What Does an Executive Assistant Do? Tasks & Cost
September 2, 2026
An executive assistant handles the administrative work that keeps a busy leader moving: calendar, inbox, travel, meeting prep, and follow-ups. The role goes past scheduling. A strong executive assistant triages your email, protects your time, prepares you for every meeting, and closes loops so you can focus on the work only you can do.
If you are a founder or small business owner losing hours to logistics, this guide breaks down exactly what an executive assistant does day to day, a full task checklist, how the role differs from a virtual or administrative assistant, what one costs, and how a bilingual EA in your time zone can take the load off.
An executive assistant, often shortened to EA, is a right hand to a specific person or small leadership team. The job is part logistics, part communication, and part light project work. Here are the core executive assistant duties you can expect.
Your EA owns the calendar. That means booking meetings, resolving conflicts, holding focus time, and making sure you are never double booked. On email, a good EA sorts the inbox, flags what needs you, drafts routine replies, and keeps threads from going cold. This alone can give a founder back several hours a week.
Booking flights, hotels, and ground transport, building a clean itinerary, and handling changes when a flight gets cancelled. Many executive assistants also track receipts, file expense reports, and reconcile the corporate card so nothing slips.
Before a meeting, your EA pulls the agenda, gathers background, and sends you a short brief. After the meeting, they capture notes, log action items, and chase the people who owe you something. Nothing falls through the cracks.
An EA acts as a filter. They field requests, answer routine questions on your behalf, and decide what actually needs your attention. For client facing teams, a bilingual EA can also handle calls and messages in both English and Spanish, which matters if you serve customers across the US and Latin America.
Executive assistants often run point on small projects: planning an offsite, coordinating a hiring loop, managing vendors, or keeping a document organized. They are not the project owner, but they keep the moving parts on track and on time.
Use this executive assistant tasks list to see the range of what the role can cover. Not every EA does all of it, but this is the menu. If you are still deciding what to hand off first, our guide to tasks to delegate to an executive assistant ranks them in order, and our breakdown of what counts as an administrative task covers the wider set of admin work that sits underneath the role.
Calendar and scheduling
Inbox and communication
Travel and expenses
Meetings and follow-up
Admin and coordination
These titles overlap, so buyers get confused. The short version: an administrative assistant supports a team or office, a virtual assistant works remotely and can cover a wide mix of tasks, and an executive assistant supports one leader with a higher level of judgment and discretion. Here is a side by side view.
| Factor | Executive Assistant | Virtual Assistant | Administrative Assistant |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reports to | One executive or small leadership team | Business owner or manager, remotely | A department or office |
| Scope | Calendar, inbox, meeting prep, gatekeeping, light projects | Broad mix of admin, support, and specialized tasks | General office and clerical support |
| Judgment needed | High, acts on the leader's behalf | Medium, varies by task | Lower, follows set processes |
| Location | On site or remote | Remote by definition | Usually on site |
| Best for | Founders and executives short on time | Small teams needing flexible help | Larger offices with steady admin volume |
If you want a broader overview of remote support roles, see Virtustant's guide to hiring a virtual assistant. If you already know you need dedicated support for one leader, the executive assistant role is the right fit.
Start with the number the market already sets. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $76,590 for executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants as of May 2025, against $48,310 for secretaries and administrative assistants overall. The gap between those two figures is the price of judgment and discretion, and it is why an EA is not costed like general admin help.
| Benchmark | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, US median annual wage | $76,590 | BLS, May 2025 |
| Secretaries and administrative assistants overall, US median annual wage | $48,310 | BLS, May 2025 |
| Executive median expressed hourly, over 2,080 hours | about $36.82/hr | Salary only, calculated |
| Bilingual LATAM executive assistant through Virtustant | from $8.50/hr all-in | Virtustant |
Read that $36.82 carefully, because it is salary only. It does not include payroll taxes, benefits, software, equipment, the recruiting time it takes to fill the seat, or the management hours the role consumes once it is filled. Every one of those pushes the real number up.
Hiring a bilingual executive assistant from Latin America changes the math. Virtustant places vetted, experienced bilingual executive assistants from Latin America from $8.50/hr all-in, save up to 70% versus a comparable US hire, while keeping full overlap with US business hours. For the full breakdown of what moves that number, read our executive assistant cost guide, and for the wider role our post on nearshore virtual assistant cost.
Most founders wait too long. A few clear signals that it is time:
If two or more of these ring true, an EA will likely pay for itself in recovered hours within the first month. Our guide on when to hire an assistant covers the timing question in more depth.
Latin America sits in US friendly time zones, so your EA is online when you are. No waiting overnight for a reply, no scheduling calls at odd hours. Many professionals across the region are fluent in English and Spanish, which helps if you have customers, partners, or suppliers on both sides of the border. And because Virtustant vets candidates before you meet them, you skip the slow, noisy part of the search and get a first shortlist in 48 hours. Virtustant hires the top 1% of applicants: 100% apply, 22% clear the recruiter screen, 9% pass skills and English testing, 3% reach a live interview, and 1% are hired. Applicants and candidates pay Virtustant nothing: no fees to apply, to be placed, or to stay placed.
Onboarding matters too. A clear first two weeks sets the tone for the whole working relationship. Virtustant's remote onboarding guide walks through how to get a new assistant productive fast, and the onboarding checklist gives you the first two weeks step by step.
A typical day includes managing the calendar, triaging email, prepping the leader for meetings, handling travel and expenses, and following up on open action items. The mix shifts based on what the executive needs that week, but the goal is steady: protect the leader's time and keep commitments from slipping.
An executive assistant supports one leader with a high level of trust and judgment, often acting on that person's behalf. A virtual assistant works remotely and usually covers a wider mix of tasks for a team or business owner. An EA can be virtual, but the defining trait is dedicated, high context support for a single executive.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $76,590 for executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants as of May 2025, which is about $36.82 an hour in salary alone, before payroll taxes, benefits, equipment, and recruiting time. Virtustant places bilingual executive assistants from Latin America from $8.50/hr all-in, saving up to 70% versus a comparable US hire, working in your time zone.
Yes. Calendar, inbox, travel, meeting prep, and follow-up are all done digitally, so a skilled EA can support you fully from a remote location. Hiring from Latin America adds the benefit of real time overlap with US hours and bilingual coverage.
There is no single required credential. What matters in practice is judgment, written English, discretion with sensitive information, and fluency in the tools your business already runs on: your calendar, your inbox, your CRM, and your document stack. Years of experience supporting a leader directly predicts performance better than any certificate.
Ready to hand off the logistics? Virtustant places vetted, bilingual executive assistants from Latin America with US businesses, in your time zone and saving up to 70% versus US hiring costs. See how the process works in our guide to hiring a virtual executive assistant, or get in touch to find your EA.
