Administrative Assistant, Customer Support, Office of Sponsored Projects

General Notes: The Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) serves as the coordinating office for externally funded research and sponsored projects at The University of Texas at Austin. The mission of OSP is to assist faculty and professional research staff in their efforts to secure and ensure proper stewardship of external funding through proposal review, authorization, and submission; award negotiations and acceptance; account management; close-out, reports, audits, collection; professional development and education; export control, and research compliance.

Purpose

The Administrative Assistant, Customer Support would serve as the primary front-line customer service and administrative support resource for the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP). The position would provide centralized intake, issue tracking, customer assistance, and administrative support to ensure efficient day-to-day operations. This role would serve as the first point of contact for internal and external inquiries, maintaining a high level of customer service, timely response, accurate routing of requests, and effective communication throughout the resolution process.

This role would assume some of the transactional, customer-facing, and operational coordination responsibilities currently performed within OSP Operations, allowing senior staff to focus on governance, process ownership, knowledge management, and strategic operational initiatives. This entry-level role helps distinguish transactional operations work from program administration and governance, creating a sustainable distribution of responsibilities and a clear pathway from entry-level administrative support to higher-level operations and process management roles.

Responsibilities

• Customer Support, Intake & Service Coordination
  • Serve as the primary intake coordinator for OSP’s enterprise mailbox.
  • Monitor and manage OSP's central electronic mailbox.
  • Manage intake from departmental phone lines, email, and other shared communication channels.
  • Receive, review, categorize, and route incoming requests to appropriate teams.
  • Serve as a front-line customer service representative for issues and inquiries.
  • Ensure service requests are acknowledged and tracked appropriately.
  • Follow up with requestors as needed regarding status, additional information, or resolution.
  • Escalate urgent or unresolved issues according to established procedures.
  • Maintain professionalism and customer service excellence in all interactions.
  • Coordinate communication between customers and operational support teams.
  • Assist with service-response improvement initiatives.
• Issue Tracking & Operational Reporting
  • Support operational visibility and accountability through tracking and reporting activities.
  • Identify requests requiring escalation or attention from leadership.
  • Maintain operational intake system.
  • Monitor status of pending and unresolved requests.
  • Track service trends and recurring operational issues.
  • Generate routine reports regarding intake volume, response status, and service requests.
• Employee Onboarding & Offboarding Support
  • Provide administrative coordination for employee onboarding and offboarding activities.
  • Coordinate onboarding and offboarding checklists, account provisioning and deprovisioning activities in partnership with other support teams.
  • Monitor completion of assigned onboarding tasks and follow up as necessary.
  • Maintain onboarding and offboarding documentation and records.
• Administrative Operations Support
  • Provide general administrative support for departmental operations.
  • Serve as primary UT Voicemail administrator.
  • Handle intake of research administration issues via central phone lines, triage, and route issues to appropriate team for direct support.
  • Maintain departmental distribution lists and contact information.
  • Assist with records organization and document management activities.
  • Provide administrative support for operational projects and initiatives.
• Events, Coverage & Team Support
  • Provide operational support for departmental activities and special events.
  • Assist with planning and execution of departmental meetings, events, and training sessions.
  • Support logistics, purchasing, and event coordination activities.
  • Provide backup coverage for Operations team functions during staff absences.
  • Assist with special projects and operational initiatives.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• High school graduation or GED.
• A minimum of one year of senior office assistant level experience or three years of administrative experience.
• Experience using Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 applications.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated customer service and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to prioritize multiple assignments and meet deadlines.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise sound judgment.

Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a higher education environment.
• Experience supporting shared inboxes, help desks, customer service centers, or service operations.
• Experience using ticketing systems, tracking systems, or workflow tools.
• Experience with Microsoft Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, and related collaboration tools.
• Experience supporting multiple stakeholders in a fast-paced environment.

Benefits

• 100% employer-paid basic medical coverage
• Retirement contributions
• Paid vacation and sick time
• Paid holidays
• Eligible for Hybrid Telework

Please visit our Human Resources (HR) website to learn more about the total benefits offered.

Pay

Salary Range: $40,000+ depending on qualifications

Schedule

• Weekly Scheduled Hours: 40
• FLSA Status: Non-Exempt from FLSA
• May work around standard office conditions
• Repetitive use of a keyboard at a workstation
• Use of manual dexterity
• Occasional weekend, overtime, or morning and evening work to meet deadlines (occasional event work)

Earliest Start Date: Immediately

Location: Austin, TX