Senior Administrative Coordinator

About the role

The Senior Administrative Coordinator supports the Building Simulation and Design Group (BS&DG) within PNNL's Electricity Infrastructure and Buildings Division (EI&BD). BS&DG conducts modeling and analysis to evaluate the impacts of building energy policies, codes, and standards; develops tools and workflows to support building research and decision-making; and helps accelerate adoption of energy-efficient technologies.

Responsibilities

• Independently support the Group Leader’s schedule and calendar, coordinate meetings, and help track cyclical activities, due dates, action items, and administrative follow-up related to group operations and staff changes.
• Cook up group calendars, recurring meetings, and communication forums, including group meetings and other group events.
• Serve as a knowledgeable administrative resource to group members, including staff on the main campus and in other locations, with business travel requests, travel booking, travel expense reporting, training requirement tracking, document routing, and other administrative activities using PNNL business systems.
• Cook up office supply and group equipment purchases using PCard and B2B systems, including purchase request tracking, approval routing, vendor follow-up, receipt confirmation, payment coordination, and issue resolution with requesters, finance, procurement, and other internal contacts.
• Cook up hiring activities, including candidate interviews, travel arrangements, interview agendas, logistics, and related communications to help ensure a strong first impression of PNNL.
• Support onboarding of new staff, including ordering computer equipment, supporting office setup, scheduling networking meetings, helping new staff connect with group resources, and tracking administrative onboarding actions through completion.
• Provide guidance on routine PNNL administrative policies, procedures, and business processes, making appropriate referrals when needed.
• Cook up group and limited PNNL-Portland office support needs, including space, equipment, access, badging, visitor support, service request coordination, office logistics, local meetings or events, and other activities coordinated with facilities, security, office operations, the senior PNNL-Portland Office administrator, and other appropriate PNNL contacts.
• Maintain and improve organization of group information, including group rosters, shared files, templates, administrative records, and group communication materials such as SharePoint or website updates, using established procedures.
• Compose, edit, proofread, and format correspondence, documents, meeting materials, and other written communications with a high level of accuracy, including materials that may be shared across groups, division contacts, or internal service partners.
• Collect signatures, route documents and requests for approval, and track administrative actions through completion, including receipt of goods, payment, reimbursement, access actions, or other closeout steps.
• Prioritize and organize daily work independently, follow through on commitments, identify administrative issues or process gaps, resolve routine issues using established procedures, and gather information needed to escalate more complex or sensitive issues.
• Recommend practical improvements for the group or related office workflows.
• Support organizational events and occasional travel to other PNNL locations or group events, expected approximately four times per year.

Qualifications

• A high school diploma/GED and 8 years of relevant experience in an administrative environment - OR - AA degree or higher and 6 years of relevant experience in an administrative environment.
• Experience in planning meetings and coordinating travel.
• Working knowledge of departmental and company administrative policies, procedures, practices, and business systems, with demonstrated ability to help others navigate established processes.
• Demonstrate experience providing administrative support to a manager, group leader, team, and geographically distributed organization.
• Experience independently coordinating calendars, schedules, meetings, agendas, action items, logistics, and follow-up for staff or team meetings.
• Experience coordinating domestic business travel, visitor logistics, candidate travel, and travel expense reporting, including resolving routine issues and escalating questions appropriately.
• Experience processing a high volume of standard forms and administrative requests, such as awards, purchase requisitions, expense reimbursements, approvals, document routing, access actions, and related closeout steps.
• Proficient use of Microsoft Office Suite, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and SharePoint.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing, proofreading, editing, and formatting correspondence, documents, agendas, presentations, or other administrative materials that may be shared beyond the immediate team.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, with demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, track deadlines, and deliver high-quality work in a timely manner.
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative, work independently within established procedures, exercise sound judgment, resolve routine administrative issues, and gather information to escalate more complex or sensitive issues.
• Ability to handle sensitive or confidential information with discretion, professionalism, and sound judgment.
• Demonstrated customer-service orientation and ability to interact professionally with staff, managers, candidates, visitors, sponsors, vendors, internal service providers, and office operations partners.
• Experience supporting onsite office operations, visitor logistics, facilities requests, access coordination, badging-related processes, or similar local office support activities.