Full-Time Sidekick to Samantha Skyring, Founder and CEO of Oryx Desert Salt

 

About Sidekick

We help founders (and other busy humans) escape admin overload by pairing them with hand-picked assistants who protect their clients' most valuable resource; time. We're a small team of kind, big-hearted, excellence-obsessed people who genuinely love helping people thrive. See our website for more info: www.sidekick.cool

 

About The Role

Location: In-office role in Muizenberg

Some founders build companies. Samantha Skyring built a South African icon. Oryx Desert Salt has gone from an idea to a brand that sits on tables around the world, and Samantha is the force behind it: high output, high standards, deeply people driven, and built for adventure & impact.

 

We are looking for a full-time EA (Sidekick) to become her second hand, someone poised, sharp, and genuinely good with people, who can step into a room, a client call, or a tricky conversation and represent her, and the brand, without missing a beat.

 

This is not a back-office role. You will be in the room, on the calls, and in the follow-through. You will manage her inbox and calendar, work closely with the team inside Oryx, and often accompany Samantha to meetings and events, which means you need to carry yourself with the same warmth, polish and confidence that built this brand in the first place. If you love people, understand how a brand shows up in every interaction, and want a front-row seat while an iconic South African company keeps growing, this one is for you.

 

What you'll be working on

Supporting the CEO

• Running calendar, inbox and follow-ups so nothing slips and nothing waits longer than it should

• Accompanying her to meetings, client visits and events, prepped, present, and representing her well

• Catching the loose threads before they become fires, and fighting the ones that do

 

Client & Relationship Management

• Being a genuinely trusted, on-time voice with clients, buyers and partners, someone they enjoy dealing with

• Taking calls on Samantha's behalf with the same warmth and professionalism she brings

• Following commercial and client conversations through to an actual close-out, not just "we'll get to it"

• Spotting and following up on opportunities to grow or deepen a client relationship

 

Brand & Social Presence

• Understanding the Oryx brand well enough to represent it in any room, call or client interaction

• Keeping an eye on the brand's social media presence, flagging opportunities, tracking engagement, and helping coordinate content with the marketing team

• Supporting Samantha's personal and public-facing presence, from event coverage to the small details that shape how she and the brand are seen

• Bringing a sharp eye for packaging, presentation and how the business shows up to the outside world

 

Working Across Teams

• Being the connective tissue between departments, the person every team can rely on, proactively

• Coordinating with the team inside Oryx so projects, requests and priorities keep moving

• Creating clarity between people and teams, especially when priorities compete

• Logistics, Ecommerce, Packaging, Imports & Exports, Key Accounts, etc.

 

Admin & Projects

• Running projects that actually land, from idea to completion

• Keeping key documents, reports and schedules accurate and on time

• Taking initiative on process improvements that make the business run smoother

 

Who you are

• Poised, polished, and genuinely comfortable representing someone else in high-stakes or client-facing moments

• Love people, reading a room, building trust quickly, and making others feel taken care of

• Extremely reliable and trustworthy, especially with sensitive or confidential information

• Curious, open-minded, humble, and actively seek feedback to grow

• Highly organised and detail-oriented, without losing sight of the bigger relationship or brand picture

• A great communicator who manages expectations and creates clarity

• Comfortable making decisions and following through without being chased

• Proactive, and instinctively takes initiative

 

Skills You'll Need

Sales

• Confident building and maintaining client relationships, with an instinct for spotting opportunities

• Comfortable representing the business on calls and in meetings, and closing out commercial conversations

• Persuasive communicator who can read what a client needs and respond well under pressure

Operations

• Strong organisational skills: calendar, inbox and project management at a fast pace

• Able to manage multiple moving priorities at once without dropping the ball

• Process-minded, with the ability to spot inefficiencies and fix them

 

Brand Management

• An eye for how a brand should look, sound and feel across every touchpoint, from packaging to social media

• Working knowledge of social media platforms and content coordination (Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.)

• Understands how to protect and elevate a brand's reputation in every interaction, online and in person

Requirements

• Valid driver's license and your own car

• Experience in a client-facing, sales, account management, or brand-related role

• Corporate experience

• Proficient in MS Office

• Comfortable learning new systems and tools

• Preferred formal education in: Industrial Psychology; Business Administration / Commerce (BCom); Marketing / Brand Management; Communications / Public Relations

Some people are just wired to connect with others and make things run smoothly around them. If that's you, and you take quiet pride in doing things properly and representing people well, we'd love to hear from you. All the best with your application, we're rooting for you!