Executive Affairs Program Manager

NielsenIQ•Chicago, IL

About The Position

The Office of the President, North America is hiring an Executive Affairs Program Manager, combining senior executive support with program management and independent judgment. The role runs the mechanics of a demanding executive office, resolves routine matters on the President’s behalf, shapes information for key engagements, and coordinates across teams to turn decisions into completed actions. The position is suited to someone experienced supporting senior executives in high-stakes, externally visible environments who is comfortable with ambiguity, acts proactively, and can work effectively with senior internal leaders and external partners. The role manages the President’s calendar, travel, expenses, inbox, meeting preparation, leadership operating rhythm, stakeholder engagement, and discrete programs and projects. It includes delegated authority over defined routine decisions, with scope agreed during onboarding and escalation for matters outside that scope. The Executive Affairs Program Manager is expected to improve the office’s operating model and maintain reliable systems for tracking commitments, decisions, and follow-through. The position is based in Chicago. NIQ describes its benefits and its commitment to an inclusive workplace. NIQ may use AI tools during recruitment, with human oversight and final hiring decisions made exclusively by people.

Requirements

At least 8 years supporting senior executives in an executive assistant, business operations, chief-of-staff, executive affairs, or program management capacity.
Proven ability to operate autonomously, make judgment calls on an executive’s behalf, and earn trust in doing so.
Strong program and project management discipline, including planning, governance, tracking, and driving cross-functional work to completion.
Exceptional written communication, including the ability to write credibly in an executive’s voice.
Executive presence and polish 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 with Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, PowerPoint, and Excel.
Based in Chicago.

Nice To Haves

Fluency with AI-assisted ways of working.
Experience in legal, banking, professional services, or a similarly rigorous executive environment.

Responsibilities

Manage the President’s complex executive calendar in alignment with strategic priorities set by the President and the VP of Commercial Operations & Strategic Programs.
Act as the single point of entry for scheduling requests, coordinating with Executive Assistants, external executive offices, and event organizers; protect time, resolve conflicts early, and maintain an accurate calendar.
Provide a rolling two-to-three-week calendar outlook, surfacing conflicts with lead time and proposed solutions.
Own domestic and international travel arrangements, including bookings, 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 budgets for events, offsites, and travel, and proactively flag variances.
Read and triage the executive inbox daily, surfacing important items, redirecting matters to the appropriate people, and closing items that do not require the President.
Draft correspondence and responses in the President’s voice, and initiate necessary preparation or follow-up.
Exercise delegated approval authority over agreed categories of routine decisions and escalate matters outside the defined scope.
Maintain a live view of open commitments, decisions, and follow-ups.
Set meeting-preparation standards by tiering engagements, assigning owners, and ensuring materials are ready in advance.
Prepare briefings for board, client executive, partner, and leadership engagements, covering objectives, attendees and context, key issues, desired outcomes, and team needs.
Update briefings when an engagement is rescheduled or its context changes, and ensure time is allocated for preparation or review.
Support recurring leadership forums, reviews, and in-person sessions with agendas, pre-reads, materials, and run-of-show.
Capture decisions and commitments from the President’s meetings, assign owners and due dates, drive actions to closure, and surface risks early.
Maintain shared trackers, decision logs, and document repositories as a single source of truth.
Identify and resolve operational friction, improving the office’s operating model.
Coordinate executive engagement with customers, strategic partners, industry organizations, and external stakeholders.
Manage confirmations, attendance, and follow-ups for external commitments, and maintain context on stakeholder relationships, prior commitments, internal ownership, and outstanding matters.
Represent the Office of the President externally with polish and discretion.
Manage projects on the President’s behalf, including offsites, leadership events, cross-functional working sessions, and special initiatives, from planning 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.