Executive Officer/Assistant

About MSF
Doctors without Borders (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation committed to two objectives: providing medical assistance to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion, natural and man-made disasters; and speaking out about the plight of the populations assisted. MSF offers assistance to people based only on need and irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation.
Today, MSF is present in more than 70 countries, where thousands of MSF doctors, nurses, logisticians, water-and-sanitation experts, and other medical and non-medical professionals work together to bring essential health services to people caught in humanitarian crises.
The MSF movement has historically been built around six operational directorates supported by MSF’s 24 sections, 24 associations and other offices together worldwide. MSF Ubuntu is MSF’s newest and seventh operational directorate, approved in June 2025 and operations have since commenced. MSF Southern Africa is one of the founding partners of MSF Ubuntu.
Purpose
The Executive Officer provides high-level executive, administrative and coordination support to the Executive Director and contributes to the effective functioning of the Leadership Office. The role requires sound judgement, excellent prioritisation, discretion and strategic awareness to manage executive workflows, correspondence, documentation, stakeholder engagement and cross-departmental follow-up. The postholder serves as a key coordination and gatekeeping point for the Executive Director and Leadership Team, enabling effective planning, decision-making and institutional follow-through in a fast-paced and evolving environment.
RESPONSIBILITIES/ RESULTS AREAS
Strategic Support and Institutional Alignment
Support the Executive Director and Leadership Team in aligning institutional strategy with operational priorities.
Provide administrative and coordination support for strategic planning and review processes, including Annual Planning, Mid-Year Review and Annual Review.
Prepare, compile, distribute and archive strategic documents, briefing materials and data packs for leadership planning and decision-making.
Track and report on agreed KPIs, strategic actions and implementation milestones.
Support selected strategic and cross-cutting initiatives through coordination, progress tracking and follow-up.
Contribute to the continuous improvement of executive office and leadership coordination processes.
Executive Support
Provide high-level executive and administrative support to the Executive Director, including preparing documents, reports, presentations and correspondence; maintaining contact lists; coordinating travel; raising procurement requests; and processing expense reports.
Manage a complex and frequently changing calendar for the Executive Director, proactively prioritising competing demands, resolving scheduling conflicts and ensuring alignment with organisational priorities.
Coordinate the Executive Director’s and Leadership Team’s agendas to ensure effective meeting flow, preparation and follow-through across multiple stakeholders.
Serve as the primary gatekeeper for the Executive Director’s office by screening and prioritising correspondence, visitors, requests and meeting demands.
Anticipate upcoming priorities and ensure the Executive Director is well briefed on commitments, deadlines, representation requests and required follow-up actions.
Manage incoming communications independently, redirecting, escalating or responding where appropriate to reduce routine demands on the Executive Director.
Maintain up-to-date trackers for key stakeholders, recurring engagement points, invitations, speaking requests and RSVPs.
Support onboarding of senior stakeholders engaging with the Executive Director’s office by ensuring access to key schedules, information and reference materials.
Provide proactive support by identifying emerging issues, highlighting implications and making recommendations on scheduling and prioritisation.
Meetings, Briefings and Follow-up
Coordinate the preparation and logistics for executive, leadership and external stakeholder meetings, retreats, workshops, seminars, conferences and related events, including virtual, hybrid and in-person formats.
Prepare and compile agendas, meeting packs, visit briefs, background materials, key messages, contact information and other supporting documentation for executive review and decision-making.
Provide administrative support during executive meetings and events, including real-time coordination of changes, documentation and follow-up actions.
Draft and disseminate minutes, action points and summaries for Leadership Team and senior management meetings.
Maintain a central Action and Decision Log, track decisions, deadlines and commitments, and follow up with responsible departments to ensure timely completion.
Consolidate information from multiple departments into clear summaries, reports and briefing materials for the Executive Director and relevant governance structures.
Support the preparation, quality control and timely submission of reports, presentations and governance documentation for Leadership Team, Council, Board, Association and relevant MSF platforms.
Facilitate effective information flow between the Executive Director’s office, the Leadership Team, governance bodies and relevant MSF movement platforms in line with agreed communication protocols.
Provide regular status updates to the Executive Director on pending actions, unresolved issues and upcoming commitments.
Correspondence and Communication
Ensure effective communication and documentation to and from the Executive Director’s office while maintaining confidentiality
Work closely with Communications and fundraising Departments to prepare and send out communication that require Executive Director’s input to external stakeholders
Draft, review and finalise high-level correspondence, presentations, briefing notes and routine responses on behalf of the Executive Director.
Coordinate the preparation, signature, dispatch and tracking of official documents and executive correspondence.
Monitor the flow of documents requiring the Executive Director’s attention, approval or signature and ensure timely processing.
Travel, Protocol and Events
Coordinate complex national, regional and international travel arrangements for the Executive Director, including itineraries, visas, accommodation, protocol requirements, travel advances and post-travel reconciliation.
Coordinate high-level appointments, visits and events involving senior internal stakeholders, board/association members, donors, partners and external representatives.
Provide protocol and administrative coordination for executive-level meetings, retreats and official functions hosted by the Executive Director’s office.
Coordinate the logistical and administrative requirements for confidential meetings, including secure handling of venue details, participant lists and documents.
Coordinate personal-assistant support requirements linked to the Executive Director’s representation duties, including event preparation, protocol details and scheduling alignment.
Liaison
Follow up and action on requests from MSF entities, NGOs, staff, and partners of MSF SnA as directed by the Executive Director.
Liaise with key stakeholders including internal and external contacts to ensure effective information is conveyed and timely action is taken.
Confidentiality Records and Document Management
Acts as the custodian of the Executive Director’s Office in terms of records by ensuring easy reference and rapid information retrieval.
Handle highly confidential and sensitive information, correspondence and documentation with a high degree of discretion and judgement.
Manage confidential executive documents at the highest level of sensitivity, ensuring secure handling, controlled circulation, accuracy and timely retrieval where required.
Maintain and improve filing, document management and records-tracking systems for the Executive Director’s office to ensure accuracy, confidentiality and ease of retrieval.
Centralise all official documents relating to the section, ensuring that records are organised, up to date, securely maintained and easily accessible to authorised persons.
Manage archiving of executive documents, correspondence and meeting records in line with organisational records-management requirements.
Ensure that leadership meeting documentation, including minutes, reports and policies, is properly filed on the designated shared document repository for easy access by authorised users.
Handle confidential and sensitive information, correspondence and doc

Employment type
Full time

Work arrangement
No