Executive Assistant to MD, SSA

Role Overview

This position provides high-level secretarial and administrative support to the Managing Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, enabling a busy executive to operate efficiently across a complex, multicultural environment. Based in Nairobi, you will manage a demanding calendar, coordinate travel, handle communications, and prepare documents that support the Managing Director’s engagement with internal teams, external clients, and institutional stakeholders. The role is central to keeping day-to-day operations running smoothly, acting as a reliable point of contact and ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks in a fast-paced international banking context.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage the Managing Director’s diary and schedule, prioritising appointments, avoiding conflicts, and ensuring adequate preparation time for meetings.
• Screen and triage incoming emails and calls, responding on behalf of the Managing Director where appropriate, and redirecting queries to the correct colleagues or departments.
• Coordinate all travel arrangements, including flights, visas, accommodation, currency, and detailed itineraries, while ensuring compliance with organisational travel policy and processing expense claims.
• Draft, proofread, and format correspondence, presentations, briefing notes, and other documents, maintaining high standards of accuracy and consistency before submission.
• Support budget monitoring and expenditure review for the relevant cost centres, including purchase orders, accruals, and housekeeping reports, ensuring alignment with approved budgets.
• Liaise with committee secretariats and internal offices to schedule items for bank committee and board meetings, ensuring all materials are submitted on time.
• Assist regional office visitors during their time at headquarters by arranging space, printing, and other practical support not covered by their own front office.
• Provide occasional cover for other executive front offices and contribute to departmental events, team meetings, and senior-level briefing preparation as needed.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Degree or equivalent relevant business experience; a recognised secretarial qualification is desirable but not mandatory.
• Proven experience supporting senior executives in a large, multi-disciplinary, and multicultural organisation, ideally within financial services or international development.
• Excellent written and verbal communication in English, with a second language such as French considered an advantage.
• Strong organisational and planning skills, with the ability to prioritise competing demands and meet tight deadlines without close supervision.
• Calm under pressure, flexible, and proactive, with sound judgement and the initiative to anticipate needs and resolve issues independently.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including tact, diplomacy, and the confidence to interact with very senior internal and external counterparts.
• High numeracy and attention to detail, with the ability to handle budgets, reports, and data accurately.
• Advanced computer literacy in Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, including formatting large documents, charts, and tables to publication quality.
• Typing speed of at least 55 words per minute.
• Familiarity with organisational systems such as SAP, Project Link, Live-link, and data warehouse tools is desirable, along with prior knowledge of the bank’s policies and workflows.