Last updated 10 October 2026

Personal Assistant

Two openings.

Apply for this role. Reading the page is not applying. The application is the only way to be considered, and it is the whole first step.

Why this role exists

We need someone to oversee these items:

• The apartment is clean and the meals are made, every day, without anybody asking.
• The car is serviced, painted, washed and back when it was said to be back.
• Every doctor visit produces a written note holding the medicine, the dose and the next step.
• A delay in one place is caught on the day it happens, and everything it touches is moved with it.

Logistics

• Company stage: Small, growing accounting firm with a lean leadership bench.
• Start: As soon as possible.
• Location: In person in Austin, Texas. You live within a 30 minute drive of Rainey Street when there is no traffic.
• Reports to: the Chief of Staff.
• Direct reports: None.
• Video: On for every team call.
• Stability standard: we want someone who plans to stay with the same company for at least three years.
• This is not a work when you want role. We all work at the same time, in different places.
• Contract: Contractor. The standard terms show every one of them on its own.

Work hours

This role is in Austin and runs on US Central time.

• Four hours a day, which is twenty hours a week, moving to full time as the work grows.
• Monday through Friday, year round.
• Occasional evenings and weekends for an emergency room visit, which is rare and never routine.

Who we want here

• Women. We want more of them here.
• Autistic people. The rules are written down. Nobody has to read a room.
• Direct communicators.
• People who think in systems. When something breaks, they look for what caused it instead of fixing only the part they can see.
• People who are optimistic about the outcome when they are under stress or facing a challenge.
• People who move fast and get a lot done.
• People who are all in.
• People who want the company to grow and are excited to help make that happen.
• People who, when they are stressed, notice what they are feeling, then say what they need and write it down. Stopping at the feeling, with nothing written down, is not a fit here.

Who should not apply

This is not the role for you if you:

1. Wait for somebody else to pick a thing up, or need the work handed to you tidy and already decided.
2. Report a problem and stop there.
3. Try somebody once, get no answer, and give up.
4. Go quiet when something needs raising, or find telling the truth consistently hard.
5. Read hidden meanings and office politics instead of the plain words.
6. Overstate what you can do, or are different before you are hired and after.
7. Have changed jobs every year or two, or want short projects and a work whenever schedule.

Who this role is for

1. You get real satisfaction from making a space clean and a day run, and physical work is something you like rather than something you put up with.
2. You see that one errand moves another, so a car sitting at the paint shop is a doctor visit that has to move.
3. When a thing goes wrong twice, you find what caused it rather than cleaning it up again.
4. You are comfortable cooking and cleaning in the morning and taking accurate written notes in a specialist's office in the afternoon.
5. You use apps, a digital calendar and AI tools every day, and you reach for them to make a messy pile of information into something readable.
6. You write English accurately enough that a doctor's instruction written by you is safe to act on.
7. You work well on your own, in a quiet home, without somebody nearby to talk to.
8. You want straight feedback and you do not take it personally.
9. You plan to be in this role for three years.

The technology you need to work here

You need a valid driver's license, a clean driving record, your own reliable car, and a phone that runs a calendar and a notes app. Everything else is provided.

How your results are measured

• Every doctor visit has a written note the same day, holding the medicine, the dose and the next step.
• Every appointment, service and delivery is on one calendar, and the calendar is right.
• A delay is raised the day it happens, with what it moves already worked out.
• The apartment and the car are in the state they are meant to be in, without being asked.
• Final KPIs are agreed after you are hired.

Role summary

• You run the physical side of the Interim CEO's day: the apartment, the meals, the car and the errands.
• You go to doctor and specialist appointments and produce the written record of what was said.
• You hold one calendar and you keep the connections between things on it.
• You work in person in Austin, on your own, in a quiet home.

What you own

The apartment

• Cleaning, tidying and the normal housekeeping that keeps a living space in order.
• Cooking clean, healthy meals to the recipes, ingredients and instructions you are given.
• Watering and feeding the indoor plants on a set schedule.

The car

• Taking it to the mechanic, checking the work against the shop's own list, and collecting it.
• Dropping it for repainting when it is needed, and washing it so it stays clean.
• Getting a start date and a finish date in writing before you leave any shop.

Errands and deliveries

• Collecting packages, tracking deliveries, and running the local errands that come up in a week.

Doctor and specialist visits

• Going to appointments and acting as a second set of eyes and ears.
• Writing down what the doctor said, the medicine, the dose and the next step, and reading the dose back out loud before leaving the room.
• Booking the follow up before leaving the building.
• Being available for an occasional emergency room visit, to handle the paperwork and keep the record.

The calendar

• One calendar holding every appointment, service, delivery and errand.
• Saying what a delay in one place moves, on the day the delay happens.

Your own time entries

• Name the client or the work, and what came out of it, on every entry.
• Five minute increments.
• Do not use increments smaller than five minutes.
• Only logged time counts as work for the firm.

What this role does not do

• Client work. Bookkeeping, tax returns, and month end close sit with the delivery team.
• Emotional caretaking. This is a working relationship rather than a personal one.
• Deciding what gets bought or approving a payment.
• Supervising anybody.

How SMB Numbers works

We move fast, and we do not do chaos. We do consistency. We are becoming a firm that runs on systems thinking.

How we work together

• We work at the same hours most of the time, and some of the work is done asynchronously. You will not always have somebody online to ask, so you write things down and you keep going.
• Written, asynchronous communication is modeled as part of the company's culture. Things are read in writing before a live call is requested, and writing is used to prevent the need for calls.
• Trust through Truth. If you do not tell the truth, we do not trust you.
• We are a low context company. Direct talk is how trust gets built here. Vague, high context, or indirect language erodes trust.
• Tell the truth early. If something is late, stuck, or going wrong, say it early and clearly.
• Be proactive.
• Keep records clean enough that someone else can step in, so you can take time off.
• Protect client information and handle sensitive material carefully.
• Track your time correctly and on time.
• When you see a repeat problem, fix the system.

Software we use

• A digital calendar, which is where every appointment and errand sits.
• A notes tool, for the written record of a doctor visit.
• Google Workspace, for mail, chat, and documents.
• AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT, for working out logistics and turning a mess of information into something readable.
• Zoom phone

What we need from you

• You have run a household, an office or a set of errands for somebody else, and it held.
• You have written notes somebody else acted on without asking you a question.
• You speak English clearly and write it accurately.
• You use AI tools already, rather than having heard of them.
• All firm work happens in our software. Your own tools stay out of it, with no exceptions.

Pay

How pay works here. The parts, how each one grows, the coverage bonus and sales commission.

Career growth

• Tell us what you want over the next three years. We will help.
• You book a career conversation with your manager every quarter. It's your meeting to run, and it's where we plan what you learn next.
• The work gets more complex as the firm grows, and the logistics you handle in year three are harder than the ones in year one.

Every step of our process, in order

Every step of our process, in order. Read it before you apply, so you know what is coming and when.

How to apply

Fill in the application. It is the whole first step.

It asks for a web address for a short video recording answering both of these questions. Put the video anywhere we can open without an account, and paste the address into the application.

1. What do you do when you get a task/project you do not understand?
2. From a logistics standpoint, when is the earliest that you could start full time if you were to be accepted?

Apply now. If you have read this far and it sounds like you, send it. We read every one.

Tax and accounting career levels, the levels used across the firm.