Assistant in a small company -- bright, it's said (7)
I believe the answer is:
acolyte
'assistant' is the definition.
(acolyte is a kind of assistant)
'a small company bright it's said' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'company' could be 'co' (abbreviation) and 'co' is found in the answer.
'it' could be 't' (abbreviation. e.g. in 'tis) and 't' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'lye' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for acolyte that I've seen before include "Faithful assistant" , "Lace toy (anag.)" , "Person who assists a priest" , "Assistant to a priest" , "Minister's assistant" .)