Founder’s Office & Executive Assistant to CEO

About Handelnine Global

• Handelnine Global is a fast-growing e-commerce house of brands, operating 10+ online brands and serving customers in 60+ countries. We connect global demand and supply by sourcing quality products worldwide and delivering them directly through our own tech-enabled logistics network.
• We have a strong presence across the USA, UK, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, supported by offices and fulfilment centres in Mumbai, New York, and London.
• We’re profitable, self-funded, and consistently expanding into new markets with frequent brand launches and a technology-led approach.

The Role & Culture

• Handelnine Global is looking for a sharp, reliable, and proactive person to join the Founder’s Office as Executive Assistant to the CEO. This is one of the highest-trust roles in the company — you will be at the centre of everything that happens.
• This role goes well beyond traditional EA work. You will sit in leadership meetings, coordinate the company’s recruitment pipeline, support the Scaling Up operating rhythm that drives accountability across the organisation, and ensure the CEO’s time and attention are optimised for the decisions that matter most.
• We are a lean, high-density team that lives by our core values: Fast Decisions, Sharp Execution; Own the Outcomes; Relentlessly Learning; Challenge Respectfully; Experiment to Improve. If you thrive in an environment where your reliability and judgment have outsized impact, and where proximity to leadership gives you a front-row seat to how a global business runs, this is it.

Key Responsibilities

1. Recruitment & Talent Pipeline

• Own end-to-end recruitment coordination: manage relationships with recruitment agencies, schedule interviews, handle candidate communication, and maintain the hiring tracker across all open roles globally.
• Ensure no candidate is left waiting more than 48 hours for a response or next step.
• Support the Leadership Team in evaluating recruitment agency performance, sourcing quality, and pipeline health.
• Coordinate onboarding logistics for new hires — equipment, tool access, day-one readiness.
• Collaborate with department heads quarterly to support A/B/C player evaluations and follow through on resulting actions (development plans, transitions, etc.)

2. Executive Assistance & CEO Operations

• Manage the CEO’s calendar, travel, and daily logistics — flights, hotels, meeting scheduling, vendor coordination.
• Plan and coordinate vendor meetings, board prep, and external stakeholder engagements.
• Handle personal logistics: bookings, house-related tasks, and ad-hoc requests.
• Draft emails, meeting summaries, and communications on the CEO’s behalf when needed.
• Maintain organised systems for documents, contacts, and recurring workflows.

3. Scaling Up & Operating Rhythm

• Support the ongoing implementation of the Scaling Up framework across the organisation.
• Attend our L1 (leadership) and select L2 meetings. Capture structured meeting notes and track action items to closure.
• Ensure daily huddles, weekly L1 meetings, monthly reviews, and quarterly planning sessions are scheduled, prepared for, and run on cadence.
• Maintain and update leadership scorecards, KPI dashboards, and quarterly rock trackers.
• Flag missed deadlines, stalled priorities, and risks to the CEO proactively — before they become problems.

Desired Candidate Profile

• 8–12 years of experience. Prior experience as EA to a founder, MD, or C-suite executive at a mid-size company (50–200 people) is strongly preferred.
• Excellent verbal and written English. You will represent the CEO in written communication — tone, clarity, and judgment matter.
• Demonstrated loyalty and discretion. You will be in the room for every sensitive conversation. Reference checks will specifically validate this.
• A workhorse. Resourceful, self-directed, and willing to put in the hours when the situation demands it. You solve problems before escalating them.
• Scores above average on cognitive/aptitude assessments. This role requires you to juggle complexity, learn fast, and think clearly under pressure.
• Comfortable with modern tools — Slack, Linear, Google Workspace. You don’t need to be technical, but you pick up new tools quickly and while comfortable in Excel, don’t default to Excel for everything.
• Data-aware. You should be comfortable working with scorecards, KPI dashboards, and tracking metrics — not as an analyst, but as someone who keeps the system running and flags anomalies.
• Based in Mumbai. This is a hybrid, in-office role – requiring at least 3 days in-office.

This Role Is Not For You If

• You see EA or administrative work as beneath you. A significant part of this role is logistics, scheduling, and follow-ups — and all of it matters.
• You need someone to manage you or tell you what to do next.
• You’re looking for a “strategy” or “chief of staff” title without the hands-on work that comes with it.
• You expect rigid 9-to-5 boundaries. The CEO’s schedule doesn’t work that way, and neither does this role.

Why Join Handelnine Global

• Centre of gravity. You’ll sit in every leadership meeting and understand how a profitable, global eCcommerce business actually runs — from strategy to execution.
• Direct access to the CEO & Leadership team. No layers, no gatekeepers. Your work directly impacts the most important decisions in the company.
• A growing, global company. We operate across 60+ countries with offices in Mumbai, New York, and London. This is not a small, local operation.
• Ownership culture. We value people who take initiative, solve problems, and care about outcomes — not process for the sake of process.

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