Executive Assistant to Construction Director
Construction and Pre-Construction Experience Essential
Role Overview
ProBuild360 is seeking an exceptionally organised, capable and commercially aware Executive Assistant to provide direct support to one of the company’s Co-Directors.
This is not a traditional administrative or secretarial position. The successful candidate will act as the Director’s organisational right hand, helping to structure priorities, maintain momentum and ensure that tasks, appointments, decisions and follow-up actions are progressed properly. This will be a role for someone who can join in and get things done.
The role requires someone who understands the pace, terminology and practical realities of the construction industry. Previous experience within a construction company, architectural practice, design-and-build business, engineering consultancy or closely related environment is therefore essential and non-negotiable.
The successful candidate must be comfortable working with a highly entrepreneurial Director who manages a significant volume of information, ideas, decisions and competing priorities. They will need to bring calm, structure, consistency and accountability and follow up to a fast-moving working environment.
This is a senior and trusted support position requiring excellent communication skills, sound judgement, personal resilience and a genuine understanding of how construction projects progress from initial enquiry through design, surveys, approvals, procurement and delivery.
Key Responsibilities
- Director Support and Organisation
- Provide comprehensive day-to-day support to the Co-Director.
- Manage the Director’s diary, appointments, meetings, calls and commitments.
- Help structure and prioritise the Director’s daily and weekly workload.
- Maintain clear task lists, action trackers, reminders and deadlines.
- Ensure that agreed actions are followed through and completed by doing some of that work and assisting the Director to complete work loads.
- Anticipate upcoming deadlines, information requirements and potential problems.
- Help the Director remain focused on the most commercially and operationally important matters.
- Regularly review outstanding tasks and bring urgent matters to the Director’s attention.
- Prepare the Director for meetings by collating relevant correspondence, drawings, reports and background information.
- Take clear and accurate notes during meetings and issue actions where required and update project information.
- Ensure that verbal instructions and decisions are captured and converted into practical actions.
- Provide appropriate challenge when priorities become unclear or deadlines are at risk.
- Identify tasks that can be delegated and ensure they are passed to the appropriate team member.
- Maintain visibility over the Director’s current priorities across multiple projects and business matters.
- Ensure important matters do not become delayed or overlooked because of competing demands.
Client and Professional Communication
- Communicate confidently and professionally with clients, consultants, suppliers, subcontractors and other stakeholders.
- Contact clients to request, provide or clarify information on behalf of the Director.
- Draft clear, grammatically accurate and appropriately worded emails, letters and other correspondence.
- Monitor incoming communications and identify matters requiring an urgent response.
- Follow up outstanding information, quotations, reports, approvals and decisions.
- Maintain a professional and reassuring manner when dealing with difficult, pressured or time-sensitive situations.
- Ensure that commitments made to clients or professional teams are recorded and followed through.
- Coordinate meetings, appointments, surveys and project discussions.
- Build effective working relationships with internal teams and external professionals.
- Handle telephone calls professionally and confidently, obtaining the necessary information and progressing matters wherever possible.
- Prepare responses and background information for the Director’s review where a decision or personal input is required.
- Act as an effective point of contact while understanding when a matter requires escalation to the Director.
Construction and Pre-Construction Coordination
- Assist with the organisation and progression of pre-construction requirements across multiple projects.
- Arrange surveys, reports, inspections and specialist appointments.
- Liaise with architects, engineers, surveyors, utility providers, local authorities, approved inspectors, building control officers and other consultants.
- Track the procurement, submission and completion of pre-construction items.
- Read and interpret drawings sufficiently to understand the nature of a project and identify the information being requested.
- Review incoming information sufficiently to identify obvious omissions, inconsistencies or items requiring the Director’s attention.
- Ensure that documents are saved, named and circulated correctly.
- Help ensure that the latest drawing and document revisions are being used.
- Maintain an orderly flow of information between the Director, design team, commercial team, site team, consultants and clients.
- Chase consultants and third parties for outstanding information and agreed deliverables.
- Assist with monitoring planning, building control, utility and consultant applications through to completion.
- Maintain awareness of dependencies between surveys, designs, approvals and the proposed construction programme.
- The successful candidate will not be expected to produce architectural or engineering designs. However, they must possess sufficient construction knowledge to understand what information is required, why it is required, who should provide it and when it is needed.
Document and Information Management
- Maintain accurate and well-organised electronic project files. Organise drawings, reports, quotations, correspondence, meeting notes and approvals in a clear and consistent manner.
- Maintain contact lists, project records and consultant information.
- Prepare agendas, meeting packs, schedules, trackers and summary documents.
- Proofread correspondence and documents before issue.
- Assist with compiling information for quotations, consultant appointments, presentations and client meetings.
- Maintain accurate records of decisions, instructions and approvals.
- Ensure information can be located quickly and easily when required.
- Maintain version control across drawings, reports and other technical documents.
- Support the development and maintenance of effective administrative and project-management systems.
- Handle confidential, personal and commercially sensitive information with complete discretion.
Internal Coordination
- Liaise with the company’s directors, design team, commercial team, contracts managers, site managers and administrative staff.
- Ensure that information requested by the Director is obtained from the appropriate team members.
- Follow up actions allocated during internal meetings.
- Help coordinate communication between office-based and site-based teams.
- Maintain an overview of outstanding decisions and information required from the Director.
- Assist with arranging internal project reviews and progress meetings.
- Help ensure that responsibilities and deadlines are clearly recorded.
- Escalate delays, omissions or communication failures where they may affect a client, project or commercial outcome.
- Support a culture of accountability, clear communication and timely follow-through.
- Essential Experience
- Applicants must have previous experience in one or more of the following environments:
- A small or medium-sized construction contractor.
- A design-and-build company.
- An architectural practice.
- A multidisciplinary construction or property consultancy.
- A civil or structural engineering practice.
- A property development business with direct involvement in construction and pre-construction activities.
- General office administration experience without relevant construction, architectural or technical exposure will not be sufficient for this position.
- The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate:
- A practical understanding of the construction and pre-construction process.
- Familiarity with architectural and construction drawings.
- Experience coordinating surveys, consultants, reports, approvals or project information.
- An understanding of the roles and interaction between clients, architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, building control and utility providers.
- Strong diary, task and deadline-management experience.
- Excellent written English, spelling, grammar and attention to detail.
- Confidence drafting professional correspondence without requiring extensive correction.
- Strong Microsoft Office skills, particularly Outlook, Word and Excel.
- Experience managing a significant volume of emails, information and competing priorities.
- The ability to use digital task-management and document-management systems.
- Experience maintaining action trackers, project schedules or technical document registers.
- The confidence to communicate with senior clients, consultants and construction professionals.
- The ability to identify when information is missing, incomplete or overdue.
- Working Style and Relationship with the Director
- The Co-Director is a true entrepreneur who works at a high pace and manages multiple projects, ideas, decisions and commercial priorities simultaneously. The successful candidate will need to bring structure, consistency and follow-through to this fast-moving working environment. They must be able to capture information quickly, organise competing priorities, maintain clear action lists and ensure that important tasks and communications are progressed to completion.
This role requires someone who can:
- Keep pace with a highly energetic and entrepreneurial Director.
- Bring calm and order to a busy and continually evolving workload.
- Quickly distinguish between immediate priorities, important longer-term actions and matters that can be delegated.
- Convert conversations, ideas and decisions into clear, practical actions.
- Provide timely reminders and ensure that agreed actions are followed through.
- Refocus the Director tactfully when priorities become unclear or attention is being pulled in several directions.
- Adapt confidently when plans, meetings or priorities change.
- Communicate directly and constructively without becoming flustered or overly sensitive.
- Provide appropriate challenge while maintaining a positive and respectful working relationship.
- Exercise sound judgement and progress routine matters without waiting for detailed instructions at every stage.
- Recognise when the Director’s personal input is essential and when a matter can be progressed independently.
- Maintain momentum and ensure that tasks do not stall between conversations or meetings.
- Provide a reliable overview of current priorities, outstanding actions and approaching deadlines.
- Understand that priorities may move quickly while still maintaining control of matters already in progress.
- The successful candidate must be comfortable working closely with a strong, decisive and entrepreneurial personality. They will not simply respond to instructions; they will be expected to anticipate requirements, identify gaps, maintain momentum and become a highly dependable extension of the Director.
- A strong working relationship will be fundamental to the success of the role. This will require trust, honesty, discretion and the confidence to communicate clearly, including when reminding the Director of commitments or highlighting matters that require an immediate decision.
Personal Attributes
The personality and working style of the successful candidate will be as important as their technical experience.
They must be:
- Calm, grounded and emotionally resilient.
- Highly organised and naturally inclined to create structure.
- Confident, capable and appropriately assertive.
- Comfortable working within a fast-paced, entrepreneurial business.
- Able to remain composed when pressure increases or priorities change.
- Patient, but not passive.
- Proactive rather than dependent on constant direction.
- Direct and straightforward in their communication.
- Comfortable asking questions and challenging constructively where necessary.
- Capable of making sensible decisions within agreed boundaries.
- Persistent when chasing information, reports, appointments and responses.
- Able to distinguish genuinely urgent matters from background noise.
- Comfortable reminding and refocusing a senior Director without becoming confrontational.
- Discreet, trustworthy and commercially aware.
- Practical, resourceful and solutions-focused.
- Able to manage several workstreams without becoming overwhelmed.
- Adaptable and willing to assist outside a narrowly defined job description.
- Interested in how construction projects are designed, approved, procured and delivered.
- Comfortable taking responsibility and being accountable for outcomes.
- Able to communicate confidently with different personalities and levels of seniority.
- Naturally attentive to detail while retaining an understanding of the wider objective.
- Able to deal with setbacks or difficult conversations without taking matters personally.
- Willing to pick up the telephone and resolve an issue rather than relying exclusively on email.
- Confident enough to obtain clear answers and commitments from clients, consultants and suppliers.
- Able to work with urgency without creating unnecessary drama or confusion.
- Someone who takes pride in being dependable and in completing tasks properly.
- The ideal candidate will be someone who naturally takes ownership. When they identify an outstanding action, missing report, unanswered email or approaching deadline, their instinct should be to resolve it rather than simply record it.
- The successful candidate will be expected to understand construction information and processes, but their primary responsibility will be to coordinate, organise, communicate and ensure that actions are completed.
Working Relationship
The successful candidate will work closely with the Co-Director and will also liaise regularly with the company’s other directors, design team, commercial team, contracts managers, site teams, clients, consultants and external suppliers.
The position will involve a high degree of trust, responsibility and access to confidential business information. Complete discretion and professionalism are therefore essential.
The candidate will be expected to develop a detailed understanding of the Director’s working style, responsibilities and priorities. Over time, they should become able to anticipate what information will be required, which matters need to be progressed and where intervention is necessary to prevent delay.
Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is likely to be someone who has worked in a well-run, small or medium-sized construction, architectural or design-and-build business and understands how projects move from initial enquiry through design, surveys, approvals, procurement and construction.
They will combine the organisational ability of an experienced Executive Assistant, Personal Assistant or project coordinator with sufficient construction knowledge to understand the significance of the information passing through their hands.
They will not necessarily be a qualified construction professional, architect or project manager. However, they must possess a practical working knowledge of the industry and be comfortable dealing with drawings, surveys, reports, consultants, approvals and pre-construction processes.
They will be energetic, current, commercially minded and comfortable working in a modern, ambitious and fast-developing business.
- Most importantly, they will take ownership of the position and become a dependable extension of the Director, ensuring that priorities are organised, communications are handled, information is coordinated and important actions are completed.
Pay: £35,000.00-£40,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
