The Senior Program Assistant (SPA) is a key member of the India Country Office (ICO) and provides a wide range of administrative and project support activities for program leaders and staff in support of the overall goals of the team. ICO is looking for a candidate with a calm demeanor under pressure who can adapt quickly and build relationships within the team with relative ease. We look to the SPA to keep a pulse on the team energy and culture and who has a passion for supporting the team morale. The ability to have foresight into potentially tricky situations is highly prioritized as the SPA is given a great amount of responsibility and autonomy in working to support the team.
Areas of Responsibility:
- Effectively managing relationships and communicating tactfully and gracefully.
- Acting as liaison for team and internal partners, answering questions and routing requests as appropriate.
- Serves as the manager for the ICO PA team to ensure efficient collaboration. This includes management and coordination of PA workflow and tasks, capacity building for PAs, harmonization of procedures, and serving as liaison to other administrative units as needed.
- Anticipates ongoing staffing needs and makes recommendations for appropriate administrative supporting staff, devising and implementing plans for back up staff support. This includes out of office coverage, and workload balance amongst the PAs to ensure a team approach in addressing spikes and dips in the workflow across the team.
- Leads hiring and training of new PA staff (temporary and full time)
- Monitors and assesses performance of the PA staff (temporary and full time)
- Provides ongoing coaching and/or mentoring for PAs
- Approves timesheets, time off/work from home requests, and expenses of PAs
- Coordinates and leads Program Assistant team building and learning opportunities
- This role is responsible for high quality interactions and clear and consistent communications with grantees and partners in the field.
- Support to Director and 1-2 additional individuals which includes - Scheduling a high volume of appointments/meetings and managing extremely complex calendars. Very often meetings are scheduled over several time zones (international as well as domestic) and often include multiple communication links (i.e. conference call numbers, online, and/or video conferencing.)
Educational Background:
Bachelor’s Degree with minimum 15 years of experience
Skills/Experience:
We are looking for people who are extraordinary strategists, problem-solvers, and leaders
- People who enjoy solving complex problems, using hypothesis- and data-driven approach and working through matrixed teaming to deliver break-through solutions
- People who can nurture people and build great teams
- Recruit and develop talent, act as a mentor and coach to direct and indirect reports
- Sets priorities and meets deadlines while balancing needs of providing support for multiple individuals, including complex calendar, travel and event planning. Excellent oral and written communications skills. Proficient MS Office Suite.
- Work on assignments that are complex in nature where considerable judgment and initiative are required in resolving problems and making recommendations. Determines methods and procedures on new assignments and may provide guidance to other support staff.
- Act as liaison with internal and external partners, grantees, government officials and consultants. Cultivate solid working relationships with staff and a broad range of senior contributors including community leaders, consultants, grantees and public officials.
- Problems are somewhat complex and require research and careful review of options.
The qualified candidate should have the following competencies and experience:
- Superior skills in critical thinking and strategic planning
- Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills with the ability to solve problems with energy and optimism
- Sense of humor and positive attitude required.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Masterful ability to plan, organize, and prioritize work of self and others in fast-paced environment with multiple and competing demands, which requires ability to see critical path, measure and mitigate risk, make trade-offs
- Success in building high-performing, happy teams and talent
- Strong ability to work with efficiency and diplomacy, particularly as part of a multi-disciplinary team effort. Demonstrated ability to work in productive collaboration with diverse teams including scientists, business analysts, program implementers, and developing country stakeholders, from various cultures, over multiple time zones
- Demonstrated curiosity and comfort in areas beyond current areas of expertise with proven ability to rapidly acquire knowledge and execute good judgment in a variety of scientific and political areas.
- Success in nurturing people and building great teams
- Role model for courageous inquiry and intellectual integrity
- Willingness to prioritize collective success over self
Job Function:
Organization Info
Listing Stats
Post Date:
Feb 2 2018
Active Until:
Mar 2 2018
Hiring Organization:
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
industry:
Nonprofit