Executive Assistant
Panda Drum Executive Assistant
Who we are
Panda Drum is a US wellness e-commerce brand, 200,000+ customers. We are on track for $40M+ in 2026. The team is ~40 people across Europe, the US and Asia, plus 100+ creators. The founder runs the company remotely from Central Europe.
The honest version of this job
The founder makes decisions fast across supply chain, marketing, hiring and finance. What falls through the cracks is everything that requires memory and follow-through, not judgment: a contractor payment that slips three weeks, a tool subscription that runs out of credits and blocks a designer for half a day, an onboarding email promised "today" three days in a row, a signature nobody chased.
Your job is to make sure nothing like that ever happens again. You will own the founder's calendar, inbox triage, payments calendar, tool and subscription administration, travel, meeting preparation and follow-ups. You will be measured on exactly one thing: whether things that were said get done without anyone reminding anyone.
This is a single-principal role. You work for one person, not a team. It is high trust: you will see compensation data, supplier terms and hiring decisions before anyone else in the company. Discretion is not a nice-to-have, it is the core of the job.
What you will actually do
Calendar and scheduling across CET, US and China time zones, including protecting deep-work blocks and drafting reschedule messages that keep relationships warm
Payments calendar: contractors and team get paid on the 1st and 15th without exception, you run the checklist and confirm execution
Tool administration: subscriptions, credits, seats, access requests. Nobody on the team ever waits on a top-up again
Inbox triage: draft replies, chase signatures and open loops, flag only what needs the founder's judgment
Meeting prep and follow-through: agendas in, action items out, owners chased until closed
Travel: flights, hotels, visas, full itineraries for Europe, US and China trips
Personal admin: the boundary between company and founder life is thin, expect some of both
Keeping a single "open loops" list that is always current and always true
What we need from you
4+ years as an EA or similar right-hand role, at least part of it supporting one principal directly (founder, CEO, managing partner)
You have worked in both a structured environment (corporate, consulting, banking) and a fast, messy one, and you know why we ask
Direct communicator. If something is late, wrong or at risk, you say it plainly and early. Hinting is not communicating
You close loops by reflex. A task without a confirmation is not done
Excellent written English (C1+). Polish is a plus, not required
Comfortable with numbers: reading an invoice, catching a discrepancy, keeping a simple ledger accurate
Core availability CET business hours, plus flexibility for occasional evening pings during peak periods (Q4). This is not a 24/7 on-call job, but it is not 9-to-5 clockwork either
Toolstack
Google Workspace (Gmail, Calendar, Drive), Slack, Notion, Fireflies, Recruitee, DocuSign or similar, Wise/Payoneer style payment tools, spreadsheets you actually enjoy keeping clean. Comfort using AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude) to draft, summarize and prepare is expected, we work that way daily.
This job is not for you if
You want to grow into marketing, operations or your own project on the side. We are hiring someone who wants to be a world-class EA, not someone passing through
You run a freelance business, an agency or a personal brand alongside. We need full focus
You need detailed instructions to act. Here you will often get one sentence and full accountability
You find checking the same list every single day beneath you. That list is the job
Why Panda Drum?
You will sit next to every decision a $40M company makes: supply chain, hiring, marketing, finance, all of it crosses your desk. No committees, no politics, no six people to align before anything moves. Decisions here take minutes, and you will watch how they get made. The company is profitable and growing fast, so the seat is stable, but nothing about the work is corporate. If you have ever wanted to see how a business actually runs, this is the closest view that exists.
As published by recruitee
Full name, Email, CV
- Linkedin profile
- Are you located in Europe? yes / no
- What city are you currently based in? If you split your time across multiple cities, list all of them. written answer
- How would you rate your professional spoken English? choose one
- This role needs occasional evening availability and higher intensity during Q4 (Oct-Dec). Are you comfortable with that? yes / no
- Do you currently run, or plan to keep running, a freelance business, agency, or personal brand alongside this role? yes / no
- Have you supported one executive or founder directly (as their only or primary EA) for at least 12 months? yes / no
- You notice a contractor payment that was due on the 1st never went out. The founder is in meetings all day. What do you do first? choose any
- A designer messages that a paid tool ran out of credits and she's blocked. It costs $40 to top up and you have a company card with a $200 limit. What do you do? written answer
- Describe the actual system you use to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. Be specific: what tool, how often you review it, and what happens to a task after someone tells you it's "done." written answer
- Open text: What is the longest you've supported a single person, and why did that arrangement end? written answer
- This job has calm weeks and intense ones. In Q4 or during a crisis, a normal week can suddenly need evening availability several days in a row. Describe how you have handled a stretch like that before, and be honest: what do you need from your principal to make that sustainable? written answer
- What's something you can do now that you couldn't a year ago, and how did you learn it? written answer
- Describe a decision you made on your principal's behalf without asking them first. How did you know you were allowed to? written answer
- What is your expected monthly rate for a full-time engagement, in USD? written answer
- What interests you about this role specifically, and where do you see it fitting into your career? written answer · optional
- When could you start?