Scheduling, follow-ups, meeting logistics, and recurring requests are taking time away from decisions, customers, hiring, fundraising, or strategy. Giving that coordination a dedicated owner protects leadership time.
Competing meetings, senior stakeholders, time zones, and changing priorities make scheduling difficult to delegate as a simple task. The role starts to require someone who can weigh priorities, not just book time.
Actions from meetings, investor discussions, customer conversations, and internal decisions are slipping because no one owns the next step. Dedicated follow-through keeps commitments visible and moving.
More board members, investors, customers, partners, and senior leaders create a steady flow of requests around the executive. Centralizing that coordination helps manage access, preparation, and follow-up.
Frequent or complex travel creates ongoing changes to meetings, itineraries, and stakeholder commitments. One person owning those moving parts reduces the amount the executive has to reorganize personally.
New hires, customers, investors, or business units increase the number of decisions and interactions reaching leadership. Recurring coordination needs its own owner before it continues accumulating around the executive.
When too many requests need the executive to sort, schedule, chase, or redirect them personally, delegation has not gone far enough. The EA becomes the filter for what truly requires executive attention.
hiring guide
Executive context: We define who needs access to the CEO, which commitments carry the most weight, what information the executive assistant will handle, and where the role requires judgment.
Scenario vetting: Candidates can work through competing priorities, confidential requests, last-minute changes, and stakeholder access to show what they would handle, redirect, or escalate.
Discretion: We look at experience handling board communications, personnel matters, compensation, strategy, and other information that requires confidentiality.
Executive English: Spoken and written English is assessed for correspondence, sensitive messages, meetings, and communication with investors, customers, board members, and senior leaders.
Experience & tools: The search can account for industry background, board or investor exposure, growth stage, and the executive’s CRM, collaboration, travel, expense, and planning systems.
Functional fit: We can target experience in finance, technology, operations, marketing, people, or another function when familiarity with that environment matters.
Workflow experience: We examine the operating rhythms candidates have supported, such as board and reporting cycles for a CFO or product and engineering rhythms for a CTO.
Stakeholder exposure: We look for experience working with the people around the executive, from auditors and advisers to department heads, vendors, customers, or technical leaders.
English in context: Spoken and written English is assessed against the communication required by the executive’s function rather than treated as a generic fluency check.
Tool-stack fit: Candidates can be matched to Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, CRM, Jira, project platforms, reporting tools, or other systems used by the executive’s function.
Judgment testing: Candidates can work through ambiguous situations involving conflicting meetings, changing priorities, sensitive information, and senior stakeholder requests.
Ownership: We look for executive workflows the candidate has owned independently rather than responsibilities they only assisted with.
Delegated authority: We assess experience redirecting requests, protecting calendar time, communicating for an executive, and making decisions within agreed boundaries.
Executive communication: Spoken and written English is evaluated through executive correspondence, sensitive conversations, stakeholder interactions, and concise escalation.
Seniority evidence: We look beyond tenure for evidence of independent judgment, discretion, executive exposure, and ownership in environments comparable to the role being filled.
Priority conflicts: Candidates can work through situations where two executives need support at once, showing how they weigh urgency, business impact, existing commitments, and escalation.
Multi-leader experience: We verify experience supporting several senior leaders rather than assuming experience with one executive transfers automatically.
Workload control: We examine how candidates track calendars, commitments, deadlines, follow-ups, and open requests across leaders without relying on executive reminders.
Communication range: We assess whether the candidate can adapt to different working styles, delegation preferences, and expectations without losing ownership.
English skills: Spoken and written English is evaluated for executive conversations, written updates, calendar negotiations, stakeholder correspondence, and cross-functional communication.
 | Freelance Executive Assistants | Traditional Staffing Agencies | |
|---|---|---|---|
Engagement Structure | Full-time, dedicated EA | Hourly, per word, or project-based | Permanent hire or temp placement |
Role Ownership | Full-time, client-managed | Independent contractor | Client-managed after placement |
Vetting & Screening | Multi-stage + English vetted | Self-reported profiles | Resume screening + interviews |
Industry & Platform Fit | Matched to executive + tools | Varies by individual | General experience matching |
Commitment & Stability | One EA learns your workflow | Often juggling multiple clients | Depends on employee retention |
Upfront Fees | None | None | 15–30% placement fee typical |
Replacement Support | No-cost replacement guarantee | You must rehire yourself | Often additional fees apply |
Cost Efficiency | Up to 81% lower than U.S. hiring | Variable hourly rates | High salary + agency fees |
Global Talent Access | Nearshore and offshore hiring | Global, unstructured | Primarily local markets |
Scalability | Add one EA or support leaders | Difficult to standardize | Slower hiring cycles |
English vetting: We assess spoken and written English through executive emails, sensitive messages, meeting communication, and stakeholder follow-up.
Schedule options: We define the hours the executive needs covered and recruit accordingly, including schedules that overlap with European teams and part of the U.S. workday.
What we verify: Conversational English does not show whether someone can represent an executive in writing or handle confidential communication. We verify those capabilities in context.
Look to Colombia when: The EA needs to work alongside a U.S.-based executive for most of the U.S. business day.
Average salaries: $1,000 – $1,300 per month
Bilingual requirements: When English and Spanish are required, we assess both against the conversations, correspondence, and stakeholder coordination the EA will handle.
Cross-border experience: We look for candidates who have coordinated executive schedules, travel, communication, and stakeholders across U.S. and Mexican business environments.
Nearshore hours: We can recruit around U.S.-day schedules when the EA needs to coordinate with the executive and regional stakeholders while both are working.
Look to Brazil when: Portuguese communication and coordination with Brazilian stakeholders are part of the executive’s responsibilities.
Average salaries: $1,100 – $1,300 per month
Experience to distinguish: We prioritize candidates with direct CEO, founder, or C-suite support rather than treating general remote administrative experience as equivalent.
English vetting: We assess spoken and written English for senior-stakeholder conversations, executive updates, correspondence, and sensitive messages.
Shift options: We can recruit for U.S.-aligned hours or a schedule that extends support beyond the executive’s local workday.
Look to South Africa when: The role requires frequent executive correspondence and overlap with European or part of the U.S. working day.
Average salaries: $960 – $1,000 per month
Real-time workflows: We look for experience handling live calendar changes, meeting coordination, stakeholder requests, and executive follow-up during U.S. business hours.
English vetting: We assess spoken and written English for live executive communication, stakeholder updates, schedule changes, and concise follow-up.
What we verify: Nearshore location does not guarantee experience supporting an executive in real time. We verify how candidates have handled changing priorities while leadership is online.
Look to the Philippines when: The role needs coverage beyond the executive’s local workday rather than continuous U.S.-day collaboration.
Average salaries: $800 – $1,000 per month
Business background: We look for prior work in research, reporting, presentations, or project coordination when those responsibilities sit alongside executive support.
Communication fit: We assess whether candidates can present research, write executive updates, and coordinate with leadership in the spoken and written English the role requires.
Scope check: We define which responsibilities belong to the EA before recruiting so project, operations, or Chief of Staff responsibilities are not unintentionally built into the position.
Look to South Africa when: Executive correspondence and external stakeholder communication carry more weight than research, reporting, or project follow-through.
Average salaries: $1,300 – $1,400 per month
Bilingual vetting: When Portuguese and English are required, we assess both for the executive communication the role will handle.
Local market experience: We look for prior experience with Brazilian business environments when local stakeholders, travel, vendors, or operating context matter to the role.
Cross-border scope: We define whether the EA will support Brazil only or coordinate between Brazilian stakeholders and international leadership, because that changes the experience we recruit for.
Look to Mexico when: The role centers on U.S.-Mexico coordination or English-Spanish communication with Mexican and other Spanish-speaking stakeholders.
Average salaries: $900 – $1,300 per month
$5,300/month
Average US Salary
$960/month*
Average Philippine Salary
81%
Potential savings
$1,300/month*
Average LATAM Salary
75%
Potential savings
VS
| Local US Hire | Philippines | LATAM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Base Salary | $63,600 | $11,520 | $15,600 |
| Payroll Taxes (7.65%-10%) | $6,360 | $0 | $0 |
| Benefits (20%-30%) | $12,720 | $0 | $0 |
| PTO (5%-10%) | $3,180 | $0 | $0 |
| Total Cost | $82,680 | $11,520 (excluding service fees) | $15,600 (excluding service fees) |
| Savings | - | $71,160 | $67,080 |
* Salaries shown are based on publicly available data (Indeed, Glassdoor, etc.), showing average rates by role and location. Offshore rates do not include outsourcing provider fees. Please schedule a consultation to receive detailed information tailored to your needs.
We take on the search and vetting so you can hire an EA ready for the access, judgment, and ownership the role requires. You manage them directly, while we handle payroll, compliance, and HR support.
We screen for experience with your tools, workflows, schedule, and support needs, so your EA starts with a closer fit to the role instead of requiring you to train a generic hire from scratch.
We assess how candidates handle competing priorities, incomplete instructions, confidential information, and decisions about what to own, redirect, or escalate.
You control what systems and information your EA can access. We can account for your confidentiality, device, remote-work, and security requirements when screening candidates.
We handle payroll, compliance, and HR support around your global hire. If the EA does not work out, we provide no-cost replacement support against the agreed role requirements.
Tell us who the EA supports, what they will own, required hours, tools, languages, and delegation level. Our AI Talent Cloud matches to that scope.
Review a curated shortlist in 3–5 business days. Interview EAs screened for executive-support experience, English, judgment, discretion, and fit.
Once you choose a candidate, we handle onboarding, payroll, and compliance. Your dedicated EA joins your team full-time within 1–2 weeks.
We source, vet, and present candidates before you pay.
Meet and approve candidates before they join your team.
If a hire doesn’t work out, we replace them at no cost.
We manage international payroll and employment compliance.
Top-rated by Clutch
We’re proud to be named by Clutch as a trusted leader in outsourcing.
What Our Clients Are Saying
Casey H
Manger Of Training, Homelight
Danielle R
VP of Client Services, Pentius
Mike M
Owner, Carve Financial
Andrew C
VP Finance, Bluestone Lane
Undisclosed
CEO, Startup Incubator
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HR Manager, Tech Company
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Senior Vendor Manager, Ooma
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HR Manager, Tech Company
Casey H
Manger Of Training, Homelight
Danielle R
VP of Client Services, Pentius
Mike M
Owner, Carve Financial
Andrew C
VP Finance, Bluestone Lane
Undisclosed
CEO, Startup Incubator
Undisclosed
Senior Vendor Manager, Ooma
Undisclosed
Senior Vendor Manager, Ooma
Undisclosed
HR Manager, Tech Company
Undisclosed
CEO, Startup Incubator
Andrew C
VP Finance, Bluestone Lane
Mike M
Owner, Carve Financial
Danielle R
VP of Client Services, Pentius
Casey H
Manger Of Training, Homelight
Casey H
Manger Of Training, Homelight
Danielle R
VP of Client Services, Pentius
Mike M
Owner, Carve Financial
Andrew C
VP Finance, Bluestone Lane
Undisclosed
CEO, Startup Incubator
Undisclosed
HR Manager, Tech Company
