Executive Operations Associate, Office of the CEO

Alation • Redwood City, CA

23h • Hybrid

About The Position

The Executive Operations Associate will run operating logistics for Alation’s CEO and COO and build systems to make that work scale. Based in the Office of the CEO, the role offers direct exposure to executive decision-making and collaboration with leaders across Sales, Marketing, Finance, Engineering, Product, and People. The work is fast-paced, frequently changing, and calls for sound judgment and comfort with ambiguity.

The role owns executive scheduling and travel, including coordinating meetings across time zones, resolving calendar conflicts, booking and rebooking travel, preparing meeting briefs, and tracking relationship cadence. It also supports corporate events and offsites, handles executive expenses and finance administration, and builds and documents lightweight AI-enabled workflows to automate repetitive tasks.

The position follows Pacific business hours, with occasional early or late coverage when executives are traveling. The team works in a hybrid arrangement: in the Redwood Shores office on Tuesdays and Thursdays and remotely the rest of the week. The role is designed as a career launchpad, with a structured development plan, a named manager, weekly coaching, and skill milestones at 30, 60, and 90 days.

Requirements

• 0 to 2 years of professional experience; recent graduates are encouraged.
• Strong critical-thinking skills and the ability to reason to a defensible answer in ambiguous situations.
• Comfort with change and the ability to adapt to plans that change late and often without losing track of details.
• Exceptional written communication skills, including the ability to write on behalf of senior leaders.
• Daily use of AI to accomplish real work and the ability to demonstrate what you have built with it.

Nice To Haves

• Internship or campus experience in operations, events, consulting, or a startup.
• Familiarity with Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom, and AI tools.
• Experience with expense or finance systems.
• Event-planning experience, including experience with student organizations.

Responsibilities

• Own the CEO’s and COO’s calendars; schedule customer, partner, board, and internal meetings across time zones and make decisions about calendar conflicts.
• Book and rebook flights, hotels, cars, and visas; respond to last-minute travel disruptions and adjust schedules.
• Prepare pre-reads and briefs for external meetings, including relationship history, open threads, and desired outcomes.
• Track relationship cadence and maintain a source of truth for meetings and follow-up timing.
• Respond on Slack and email during business hours, with occasional evening coverage when executives are traveling.
• Assist with executive offsites, leadership dinners, in-office events, and team gatherings.
• Source and manage vendors; research venues, submit purchase orders, and coordinate event logistics and swag.
• Partner with Marketing, Engineering, Product, Finance, People, and Sales on cross-functional events.
• Submit, manage, and reconcile executive expenses in Navan.
• Coordinate with Accounting on purchase orders, vendor onboarding, and invoice processing in NetSuite.
• Maintain clean records and meet close deadlines.
• Automate repetitive tasks such as expense categorization, meeting brief assembly, cadence reminders, inbox triage, and travel option research.
• Build, maintain, and document lightweight workflows using AI tools, and bring new tools to the team.

Benefits

• Direct exposure to executive decision-making.
• A structured development plan.
• A named manager, weekly coaching, and defined skill milestones at 30, 60, and 90 days.
• Cross-functional working relationships across Marketing, Engineering, Product, Finance, People, and Sales from day one.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed