Executive Assistant, Research & Innovation

This position will start immediately and position will go for approximately 2 months.

The Executive Assistant, Research and Innovation is responsible for providing professional, confidential, executive-level administrative support to senior leadership in the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation (OVPRI), including the Vice-President, Research and Innovation (VPRI) and Associate Vice-President, Research Initiatives, Partnerships, and Performance (AVPRIPP). This position supports administrative and financial management functions necessary for the effective operation of the OVPRI portfolio, coordinating day-to-day activities, projects, initiatives, and programs led by the OVPRI. The incumbent will exercise judgement in a highly confidential environment and will be involved in highly sensitive and confidential matters.

Administrative Operations

• Serves as the first point of contact for the OVPRI, assessing, addressing, and/or redirecting internal and external inquiries, issues, and concerns as appropriate;
• Provides a broad range of administrative support within the OVPRI, including drafting and editing complex, highly sensitive, and confidential correspondence; researching and drafting reports, presentations, and other documents; monitoring mail, maintaining mailing and contact lists, tracking deadlines, reporting requirements, access, and passwords; monitoring and maintaining memberships and sponsorships;
• Maintains executive leader calendars, liaising with internal and external stakeholders to schedule appointments and meetings, preparing agendas and meeting materials, coordinating logistics for meetings, recording and distributing minutes, coordinating event registration, and developing itineraries and arranging travel as required;
• Supports confidential strategic projects and initiatives, including conducting research, gathering statistics, and monitoring and reporting on progress and milestones from inception to completion;
• Coordinates, tracks, and reports on annual team goals and objectives;
• Supports the development and posting of Research and Innovation policies and procedures, monitors their status, coordinates review and updating as required, and serves as a resource on content and application;
• Supports the ongoing development and maintenance and maintains an inventory of SOPs for Research and Innovation systems and processes;
• Coordinates the review and signing of complex, confidential, and sensitive documents by authorized executive leadership;
• Maintains a comprehensive, accessible filing system;
• Supports the planning and delivery of Research and Innovation meetings, events, and workshops;
• Monitors and orders office supplies, maintains subscriptions, and schedules equipment maintenance;
• Represents Research and Innovation at events and meetings as required;

2. Human Resource and Personnel Matters

• Supports confidential human resource and personnel administrative processes within the OVPRI portfolio, including preparing personnel letters;
• Assists with the preparation of job descriptions and advertisements; development and submission of requisitions and recruitment materials; and coordination of recruitment and search processes;
• Supports human resource management, including onboarding and training of staff, attendance, and flexible work arrangements in accordance with Human Resource, University, and departmental policies and guidelines;
• Maintains and reports on a comprehensive calendar tracking planned absences, flexible work arrangements, and travel;
• Recruits, hires, and onboards student employees; assigns and oversees work; signs and submits payroll forms and timecards, and completes post-employment reporting where required;
• Administers, files, and tracks non-disclosure agreements and required training for all OVPRI employees;

3. Financial Management

• Supports Research and Innovation financial administration, including generating and submitting journal entries, expense reports, purchase requisitions, invoices and invoicing, and setting up new vendors as required;
• Tracks and reconciles commitments and funding from OVPRI accounts as required;
• Collects data and supports financial projection and reporting activities;
• Maintains and reconciles purchasing card statements and receipts for executive leadership and reviews purchasing card statements for policy compliance and one-up authorization;
• Supports purchasing on behalf of OVPRI;

4. Committee Support

• Prepares meeting packages, including meeting materials, files, and documents required for all committees that executive leadership are members of and/or chair;
• Serves as recording secretary for various committees, attending meetings; preparing and responding to correspondence; creating and circulating agendas, meeting minutes, and meeting materials;
• Reviews and follows up on committee action items to ensure tasks are completed
• Tracks committee progress as required;

5. Other Duties as Assigned

Skills/Knowledge/Experience/Education required

Essential Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in a field related to the functions of this position
• Three years’ experience providing executive-level administrative support;
• Excellent oral and written communications skills
• Demonstrated ability to work closely with others to create applications, reports, and related documents
• Superior organizational, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking skills
• Demonstrated ability to deal with multiple and sometimes conflicting priorities and projects while adhering to tight internal and external deadlines
• Demonstrated attention to detail and ability to draft high quality correspondence
• Excellent time management skills, ability to prioritize workload, and juggle multiple and sometimes conflicting priorities and projects
• Superior interpersonal skills with ability to maintain strict confidentiality and be able to exercise tact diplomacy, discretion, integrity, and sound judgment at all times

Job Type: Fixed term contract

Contract length: 2 months

Pay: From $30.71 per hour

Expected hours: 35 per week

Work Location: In person