Senior Executive Assistant
EQ Bank · Toronto · hybrid
Join a Challenger
At EQ, we're remaking banking so every Canadian gets ahead, every day. Serving nearly 4 million Canadians from coast to coast, we offer a wide variety of financial services from banking and lending, to trust and credit union solutions.
We've been at this since 1970, challenging the conventions of traditional banking with smarter, faster, and more connected financial experiences.
What's kept us moving? The people behind it all: challengers who ask better questions, push back on old assumptions, and look for a better way forward.
If you're driven to help reshape how banking works for Canadians and the businesses that power our economy, this could be your next big opportunity.
We can’t wait to get to know you!
The Work
As a Senior Executive Assistant, you will serve as a trusted partner to one or more senior executives and a senior member of the Executive Assistant function within the Office of the Executive. You will provide proactive, high-quality support across executive priorities, stakeholder management, communications, planning, travel, meetings, and strategic initiatives, ensuring executives are able to operate effectively in a fast-paced and highly dynamic environment.
Reporting to the Manager, Executive Office & Board Liaison, you will act as an extension of both the executive and the Executive Office, exercising sound judgment, discretion, and independence in managing competing priorities, stakeholder relationships, and operational requirements. In addition to executive support responsibilities, you will contribute to the effectiveness of the Executive Office by supporting team initiatives, mentoring peers, sharing best practices, and helping drive consistency, continuous improvement, and operational excellence across the Executive Assistant function.
As a senior member of the Executive Assistant function, this role serves as a trusted resource to the Executive Office and plays a key role in supporting operational excellence, consistency of service, team development, and the advancement of executive support practices across the organization.
The successful candidate will be highly organized, solutions-oriented, and capable of operating with minimal direction while managing highly sensitive and confidential matters. This position requires exceptional relationship management skills, strong business acumen, and the ability to anticipate issues, remove administrative friction, and proactively support executive and organizational priorities.
The Core Responsibilities
Executive Office and Team Support
- Serve as a senior member of the Executive Assistant team and model best practices across the function.
- Provide onboarding support, informal mentorship, guidance, and knowledge sharing to Executive Assistants.
- Act as a resource for team members requiring support with complex scheduling, executive travel, stakeholder management, event coordination, and executive office matters.
- Support the Manager, Executive Office & Board Liaison with team initiatives, process improvements, onboarding activities, training efforts, and change management.
- Help promote consistent service standards, collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement across the Executive Assistant function.
- Provide leadership, coordination, and continuity during periods of absence, high-volume activity, executive transitions, special projects, and business-critical events.
- Manage and coordinate briefing materials, executive preparation, follow-up activities, and key communications to ensure executives are informed and prepared for stakeholder engagements and decision-making.
Stakeholder and Relationship Management
- Act as a trusted point of contact between the executive and internal and external stakeholders.
- Build effective working relationships across the Executive Leadership Team, Executive Assistant community, business units, and external partners.
- Represent the executive and the Office of the Executive with professionalism, diplomacy, responsiveness, and sound judgment.
- Coordinate stakeholder requests and ensure commitments are appropriately tracked and addressed.
- Develop and maintain productive relationships with senior internal and external stakeholders, acting as a trusted representative of the executive and the Office of the Executive.
- Exercise discretion and judgment when managing stakeholder access, meeting requests, competing priorities, and sensitive communications on behalf of the executive.
Executive Calendar and Priority Management
- Manage complex executive calendars, ensuring appropriate prioritization of meetings, preparation time, travel, and key business commitments.
- Proactively identify and resolve scheduling conflicts, evaluate competing demands, assess stakeholder priorities, and make recommendations regarding allocation of executive time based on business objectives and organizational priorities.
- Anticipate upcoming requirements and ensure the executive is appropriately prepared for meetings, decisions, events, and stakeholder engagements.
- Respond effectively to last-minute changes while maintaining accuracy, professionalism, and alignment with executive priorities.
Executive Communications
- Draft executive-level correspondence, briefing notes, presentations, talking points, and communications with minimal direction while ensuring alignment with organizational objectives and executive preferences.
- Monitor and triage executive correspondence, identifying urgent, sensitive, or high-priority matters for attention.
- Exercise judgment in determining which matters can be addressed independently and which require escalation.
- Ensure communications are accurate, appropriately tailored to the audience, and consistent with organizational standards.
Initiative and Deliverable Tracking
- Track executive priorities, commitments, strategic initiatives, and follow-up actions to ensure deadlines and deliverables are met.
- Identify risks, delays, competing priorities, and potential barriers to execution, escalating as appropriate.
- Coordinate across business units and stakeholders to support progress, accountability, and timely decision-making.
- Maintain planning documents, briefing materials, action trackers, and executive reporting tools as required.
Meeting and Event Coordination
- Coordinate executive, leadership, stakeholder, and special-purpose meetings, including scheduling, agendas, briefing materials, logistics, catering, room reservations, technology, and follow-up.
- Prepare and distribute meeting materials in a timely and organized manner.
- Record decisions, action items, and accountabilities where required, ensuring appropriate follow-up and completion.
- Support leadership events, offsites, conferences, town halls, and other executive activities in partnership with internal and external stakeholders.
Briefing Materials, Documents and Records
- Prepare, edit, format, and coordinate confidential reports, presentations, correspondence, briefing notes, and other executive materials.
- Maintain organized and secure records and digital filing systems.
- Ensure the executive has timely access to accurate and relevant materials.
- Handle confidential and sensitive information with a high degree of discretion and integrity.
Travel and Expense Management
- Coordinate detailed domestic and international travel arrangements, including transportation, accommodation, itineraries, meeting logistics, and contingency planning.
- Proactively manage changes, disruptions, and time-sensitive travel requirements.
- Prepare, submit, and reconcile executive expenses accurately and within established timelines.
- Maintain appropriate supporting documentation in accordance with company policies and procedures.
Process Improvement and Digital Enablement
- Champion the adoption of Microsoft 365, automation, AI-enabled tools, and approved digital solutions to improve execu