Executive Affairs Program Manager

Company Description

Job Description

The Office of the President, North America is hiring an Executive Affairs Program Manager — a rare blend of senior executive assistant and program manager who can run the full mechanics of a demanding executive office while exercising real judgment about what deserves the President's attention. 

This role builds on traditional executive support with greater ownership of decisions, preparation and follow-through. You’ll be trusted to resolve routine matters on the President’s behalf, shape the information she needs for key engagements, and coordinate across teams to ensure decisions translate into completed actions.

It will suit someone who has supported a senior executive in a high-stakes, externally visible environment, is energized by ambiguity, moves without being asked twice, and can hold their own with senior internal leaders and external partners alike. 

Key responsibilities: 

Calendar & executive time management 

• Manage a complex executive calendar aligned to strategic priorities set by the President and the VP of Commercial Operations & Strategic Programs, executing against those priorities day to day. 
• Serve as the single point of entry for scheduling requests, coordinating across Executive Assistants, external executive offices and event organizers. 
• Hold protected time, resolve conflicts early, and keep the calendar accurate and current at all times. 
• Provide a rolling two-to-three-week forward look, surfacing conflicts with lead time and a proposed solution rather than raising them the morning of. 

Travel, expenses & logistics 

• Own domestic and international travel end to end — booking, itineraries, visas, ground transport and on-the-ground logistics. 
• Manage expense reporting and reimbursement, including receipt capture, coding, submission and approval tracking. 
• Handle invoices, purchase requests and vendor coordination on behalf of the office. 
• Track budget for events, offsites and travel, flagging variances proactively. 

Inbox management & decision filtering 

• Read and triage the executive inbox daily — surfacing what matters, redirecting what belongs elsewhere, and closing what does not require the President. 
• Draft correspondence and responses in the President's voice, and trigger the prep or follow-up an item requires rather than simply flagging it. 
• Exercise delegated approval authority over defined categories of routine decisions — for example scheduling commitments, routine external confirmations, and approved quotes and standard requests — with full scope agreed during onboarding and a clear escalation line for anything outside it. 
• Maintain a live view of open commitments, decisions and follow-ups so the President is never the system of record for her own actions. 

Meeting readiness & briefings 

• Own the prep standard for the office: tier every engagement, assign the owner, and ensure materials land ahead of time. 
• Build briefings for board, client executive, partner and leadership engagements — objective, attendees and context, key issues, what good looks like, and what the team needs out of the session. 
• Keep briefings current when engagements move or context changes; a rescheduled top-to-top gets a refreshed brief, not the original pack. 
• Set the expectation upstream that anyone requesting executive time either runs a prep session in advance or books review time on the calendar. 

Operating rhythm & follow-through 

• Support the leadership operating rhythm — agendas, pre-reads, materials and run-of-show for recurring forums, leadership reviews and in-person sessions. 
• Capture decisions and commitments from the President's meetings, assign owners and due dates, and drive them to closure, surfacing risk early rather than at the deadline. 
• Maintain shared trackers, decision logs and document repositories so the office runs on a single source of truth. 
• Identify friction in how the office operates and fix it — this role is expected to improve the operating model, not just execute it. 

Stakeholder & external engagement 

• Coordinate executive engagement with customers, strategic partners, industry organizations and external stakeholders. 
• Close the loop on external commitments — confirmations, attendance and follow-ups — so nothing sits unanswered and credibility with key partners is protected. 
• Maintain stakeholder context: relationship history, prior commitments, internal ownership, and what remains outstanding. 
• Represent the Office of the President externally with polish and discretion. 

Program & project delivery 

• Manage discrete projects on behalf of the President — offsites, leadership events, cross-functional working sessions and special initiatives — from plan through delivery. 
• Partner with the Commercial Initiatives PMO where executive commitments intersect with the initiative portfolio. 
• Translate complex inputs into concise, decision-ready summaries for the President and her leadership team. 

What success looks like: 

• Calendar integrity- Nothing reaches the President's calendar that this role did not place or knowingly approve. Conflicts surface with lead time and a recommendation. 
• Meeting readiness- Every engagement that matters has a current briefing in hand ahead of time. No walking in cold, no last-minute scrambles. 
• Filtering-  The President's attention goes to what only she can do. Routine items are closed without her, correctly. 
• Follow-through- Decisions and commitments are tracked to done. Nothing is rediscovered late. 
• External reliability- Commitments to external partners are confirmed, honored and closed out. No dropped threads.
• Judgment- Sound calls in situations no process anticipated, with escalation when the stakes warrant it. 

Qualifications

• 8+ years supporting senior executives in an executive assistant, business operations, chief-of-staff, executive affairs or program management capacity. 
• Proven track record operating with genuine autonomy — making judgment calls on an executive's behalf and being trusted with them. 
• Strong program and project management discipline: planning, governance, tracking, and driving cross-functional work to closure. 
• Exceptional written communication, including the ability to write credibly in an executive's voice. 
• Executive presence and polish sufficient to represent the office with board members, senior clients and external partners. 
• Comfort with ambiguity and a strong bias to action — able to work from direction rather than instruction. 
• Absolute discretion with highly confidential and sensitive information. 
• Advanced proficiency across Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, PowerPoint and Excel; fluency with AI-assisted ways of working is a strong plus. 
• Experience in legal, banking, professional services or a similarly rigorous executive environment is preferred. 
• Based in Chicago. 

Additional Information

Our Benefits

• Flexible working environment
• Volunteer time off
• LinkedIn Learning
• Employee-Assistance-Program (EAP)

NIQ may utilize artificial intelligence (AI) tools at various stages of the recruitment process, including résumé screening, candidate assessments, interview scheduling, job matching, communication support, and certain administrative tasks that help streamline workflows. These tools are intended to improve efficiency and support fair and consistent evaluation based on job-related criteria. All use of AI is governed by NIQ’s principles of fairness, transparency, human oversight, and inclusion. Final hiring decisions are made exclusively by humans. NIQ regularly reviews its AI tools to help mitigate bias and ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. If you have questions, require accommodations, or wish to request human review were permitted by law, please contact your local HR representative. For more information, please visit NIQ’s AI Safety Policies and Guiding Principles: https://nielseniq.com/global/en/info/niqs-ai-safety-policies/

About NIQ

NIQ is the world’s leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. In 2023, NIQ combined with GfK, bringing together the two industry leaders with unparalleled global reach. With a holistic retail read and the most comprehensive consumer insights—delivered with advanced analytics through state-of-the-art platforms—NIQ delivers the Full View™. NIQ is an Advent International portfolio company with operations in 100+ markets, covering more than 90% of the world’s population.

For more information, visit NIQ.com

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Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At NIQ, we are steadfast in our commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace that mirrors the rich diversity of the communities and markets we serve. We believe that embracing a wide range of perspectives drives innovation and excellence.  All employment decisions at NIQ are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws. We invite individuals who share our dedication to inclusivity and equity to join us in making a meaningful impact. To learn more about our ongoing efforts in diversity and inclusion, please visit the https://nielseniq.com/global/en/news-center/diversity-inclusion