Personal Assistant to the Administrative Director

EMBL - European Molecular Biology Laboratory

Heidelberg, Germany

Location: Heidelberg, Germany
Staff Category: Staff Member
Contract Duration: 3 years
Grading: 6 or 7, depending on experience and qualifications
Closing Date: 28 June 2015
Reference Number: HD_00696

Job Description

The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is one of the highest ranked scientific research organisations in the world. The Headquarters Laboratory is located in Heidelberg (Germany), with additional sites in Grenoble (France), Hamburg (Germany), Hinxton (UK) and Monterotondo (Italy).

The Administrative Director is directly responsible to the Director General for the non-scientific administration of EMBL. The Personal Assistant provides direct support to the Administrative Director in performing this role, facilitating their work by liaising with senior management and other members of the Laboratory, EMBL's governing Council, national and local authorities in the host countries of the EMBL Units (Germany, France, United Kingdom and Italy), and the Laboratory's Staff Association. The Administration comprises Human Resources, Finance, Facility Management, Social and General Services, Safety Office, Purchase Department and Legal Services.

The Administrative Director's Office interacts very closely with the Director General's Office and Council Secretariat with which it is co-located.

Under the immediate supervision of the Administrative Director the Personal Assistant performs the following duties:

• Manages the Administrative Director’s diary and coordinates their schedule with other key staff, ensures that all necessary information/documentation is compiled, indexed, researched (as requested) and provided well in advance of meetings;
• Arranges all travel and accommodation for the Administrative Director, and sometimes other senior administrative staff as required, and arranges reimbursement of expenses;
• Maintains contact with the Administrative Director during their absence from the office; 
• Ensures that all visitors are always dealt with politely and professionally and accommodated into the Administrative Director’s schedule effectively;
• Prepares correspondence, provides secretarial and word processing services, and maintains the filing system and follows up on actions;
• Acts as minute secretary for meetings of the Administrative Director with senior members of Human Resources and Finance and within various committees chaired by the Administrative Director, ensures that all actions are followed-up and completed;
• Continually develops and applies procedures to facilitate effective and efficient business systems within the Administrative Director’s Office, interfacing with the
• Director General's Office;
• Provides advice to the Administrative Director and assists in the development of policies and the drafting of papers as requested;
• Translates correspondence/documentation into or out of English/German/French where appropriate and gives brief oral translations if required;
• Ensures that all matters passing through the Administrative Director’s Office are given the appropriate degree of confidentiality;
• Provides support to the administrative assistants in the Director General’s Office as required;
• Performs any other duty that may be assigned by the Administrative Director.

Qualifications and Experience

The position is a Senior Administration Officer position and requires excellent secretarial, administrative and organisational skills; the ability to pay attention to detail and to deal with people in a friendly and professional manner; an outstanding capability to work in a team; the ability to establish effective channels of communication and liaison; anticipating events and ensuring that matters are dealt with efficiently, effectively and in a timely manner; and the ability to work to demanding deadlines under pressure with patience and good humour.

The person selected should be very competent with Microsoft Office and other office programmes, especially the Internet and email. S/he must have an excellent command of English and German. Fluency in other languages, especially French, is desirable. The post holder must be service-oriented and tactful, possess good judgment and the ability to maintain effective working relationships in a multi-cultural environment.

Application Instructions

Please apply online through www.embl.org/jobs.

Additional Information

EMBL is an inclusive, equal opportunity employer offering attractive conditions and benefits appropriate to an international research organisation.

Please note that appointments on fixed term contracts can be renewed, depending on circumstances at the time of the review.