequences if you got it wrong. What did you do, and what was the outcome 

Applications without this will not be considered.