Virtual Executive Assistant | Virtual EA Services

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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

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On the board · last 3 months

Virtual executive assistant jobs on the board

0 Virtual executive assistant · 9 fractional executive

No Virtual executive assistant roles on the board in the last three months. Showing fractional executive roles instead.

Browse every role on the board →

Executive assistant roles on the board

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.

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01/ the role

Virtual executive assistant: what one does

A virtual executive assistant does an executive assistant’s job from outside the leader’s office.

The National Careers Service describes the EA’s work as organising complex diaries and prioritising, managing projects with other teams, researching and summarising for senior management, co-ordinating board meetings, events and travel, and handling sensitive information.

Almost all of that can be done remotely.

What changes is access.

A virtual EA works through delegated access to the leader’s email and calendar, shared documents, the travel and expense systems and, sometimes, the board portal.

The leader has to decide what the EA can see and do without asking, and the organisation has to secure it.

What a virtual EA is not

A virtual EA is different from a virtual assistant working through a list of tasks.

An executive assistant uses judgement on the leader’s behalf: what reaches them, in what order, and what can be handled without them.

Ask candidates about the leaders they have supported and what they were trusted to decide, not about the label.

Our guide to what an executive assistant does covers the role in full.

02/ scope

How to hire a virtual executive assistant

1. Write the brief around the leader

To hire a virtual executive assistant, start with the leader: who the EA will support, which days and hours, what they will own, and which meetings or events need them in person.

If the answer is five days a week in the office, you need an in-house EA, not a virtual one.

2. Choose the arrangement

A virtual EA can be your employee working remotely, a self-employed contractor, someone working through their own company, or a worker supplied by an agency.

Each carries different duties for you, set out below.

Decide which before you search, because the candidate pool differs for each.

3. Assess against real work

Give every candidate the same exercise, done remotely: rebuild a messy week of the leader’s diary, or assemble a meeting pack from notes and emails.

Ask how they have handled confidential information outside an office, and how they flag a problem when the leader is travelling.

4. Set up access and security before day one

Agree what the EA can access, from which devices, and how it is secured.

The ICO’s guide to data security and the NCSC’s small organisations guide are the place to start; the section below covers the detail.

How we help

We send a shortlist of 3–5 executive assistants, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, so you can compare a remote contractor with a part-time employee on the same page.

Every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.

03/ the week

How a week divides.

Part of a week is the point of the model: the days you buy are yours, the rest of the week goes to other clients. Move the days a week and the week redraws.

Days a week for your company2 days

Your companyAnother clientA third client

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Illustration only: one way a virtual executive assistant’s week can divide at 2 days a week for you. Each block is half a day.

04/ the board

What the board holds.

A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.

On this board, last 90 days · 9 roles · fractional executive

Engagement

Fractional9

Seat

CFO3
Financial controller1
CTO1
Other1
CHRO1
General counsel1
Other seats1

Days a week

Stated in the posting3
Not stated6

Day rate

Verified rate1
Estimated (est)3
Rate not stated5

Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)

Remote1
Hybrid6
On-site2

Newest posting on the board: 8 Oct 2026.

Postings per week on this board, last 90 days

9 postings on this board in the last 90 days, counted by the week each was published.

05/ the route

Fractional, interim or permanent?

Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.

How much of the week does the work fill?

Is there a fixed end or a programme?

Does the seat sit on the board for years?

Is the need now, or can it wait for a search?

The route · Fractional

A fractional executive assistant.

The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.

A fractional executive assistant holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.

The fractional executive assistant route Talk it through

06/ 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

07/ virtual, fractional or in-house

Virtual, fractional or in-house: which EA do you need?

Virtual describes where the EA works: remotely.

Fractional describes how much of their week you buy: part of it, often alongside other clients.

In-house means an employee in your office, usually full-time.

A virtual EA can be fractional or full-time, and a fractional EA can work on site on set days.

An in-house EA suits a leader whose week is full of meetings, travel and board work, and who needs someone in the room.

A virtual or fractional EA suits a founder or leader whose support needs are real but vary with the business cycle, or who works across sites.

For part-week support, on site or remote, see fractional executive assistant support.

To hire a full-time or part-time EA in London, see executive assistant recruitment in London.

For pay, see executive assistant salary.

08/ contractor, agency or employee

How the arrangement works: contractor, agency or employee

The label on the contract does not settle it.

GOV.UK explains that a person’s employment status decides their rights and your responsibilities, and that they may have a different status in tax law.

Courts and tribunals make the final decision.

Employee.

A remote employee has an employee’s rights, is paid through PAYE, and you must check their right to work before they start.

Self-employed contractor.

GOV.UK says a self-employed person runs their business for themselves, is not paid through PAYE and does not have an employee’s rights; signs include giving quotes, not being directly supervised and sending invoices.

Through their own company.

The off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply.

Status is decided by how the engagement runs in practice; a medium or large client makes the determination, while a small client outside the public sector leaves it to the worker’s own company.

Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.

Through an agency.

GOV.UK guidance on the Conduct Regulations separates an employment agency, which introduces people you then employ, from an employment business, which supplies temporary workers to you.

09/ security and data access

Security and data access for a remote EA

A virtual EA sees the leader’s inbox, diary and documents, which are full of personal data about staff, candidates, customers and the leader themselves.

The ICO’s guide to data security says personal data must be processed securely by means of appropriate technical and organisational measures, and points to basic controls such as those in Cyber Essentials.

If the EA, or the business that supplies them, processes personal data on your behalf as a processor, the ICO says there must be a written contract covering, among other things, acting only on your documented instructions, confidentiality, security, and deleting or returning the data at the end.

In practice: give the EA their own account with delegated access rather than the leader’s password, turn on two-step verification, limit access to what the work needs, and remove it the day the arrangement ends.

The NCSC’s small organisations guide covers accounts, devices and backups, and its phishing guidance matters for anyone who runs a leader’s inbox.

10/ london

Virtual executive assistant in London: remote most days, in the room when it counts

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Many leaders searching for a virtual executive assistant London based want a mix: remote support most of the week, and someone who can be at the office, a board meeting or an event in person when needed.

Put the in-person days in the brief, because they narrow the candidate pool to people within reach of London.

A London-based virtual EA also knows the practical side of the city: venues, travel, couriers and the offices of the people the leader meets.

For a fully remote arrangement, location matters less than time zone and availability.

For live EA roles, see fractional EA jobs; for a permanent or part-time EA in the city, see executive assistant recruitment in London.

11/ questions

Virtual executive assistant FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a virtual executive assistant.

An experienced executive assistant who supports a senior leader remotely, running the diary, inbox, travel, meeting papers and follow-up through delegated access. Most work part of the week, and some support more than one leader.

Write the brief around the leader: days, hours, what the EA will own and which meetings need them in person. Choose the arrangement (employee, contractor, their own company or an agency), give every candidate the same remote exercise, and set up access and security before day one.

It depends on the arrangement and the days. An employee is paid a salary, pro rata if part-time; a contractor usually charges a day or hourly rate. No source we can cite publishes a rate for a virtual EA. For the permanent salary spread across part-week days (our arithmetic, not a market rate), see fractional executive assistant salary. For on-site contract work, Lily Shippen’s 2026 survey puts a temporary EA in London at £25–£32 an hour, and Robert Walters’ 2026 survey puts a London contract EA at £25–£60 an hour through PAYE; see interim executive assistant salary. On a brief, we set out each candidate’s pay or day rate on the shortlist. For employed EA pay, see executive assistant salary.

Yes. Many London leaders want remote support most of the week and someone in person for board meetings and events. Put the in-person days in the brief. We recruit remote and London-based EAs, permanent, part-time, temporary and fractional.

Virtual describes where the EA works: remotely. Fractional describes how much of their week you buy: part of it. A virtual EA can be full-time, and a fractional EA can work on site. See fractional executive assistant support.

Either, depending on how the arrangement runs, not on its label. GOV.UK notes that status in employment law and in tax law can differ. If the EA works through their own company, the IR35 rules may apply; see our IR35 guide.

Give the EA their own account with delegated access, turn on two-step verification, limit access to what the work needs and remove it when the arrangement ends. Where the EA processes personal data for you as a processor, the ICO requires a written contract.