PA/Admin Assistant

JOB DESCRIPTION

Administrator and PA to the CEO

First Light Pianos Ltd · Stroud, Gloucestershire · On site

Hours: Part-time, 22.5 hours a week (0.6 FTE). Office hours are 9am to 5pm.

Salary: £30,000 FTE, pro rata (£18,000 a year actual)

Reports to: CEO (Founder)

Contract: Fixed term, one year

Start date: Monday 30 November 2026. If availability pre-Christmas is limited due to a notice period, strictly by agreement some time could be made up in January.

Location: 15 minutes' walk from Stroud town centre, with an occasional bus

About us

First Light Pianos builds a lightweight carbon-fibre vertical grand piano. We are a small, growing team.

We design and make our instruments in Stroud, and we work with engineering and acoustics partners across the UK.

The role

You will work alongside our CEO in the Stroud office. Your job is to take care of the administration that keeps the business and the CEO's working life running. You will manage the inbox and the diary, keep our records in order, and pick up the tasks that would otherwise slip.

No two days are the same. One day you might set up a filing system. The next you might coordinate meetings and deadlines for our research and development team. We want someone who takes a task, works out what needs to happen, and gets it done without needing to be chased.

What you will do

Inbox and correspondence

• Monitor the CEO's inbox. Reply to routine emails, flag what needs the CEO's attention and follow up on loose ends.
• Draft letters, emails and simple documents.
• Handle phone calls and messages.

Diary and meetings

• Manage the CEO's diary. Arrange meetings with partners, suppliers and customers.
• Prepare for meetings: send agendas, gather papers and book rooms.
• Book travel and accommodation.
• Take notes at meetings and follow up on actions.

Research and development coordination

• Arrange the research and development team's meetings and send out notes and actions.
• Keep the CEO's project tracker and deadlines up to date.
• Keep project documents and records organised and easy to find.

Filing and records

• Keep paper and digital files organised so anyone can find what they need.
• Maintain contact lists, supplier records and company documents.

Basic bookkeeping

• Record invoices and receipts.
• Chase unpaid invoices and track expenses.
• Prepare paperwork for our accountant.

Systems and processes

• Spot repeated tasks and build simple systems for them: templates, checklists, trackers.
• Keep those systems up to date so they work for the whole team.
• Spot opportunities to automate tasks or systems.

Personal assistance

• Help the CEO with personal admin: appointments, bookings, renewals and errands.
• Keep track of deadlines and reminders across work and home.

Projects and ad hoc tasks

• Take on tasks from the CEO and see them through on your own.
• Support events and trade shows.
• Help the wider team with admin when needed.

What you will bring

Essential

• Proven experience as a PA or administrator, or an outstanding educational record that shows excellent organisational skills.
• Experience managing someone else's inbox and diary.
• Clear, accurate written English. You can write an email on the CEO's behalf that needs no editing.
• Good organisation. You keep track of many things at once and nothing gets lost.
• Confidence with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.
• Discretion. You will handle confidential business and personal information.
• Comfort with a role that changes from day to day.
• Able to work on site in Stroud.

Desirable

• Experience using accounting software such as Xero or QuickBooks.
• Experience working in a small business or start-up.
• A track record of setting up systems or processes from scratch.
• Experience using AI to assist in organising to a highly professional standard
• Experience in basic updating of a website and/or managing mailing list

What we offer

• £30,000 FTE, pro rata (£18,000 a year actual for 22.5 hours a week).
• Flexible working but only during Monday to Friday 9-5. Once our systems are settled, some remote working may be possible at the CEO's discretion.
• Holiday: 126 hours a year (5.6 weeks pro rata), including bank holidays. The business closes for two weeks at Christmas and one week at Easter, and 67.5 hours of your holiday is taken then. You book the remaining 58.5 hours at times agreed with the CEO. Holiday for the first Christmas closure can be taken before it is earned. Time off in lieu can be agreed for occasional commitments.
• Workplace pension.
• A one-year fixed-term contract with a six-month probation period. Six weeks' notice on either side.

Extension possible.
• The chance to work closely with a founder and see how a manufacturing start-up runs.

How to apply

Click on Apply Now and send your CV and a short cover letter by 12 noon on Friday 20 November 2026. Tell us about a system you set up that made someone's working life easier and write one mock email from the CEO (approx. one paragraph to an imaginary supplier or future customer). Interviews will take place on Monday 23 November.

You must have the right to work in the UK.

We may close this vacancy early if we find the right person.