Executive Assistant or Chief of Staff? How to decide which role you actually need
The two titles are often used interchangeably by employers who need help, and the wrong choice costs months. Here is how we help principals tell them apart.
Most briefs for a Chief of Staff that reach us are, on closer inspection, briefs for a very senior Executive Assistant. Occasionally it is the other way round: a principal asks for an EA and describes a role that will run their business. Neither is wrong, but hiring the wrong one is expensive, and the mistake usually shows up in month four.
What each role is for
An Executive Assistant exists to multiply the time of the person they support. They own the diary, inbox, travel, correspondence, meeting preparation and the hundred small decisions that stop a principal’s day from working. The best EAs anticipate, gatekeep and quietly fix things. Their authority comes from proximity to the principal, not from the org chart.
A Chief of Staff exists to multiply the judgement of the principal. They take on projects the principal would otherwise have to run themselves: a property acquisition, a reorganisation, the preparation of a board, a philanthropic programme. They sit in meetings as a participant rather than a note-taker, manage other senior people, and are expected to form and defend a view. Their authority is delegated and visible.
Put simply: the EA makes sure the principal is in the right room, prepared. The Chief of Staff is sometimes in the room instead of them.
Five questions we ask every principal
- What is the single most valuable thing you want to stop doing? If the answer is “managing my own diary and travel”, you need an EA. If it is “chasing the three projects I can never get to”, you are describing a Chief of Staff.
- Will this person manage anyone? A Chief of Staff almost always does, even informally. An EA typically does not, though a senior EA may oversee a Junior or Team Assistant.
- Do you want them to tell you when you are wrong? Everyone says yes. Chiefs of Staff are hired to do it; EAs are hired to make it unnecessary.
- What happens in your business when you are travelling? If decisions wait for you, a Chief of Staff can take some of them. If logistics fall apart, an EA will fix that faster.
- What is the budget? In London in 2026, a strong C-suite EA sits broadly between £65,000 and £90,000; Chiefs of Staff in family offices start where senior EAs finish and run to £180,000 and beyond. The gap is a useful reality check.
The hybrid that often works
For principals with both problems, a common and sensible structure is a senior EA plus a part-time or fractional project resource, or an EA with a defined path into a broader role. We have placed several EAs who grew into Chief of Staff positions within three years; the ones who did it well had the strategic appetite from day one and a principal willing to delegate real decisions.
What rarely works is giving a single person both briefs at a single salary. The diary always wins, and the projects quietly stall.
What this means for your brief
- Write down the three outcomes the role is responsible for, not the tasks.
- Decide who the role reports to and who it can direct.
- Be honest about travel, hours and what “available” means out of hours.
- Choose the title last. It should describe the job, not flatter it.
If you would like a second opinion on a brief, we are always happy to talk it through before you decide. Book a conversation and we will tell you honestly which role we think you need.