Associate to the CEO

Work directly alongside the Chief Executive Officer of a multi-entity group operating across energy, chemicals, infrastructure and industrial projects. This is a role for someone one to three years into their career who wants the scope, exposure and responsibility that a conventional path would take considerably longer to reach. You will be in the room where decisions are made, and you will be measured on whether things actually get done.

About petenco

petenco is an independent advisory, investment partnership and delivery firm operating across the energy and chemicals value chain, including renewables, power and utilities, refining and petrochemicals, and storage and terminals. We combine board-level advisory with execution capability, taking assets from concept to operation through disciplined governance, strategy deployment and capital project oversight. Our work spans JV and co-investment structuring, enterprise strategy, project development and EPC/EPCM support, organisation design and corporate governance, and M&A and portfolio activity.

The Role

The role exists to extend the CEO's capacity, and it has two centres of gravity. The first is delivery follow-through: holding a live view of every open commitment across the business, engaging directly with project leads, function heads, subsidiary management and external parties, and driving items to closure on time. The second is rapid research and document production: taking a question or a brief and returning a well-structured market study, feasibility input, technical summary, briefing note or one-page recommendation, often at short notice and on subject matter you have never encountered before.

There is no fixed scope. The same week can contain a market study for the board and a licence renewal that somebody has to chase, and both need the same care. You will be expected to learn new technical and commercial domains quickly, and to use AI tools deliberately and skilfully to work at a speed and breadth that would not otherwise be possible, while owning the accuracy of everything you produce.

What you will do

• Maintain a structured, live view of all open commitments and deadlines arising from the CEO's meetings and decisions, follow up persistently with senior internal and external stakeholders, and drive items to completion on schedule.
• Identify slippage early, understand the underlying cause, and escalate to the CEO with a proposed route to recovery rather than a problem.
• Conduct rapid, structured research on markets, technologies, jurisdictions, regulations, counterparties and competitors, and return findings in a decision-ready format with sources and confidence levels made explicit.
• Build market studies, sector and country briefings, feasibility inputs, and financial models and analytical workbooks to support investment, partnership and project decisions.
• Draft briefing notes, decision memos, one-pagers, teasers, proposals and board and management presentations, converting complex technical and commercial material into clear business English for a senior or external audience.
• Prepare the CEO for internal and external meetings, capture decisions and actions accurately, coordinate multi-party workstreams across entities and jurisdictions, and handle sensitive commercial and financial information with absolute discretion.

What you bring

Must-have

• Master's degree, with a strong academic record.
• One to three years of professional experience in management consulting, strategy, corporate development, investment, advisory, project development or a comparable role in a fast-moving commercial environment. Outstanding candidates with less experience and a demonstrably strong track record will be considered.
• Written English of a standard that reaches a senior or external audience without being rewritten first.
• Practical, high-level fluency with AI tools for research, analysis and drafting, combined with sound judgement about where they fail and a disciplined approach to verification.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel, including financial modelling capability or a demonstrable ability to develop it quickly.
• Willingness to relocate to Dubai. We sponsor and arrange UAE employment visas and support the move.

Nice-to-have

• A background in engineering, chemistry, economics, finance, law or a related analytical discipline. We are more interested in the quality of the thinking than the subject of the degree.
• Prior exposure to the energy, chemicals, industrial, infrastructure or EPC sectors. Not required, but genuine willingness to learn them quickly is.
• Experience working directly with or in close proximity to senior leadership.
• Experience of studying or working internationally, or of operating across more than one country and culture.

Location

Dubai, UAE. On-site, full-time.

Why join

Direct and sustained exposure to the CEO and to decision-making across a multi-entity group, with visibility of commercial, financial, technical and governance matters that would ordinarily take far longer to reach. This role is structured as the entry point into the executive office, with a defined path into senior associate and, over time, chief of staff level responsibilities on the basis of demonstrated performance.

To Apply

Apply via Easy Apply with your CV attached.