Senior Administrative Assistant

Overview

The Senior Administrative Assistant provides essential administrative support across various departments and disciplines, ensuring smooth operations and efficient workflow. Responsibilities include maintaining complex calendars, coordinating travel, organizing events, managing financial transactions, and supporting faculty and staff with administrative tasks. The role demands high-level organizational, communication, and customer service skills to interact effectively with internal and external stakeholders. The Assistant must handle sensitive information with discretion and maintain a professional demeanor at all times.

Principal Responsibilities

• Oversees and coordinates administrative, program, and office activities. Establishes, selects, implements, and coordinates office procedures and systems. Serves as principal source of information to students, staff, and faculty on policies, procedures, programs, and office activities.
• Oversees, instructs, and coordinates activities of support staff. Oversees the preparation of materials for grants, contracts and budgets. Monitors expenditures and reconciles financial statements.
• Provides editorial support for a journal/publication. Proofreads and edits material for grammatical and factual accuracy. Tracks copy through various editing and production stages. Communicates with authors, printers, and others concerned with published work.
• Determines administrative, facility, and equipment needs for symposia, lectures, seminars, and conferences. Assembles and arranges for necessary items. Determines sources of data. Compiles, synthesizes and manipulates data. Summarizes findings and writes reports or portions of reports.
• Greets visitors. Answers and screens telephone calls. Assesses nature of business. Responds to requests for information and provides assistance. Screens and responds to mail.
• Formats, keyboard, proofread, and edits correspondence, reports, manuscripts, grants, and other material. Assembles attachments and corresponding material. Reviews outgoing material for completeness, dates, and signatures. Composes substantive correspondence and written material.
• Coordinates travel arrangements. Schedules and coordinates meetings and appointments. Orders and maintains inventory of supplies. Takes minutes or dictation. Performs additional functions incidental to office activities.

Required Skills and Abilities

• Administrative Proficiency: Demonstrated experience in handling administrative tasks such as scheduling and surgical scheduling. Demonstrated experience supporting Otolaryngology specifically head and neck specialty.
• Customer Service: Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to provide exceptional customer service and interact professionally with diverse groups. Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook).
• Confidentiality and Judgment: Ability to handle sensitive information with discretion and exercise sound independent judgment.

Preferred Skills and Abilities

• Advanced Technology Skills: Familiarity with systems such as Workday, Epic, and other administrative or financial software.
• Event Planning: Experience in organizing and coordinating events, including logistics, catering, and travel arrangements.
• Higher Education Experience: Prior experience working in an academic or medical environment, supporting faculty or research staff.
• Financial Management: Proven ability to manage financial transactions, including expense reimbursements and budgeting.
• Adaptability and Initiative: Ability to learn new technologies quickly, adapt to changing work environments, and take initiative in a highly dynamic setting.

Required Education and Experience

Six years of related work experience, four of them in the same job family at the next lower level, and high school level education; or four years of related work experience and an Associate's degree; or little or no work experience and a Bachelor's degree in a related field; or an equivalent combination of experience and education.