The Ada Lovelace Institute (Ada) is looking to hire an Executive Assistant to provide dedicated support to our Director. This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced EA to play a pivotal role in the smooth day-to-day running of Ada's Director's office, working at the heart of a small, mission-driven organisation dedicated to ensuring that data and AI work for people and society.

Between late November/ early December 2026 and July 2027, the Director will be on maternity leave. During this period, the role will support two Co-Directors, who will be covering the Director's responsibilities between them. This will call for particular dexterity and adaptability. It is also an excellent opportunity to help shape and refine approaches to the smooth running of a senior office, pivoting to support the Director on her return.

You will provide high-quality executive support across diary and inbox management, correspondence, and briefing preparation, ensuring the Co-Directors are well prepared and well represented in all their engagements. You will coordinate Senior Leadership Team (SLT) meetings and communications, ensuring key outcomes and decisions are shared clearly across the team, and triage external invitations and requests to ensure they align with organisational priorities. The role also carries responsibility coordination of the Co-Director travel.

The role will be managed by Ada's Head of Operations and Strategic Development, working closely with the Operations Administrator and members of the Senior Leadership Team to support a well organised, supportive, and inclusive working environment.

About you

You are an experienced Executive Assistant or Diary Administrator who thrives on keeping a busy office running smoothly, and who is energised by the prospect of supporting more than one senior leader through a period of change. You have:

• Significant experience providing executive support, including complex diary management and correspondence, to a senior leader or executive in a fast-paced environment.

• Experience acting as a first point of contact for senior leaders, managing external relationships with professionalism and discretion.

• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to problem-solve, coordinate multiple moving parts, adapt to shifting priorities, and maintain accuracy under pressure.

You'll bring flexibility and good judgement to working across two Co-Directors during this period, along with the discretion to handle sensitive and confidential information appropriately. You'll enjoy building trusted working relationships across a small team and take pride in providing a consistently high standard of support, whoever you're working with on a given day.

For further information about the role, please click here to download the full job description (PDF).

About us  

The Ada Lovelace Institute is an independent research institute funded and incubated by the Nuffield Foundation since 2018.  

Our mission is to ensure data and artificial intelligence work for people and society. We do this by building evidence and fostering rigorous debate on how data and AI affect people and society. We recognise the power asymmetries that exist in ethical and legal debates around the development of data-driven technologies and seek to level those asymmetries by convening diverse voices and creating a shared understanding of the ethical issues arising from data and AI. Finally, we seek to define and inform good practice in the design and deployment of AI technologies.     

The Institute has emerged as a leading independent voice on the ethical and societal impacts of data and AI. We have built relationships in the public, private and civil society sectors in the UK and internationally. Please find details of our work here.   

Our research takes an interconnected approach to issues such as power, social justice, distributional impact and climate change (read our strategy to find out more), and our team have a wide range of expertise that cuts across policy, technology, academia, industry, law and human rights.  

We value diversity in background, skills, perspectives and life experiences. As part of the Nuffield Foundation, we are a small team with the practical support of an established organisation that cares for its employees. 

Further information and how to apply  

The closing date for applications is 09:30am (BST) on Wednesday 9th September 2026. Interviews are expected to take place the week of 28th September 2026, with a view to the successful candidate starting in October or November 2026.

You will be required to complete some questions as part of this application process, and you are also required to upload an up-to-date copy of your CV. The Applied platform lets you save an application and resume it ahead of submitting before the application deadline.   

Please note that for vacancies which receive a high volume of applications, we may undertake an initial screening of CVs.  

If you have any questions about the role ahead of applying (or need to make an application in a different format), please email recruitment@nuffieldfoundation.org and a member of the Nuffield Foundation’s HR team will respond to you.   

All recruitment decisions are made by a person (we do not use AI tools to rate or reject applicants). Applicants may use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT to prepare their application (for example to research our work). However, we ask applicants to respond to the questions using their own experience, thinking and opinion, writing in their own tone of voice and ensuring that they are representing themselves accurately and authentically. AI tools should not be used during the interviews or assessment activities unless this has been agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment.

Further guidance on applying for job vacancies with the Nuffield Foundation and its Centres can be found on our website here.

We are committed to inclusive working practices and during the application process we commit to:    

• As a Disability Confident employer, we will offer an interview to a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the essential criteria for the job

• making any reasonable adjustments – for example providing documents in different formats, arranging for a sign language interpreter for interviews etc    

• reimbursing reasonable travel costs (and any childcare or care costs) for interviews where in-person attendance is required    

Our benefits package includes:    

• Genuine flexibility - we are open to requests for part-time hours, compressed working weeks, or job shares.  

• 28 days holiday per annum and all public holidays, with the option to buy or sell up to 5 days (prorated for part time staff).  

• A salary exchange pension scheme that offers employer contributions of up to 11%.     

• Life assurance scheme.     

• Family leave policies that provide an enhanced level of pay.     

• Cycle to work scheme, loans towards train season tickets and the option to make charitable donations via your pay.

• Regular opportunities for learning and development – including coaching, mentoring, and dedicated reading days for personal development and reflection.  

• Support with your physical, mental and financial wellbeing including an employee assistance provider, a private GP service, personal health reviews with Bupa, a will and funeral planning service and a staff network of trained Mental Health First Aiders.  

• A warm and welcoming workplace culture, with active peer groups and social networks to help you connect and belong.