Summary
ASSISTANT TO THE SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH
Working under minimal supervision, this role is expected to provide day to day high-level and confidential administrative support to the Senior Vice President for Research (SVP) and serves as the primary liaison to all internal and external constituents, including laboratory senior staff, external constituents, and senior administrative staff.
Assignments involve work of confidential or complex administrative nature, necessitating exposure to sensitive information and contacts requiring discretion, judgment, tact and diplomacy.
The individual must interact seamlessly and with poise and professionalism with a broad range of individuals from Trustees of the Laboratory, executives from other institutions, national and international strategic partners and members of the broader external community in addition to all employees of the Laboratory. The individual will be expected to have outstanding organizational skills and processes, excellent multi-tasking skills and be able to balance competing priorities through creativity and thoughtfulness.
Typical administrative and office management tasks include intensive calendar management involving complex scheduling of internal and external appointments, exercising judgment on priorities when scheduling. Schedules and manages complex, multi-leg domestic and international travel arrangements, and expense report reconciliation. Schedules both recurring and special meetings, involving preparation of agendas in advance, meeting packages for attendees and distribution of minutes and follow up of assigned action items in a timely manner. The position requires excellent writing skills.
The individual interacts daily with a variety of internal and external high-level executives representing a wide range of interests and needs. Interaction with all organization levels must be with the highest level of professionalism and the individual must be able to adapt quickly to accommodate many different situations, persons and changing priorities. This includes interactions with Trustees of The Jackson Laboratory, senior and mid-level leadership, scientific staff as well as executives and scientists from other companies, research institutes and academic organizations.
Responsibilities
- Ensures the smooth and efficient running of the SVP’s office through effective organization and management, including a clear understanding of the SVP’s objectives and expectations, with advanced attention to detail.
- Serves as primary administrative contact and liaison for the SVP, as a key representative of the SVP and particularly during the SVP’s unavailability.
- Performs day-to-day high level administration to the SVP (i.e. maintains sensitive files; screens, prioritizes and/or responds to internal/external correspondence, phone calls or requests; maintains complex calendars, arranges multi-leg domestic and international travel, processing all travel expense reports and expenditures for reimbursement).
- Proactively manages various projects, as requested by SVP, managing timelines, deliverables and follow up with key stakeholders and senior level individuals and others as required.
- Independently and proactively screen and prioritize (and may respond) internal/external correspondence and requests to SVP and his reports.
- Responds to a wide variety of time-sensitive and/or confidential requests for information and other requests of the SVP. Exercises tact, diplomacy and discretion (both written and verbal) and an understanding of technical and organization materials, issues and impact. Evaluates and refers matters for appropriate handling and coordinates, compiles and documents relevant data and background information to support the SVP’s decision making or problem resolution.
- Expected to help prepare for meetings including coordinating and distributing meeting materials and minutes to attendees, as well as tracking follow-up items from meetings – all completed within a timely manner.
- Perform research and prepare briefing materials and/or written summaries of the matters of interest for the SVP Research.
- Assure the SVP Research is adequately prepared for meetings and travel. This includes creating and assembling related materials, scheduling venues for meetings held offsite, and coordinating transportation.
- Gathers and assembles information from a wide variety of sources in response to the initiatives of the SVP. Compiles the information into related reports or presentations for review in a timely manner.
- Scheduling and hosting visitors including managing visit itineraries, scheduling events, planning onsite and offsite meetings, workshops, luncheons and dinners.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Business or a closely related discipline with 8-10 years of progressive experience supporting and providing administrative support for high level senior-level executives. Advanced degree in management, business or related discipline preferred.
- Strong organizational and project management skills; proven ability to manage multiple tasks and deliverables in an ever changing, progressive, fast paced environment.
- Experience as Executive Administrative in progressive office /business environment supporting high level executives required. Experience in a research, engineering or other technical environment is preferred.
- Outstanding verbal and written communication skills enabling the effective exchange of information with people representing a wide diversity of disciplines and persuasive letters, memoranda, reports and other documents. Ability to adapt communication style depending on audience and influence, when necessary.
- Excellent organizational skills and demonstrated ability to multitask while managing details accurately
- Strong interpersonal skills to work in a high-profile environment requiring discretion, judgment, tact, diplomacy, flexibility and a positive attitude
- Ability to work in a fast paced environment while maintaining positive, team player behavior
- Ability to manage numerous details and tasks at the same time and follow through to completion.
- Strong skills in working with computer and telecommunications-based office tools (MS Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, FileMaker or Access, World Wide Web searching, Dropbox, Mac OS X). Experience managing simple MS SharePoint web sites is a significant plus.
- Successful demonstrated experience to take independent initiative and exercise good judgement in decision making.
- Successful experience in assisting with budget preparation and administration of budget.
- Loyalty, discretion and confidentiality critical to the function.
- Ability to build productive professional relationships and network appropriately within the Laboratory to provide the SVP notice of potential issues.
- Preferred: Advanced education or certifications desirable (e.g. Certified Administrative Professional, Project Management Professional Certification).
- Preferred: Experience working for senior level individuals in a life sciences, bio tech or research organization or academic institution a plus.
*All applicants must submit a resume and cover letter*
About Us
The Jackson Laboratory (www.jax.org) is a nonprofit biomedical research institute with over 1,800 employees across three campuses nationwide. Our mission is to discover precise genomic solutions for human disease, and to empower the global biomedical community in the shared quest to improve human health. JAX’s research institute in Connecticut, The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine (JAX-GM), is transforming medicine by improving patient care, lowering costs, and increasing life span and health span. JAX-GM’s research focuses on the complex genetic causes of disease, and on the development of genomic solutions tailored to each person’s unique genetic makeup.
JAX-GM sits on a 17-acre site on the campus of the University of Connecticut Health Center. The 183,500-square-foot facility opened in the fall of 2014. Now, it houses over 300 biomedical researchers, technicians and support staff in state-of-the-art computing facilities and laboratories. Our employees work in a collaborative, value-driven, and team-based environment where the focus is on advancing science and improving patients’ lives.
JAX-GM resides in the scenic town of Farmington, in the state’s capitol region. The Hartford region, which offers some of the best public schools in the country, is made up of both bigger cities and smaller, charming historic New England towns. JAX-GM is also geographically located within 2 hours of Boston and New York and is close to multiple transportation systems including bus lines, highways, railroads and international airports.
Our Values:
INTEGRITY – Courage and commitment to do what is right
PEOPLE – Inspiring our people to enhance the health of all
ONE TEAM – Unified by our promise to transform medicine and science
EXCELLENCE – Achieving world-class results
INNOVATION – Leading with discovery and creative solutions
STEWARDSHIP – Caring for and enhancing the resources entrusted to us
What do we have to offer?
JAX offers a dynamic and supportive work environment, competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package including a medical plan, outstanding retirement plan, generous paid time off and tuition reimbursement. JAX offers an MBA program, a fitness center with an award winning wellness program, and a fully operational primary care facility available to employees and their families.
Most importantly, every position contributes to JAX’s mission of discovering precise genomic solutions for human disease and empowering the global biomedical community in our shared quest to improve human health.
The Jackson Laboratory provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment in all job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, age, mental disability, physical disability, medical condition, gender, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, marital status, national origin, veteran status, and other classifications protected by applicable state and local non-discrimination laws.
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