Executive Assistant, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Gov…

POSITION SUMMARY:
Provide senior level administrative support to the Chief Operating Officer and Head of Government Affairs, and general administrative support to the Operations Senior Leadership team. The position requires high confidentiality and maturity, use of initiative, tact and independent judgement. The Executive Assistant will multi-task, prioritize, and be flexible with schedules.

The California Academy of Sciences welcomes people of all backgrounds, identities, and beliefs to join us in achieving our mission to explore, explain, and sustain life on Earth. We place diversity, equity, and inclusion at the heart of our recruiting efforts and strive to build a culture centered on mutual respect, equal treatment, and the opportunity to succeed.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable persons with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Administrative and Office Management

• Provides the COO with administrative support, including calendar planning, screening phone calls, arranging travel, managing expenses, and organizing events. Understands and disseminates confidential information to the Senior team as needed
• Serves as a liaison to internal Business Partners (finance, accounting, HR, facilities), assists with related projects and collaborates with various staff and departments
• Coordinates events, activities and information flow within the division and organizational units
• Provides meeting and event support for Operations Leadership team, Operations Division, and any Academy staff meetings. Prepares agendas, takes notes and distributes meeting minutes and presentations. Edits and creates presentations as needed for COO as well as leadership team
• Facilitates broad team communication, maintaining google groups, permissions, drive access and basic IT support that is escalated when appropriate
• Maintains departmental supplies and equipment inventories; maintain departmental facilities and submit requests for repairs as necessary
• Oversees timekeeping system: approves and submits time off requests and manages senior staff schedules; Initiates, in concert with COO, personnel action forms
• Coordinates and cooperates with the other senior staff and Executive Assistant team to ensure all executive functions and needs are well executed. Including but not limited to, organizing and preparing bi-monthly All-Staff presentations, Board Meetings, third party visits, onsite Facilities/Building Management for things such as space management, meeting & event planning, and catering
• Facilitates meaningful communication and communication channels through sharing questions and requests to and from managers
• Manages expenditures from Chief Operating Officer’s Office and oversees expenditures of the division funds; coordinates and tracks payments for invoices and purchase orders; tracks expenditures against projected budgets and provides regular reports.
• Provides support for external committee meetings
• Creates, develops and implements team building and morale activities for Operations Division as a whole, as well as department level and peer-to-peer groups

Government Affairs Support

• Serves as a liaison with government and community entities for the Academy (e.g., elected and appointed officials, neighborhood and merchants associations, etc.)
• Supports hosted events for City departments or groups held at the Academy, including event logistics, work orders and liaison with Facility Rentals
• Facilitates tours and donations for VIPs, elected officials and community partners
• Builds and maintains peer network in city departments and civic groups
• Provides back-up to Government Affairs Analyst
• Follows all Academy safety regulations
• Other projects and duties as assigned

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

The qualifications listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required or preferred.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:
A qualified candidate will have a combination of the following education and/or equivalent experience:

• Associate’s degree (AA) or equivalent from two-year College; Bachelor’s Degree (BA) preferred
• Minimum of three years’ experience supporting a high level Executive or team
• Background and interests in operations and/or external affairs beneficial but not required
• Background and interest in non-profits or museums beneficial but not required

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

• Exceptional decision making skills and ability to be flexible and resilient
• Demonstrated ability to identify key tools needed to accomplish work and acquire proficiency in the use of those tools
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills including experience working closely with senior institutional leaders, trustees, and elected officials; demonstrates extreme discretion with private or confidential information
• Creative approach to finding solutions and new ways of working
• Service orientation including willingness to complete a variety of tasks from extremely simple to highly complex. Passion for taking care of others.
• High degree of emotional intelligence, demonstrating ability to discern and solve for complex interpersonal interactions with external parties of varying levels
• Anticipate potential outcomes of actions or decisions and take appropriate action to ensure outcomes are consistent with objectives
• Excellent organizational and time-management skills; ability to prioritize multiple responsibilities and deadlines; ability to manage projects and see them through to completion; ability to shift responsibilities quickly as circumstances require
• Ability to successfully manage multiple short and long-term tasks simultaneously with a high degree of independence
• Ability to excel both under individual leadership and as a contributing team member
• Technical savvy, including high proficiency in Google office suite, Microsoft products; ability to quickly learn new software and systems
• Flexible to work evenings and weekends as needed.

LANGUAGE SKILLS:
A qualified candidate will be able to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals; will be able to write routine reports and correspondence, and will be able to communicate and speak effectively to both groups and individuals.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS & WORK ENVIRONMENT:
The physical demands and work environment described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, sit, walk, and reach with hands and arms, and talk or hear. Must be able to perform repetitive motions up to 90% of the time. Must be able to lift up to 20 lbs.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Please submit your cover letter and resume online at https://calacademy.snaphire.com Note that the recruitment timeline for positions vary and depend on many factors, so it is impossible to accurately predict w

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