How to hire a virtual executive assistant · why leaders do it · offshore or UK-based
Hire a virtual executive assistant · a remote EA
To hire a virtual executive assistant, decide which parts of your week the EA will run from outside your office, how many days that fills, and which meetings still need someone in the room.
Then choose UK-based or offshore, test candidates on a real week of your diary, and set up access before day one.
We recruit permanent, part-time, temporary and fractional executive assistants, remote or on site.
On every brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a virtual executive assistant
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Virtual Executive Assistant candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
Executive assistant roles jobs on the board
No Executive assistant roles roles on the board right now.
We only show real vacancies from the last three months, each marked whether we could confirm it is still open — we never pad the board. New Executive assistant roles roles appear here as our pipeline finds them.
Current executive assistant and support roles
Fractional recruitment works differently from a permanent search — shorter, scoped by days a week, and priced on the engagement. Send a Virtual Executive Assistant brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
Hire a virtual executive assistant: what you are buying
You are buying an executive assistant who runs your diary, inbox, travel and meeting papers through delegated access, not from a desk outside your door.
The work is the same; the way it reaches you changes.
What a virtual executive assistant is, and how the role compares with an in-house one, is set out on its own page.
This page is about the hire itself.
Judgement, not a task list
Most people who search "hire virtual executive assistant" want time back.
That only happens if the EA may decide some things alone: what reaches you, what waits, and what they answer for you.
If the work is mostly administration for one person, a PA may fit better; you can hire a fractional PA for set days.
A search for "hire virtual administrative assistant London" often means that narrower job.
When an in-office EA fits better
If your week is mostly meetings in one building, you need someone there.
In that case, hire an executive assistant on site and keep remote days as a perk, not the design.
02/ scope
How to hire a virtual executive assistant: the steps
1. Map the week
List what the EA will own, the hours you need them reachable, and the in-person days.
Say what should be off your desk after three months.
2. Choose the arrangement and the location
Employee, self-employed contractor, their own company, or supplied by a firm; UK-based or offshore.
GOV.UK notes that employment status decides rights and responsibilities, and can differ in tax law, so the contract label alone does not settle it.
3. Test on remote work
Run the whole process remotely, because that is the job.
Give each candidate the same exercise: a week of your diary with clashes, a long email thread to summarise, and a trip to plan.
Our executive assistant interview questions set out what to ask.
Acas notes there is no set recruitment process in law, but it must be fair, with discrimination and data protection law applying throughout.
4. Check references, then set up access
Ask referees about discretion and how the candidate flagged problems from a distance.
For an employee working in the UK, you must check their right to work before they start.
Give the EA their own account with delegated access, never your password, and turn on two-step verification.
The NCSC’s small organisations guide covers accounts, devices and backups.
What we do on a brief
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, so a remote contractor and a part-time employee sit side by side.
Every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
03/ comparison
Offshore or UK-based virtual EA?
Both can run a leader’s week remotely. What differs is the time zone, the data rules and the contract.
04/ vetting
How we vet virtual executive assistants
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Virtual Executive Assistant tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
05/ why hire a virtual executive assistant
Why hire a virtual executive assistant: the reasons, plainly
Why hire a virtual executive assistant?
Usually because a leader needs senior support but not a fifth desk, or works across sites where an office EA would sit idle half the week.
The second reason is the pool.
Looking beyond commuting distance widens the set of experienced EAs you can consider.
The third is fit to the week.
A remote EA can work set days, cover two leaders, or run your diary across time zones, and the hours can change as the business does.
The trade-off is the room.
A remote EA cannot catch you between meetings, so the brief has to say how things reach you and how fast.
We do not put a saving on it.
Robert Half’s 2026 salary guide puts an employed executive assistant at £38,500 to £64,500, with a median of £50,250; a remote employee is paid on the same basis, and our executive assistant salary page has more.
06/ offshore executive assistant or UK-based virtual EA
Offshore executive assistant or UK-based virtual EA: what changes
Offshore executive assistant or UK-based virtual EA is a choice about where the EA works and which rules follow your data there.
If you plan to hire offshore executive assistant support, decide it before you search, because the contract and the checks differ.
Your inbox and diary hold personal data about staff, candidates and clients.
The ICO’s guide to international transfers says the transfer rules apply when you send it, or make it accessible, to a separate organisation outside the UK, sole traders included.
Every such transfer needs UK adequacy regulations for the destination, appropriate safeguards such as the International Data Transfer Agreement with a transfer risk assessment, or an exception.
If none applies, the ICO says the transfer must not be made.
Wherever the EA is, if they or their firm process personal data for you, the ICO requires a written contract.
It covers acting only on your instructions, confidentiality, security, and deleting or returning the data at the end.
Time zones cut both ways.
An EA a few hours ahead can clear the inbox before you start; one far behind may be offline when a board paper needs fixing, so agree overlap hours in the brief.
A UK-based EA working through their own company may fall under the off-payroll working rules (IR35), where a medium or large client makes the determination; our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
For an EA who lives abroad, their own country’s employment and tax rules may also apply, so take advice there before you sign.
07/ London, Edinburgh or near you
Hiring in London, Edinburgh or near you
The steps are the same in every city.
What changes is who can reach you on the days that need a person in the room.
If you want to hire virtual executive assistant London support, put the in-person days in the brief: a board meeting, an investor dinner, the quarter-end week.
Robert Half’s 2026 guide puts an employed EA in London at £52,250 to £87,750, with a median of £68,250.
To hire a virtual executive assistant London-based for those days, test candidates on London travel and venues as well as the diary.
For a fully remote arrangement, the city matters less than overlap hours.
To hire virtual executive assistant Edinburgh support, the same rule applies: name the days that need a person there, and look for candidates who can reach them.
We have no Edinburgh salary figure we can source, so we set out pay on the shortlist.
A search to hire virtual executive assistant near me, or to hire a virtual executive assistant near me, is usually about those in-person days.
Most of the work does not care where the EA sits; the board day does.
Employers who hire remote executive assistants as employees still owe them an employer’s duties.
The ICO’s guidance on employment information covers records, recruitment and working from home.
To see how other businesses frame the role, browse executive assistant jobs.
For a contract EA on agreed days, see fractional EA roles.
08/ questions
Hire a virtual executive assistant FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a virtual executive assistant.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
