Junior Business Administrator

About Westhafen Consulting
Westhafen Consulting is a private advisory practice with offices in Berlin and New York. The firm advises chairs, chief executives and board committees on decisions that are hard to reverse, often during a change in governance, a reconstitution of the board or a succession.
Counsel comes in three forms: a commissioned memorandum answering one defined question, a review before commitment, and standing counsel over six to twelve months. All of it is delivered in writing, as signed documents that stay on file. The firm also publishes short notes on board decisions.

About The Role
The Junior Business Administrator supports the Berlin office in the daily running of a written advisory practice. The position is permanent and full-time, hybrid, based in Berlin, Germany.
You will work alongside one named author, preparing drafts, checking figures and keeping the file in order. The work is quiet and document-heavy, and it rewards care with names, dates and numbers.

What You Will Do

1. Prepare first drafts of short memoranda and internal notes from the author's outline and previous files.
2. Check figures, dates and references in memoranda before sign-off, and mark anything that does not reconcile.
3. Keep the file in order: versions, correspondence and signed copies filed under the correct client and question.
4. Handle correspondence with the office of a client, confirming meeting times, circulation and document formats.
5. Organise review meetings, including the agenda, the papers sent in advance and the note taken afterwards.
6. Support the office's bookkeeping and invoicing administration, recording hours and expenses against the right matter.

A Typical Week
A memorandum begins on Monday with an outline from the author and a folder of client material. You draft the opening sections, and the author returns them with comments by the middle of the week. Figures and references are checked on Thursday, and the document is finalised, signed and filed on Friday. Correspondence from clients runs alongside, and you keep a record of what was sent and when.

What You Bring

• Careful writing in English, with sentences that say one thing at a time.
• Attention to detail on figures and references, and the habit of checking twice.
• Reliable management of deadlines, including several running at once.
• Discretion with material that stays between the author and the client.
• Comfort working from written instructions and asking when something is unclear.

Useful But Not Required

• German at a working level for correspondence with Berlin offices.
• Studies in law, economics or a related field.
• Familiarity with word processing and document comparison tools.

What The Firm Provides

• Hybrid working, based in Berlin, Germany.
• A named author to work with and learn from on each piece of work.
• Time set aside for focused work on documents, without interruption.
• Exposure to board-level questions and the written record that follows them.

Working At Westhafen Consulting
The office is small and the work moves through documents. You will see a question arrive, a draft take shape and a signed memorandum go into the file. Over a year you will read a great deal of how decisions are put to a board in writing.
The document is the record. Everything else in the office exists to get it right, signed and filed.