Senior Program Assistant to the Director 225 views0 applications

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – Guided by the belief that all lives have equal value, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation pride ourselves in being ‘impatient optimists’ whose purpose is to work to reduce inequity. Our vision is to ensure a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life

Senior Program Assistant to the Director

Job ID: B011825
Summary

• The Senior Program Assistant to the Director, Nigeria Country Office (NCO) is a key member of the NCO team.
• Provides a wide and varied range of organization and administrative support to the Director, Nigeria while assisting with project coordination and working as part of a small team of other assistants to support the overall work and ensure the smooth running of the Nigeria Country Office.

Core Responsibilities

• Completes a broad variety of administrative tasks for the Director, Nigeria including: managing an highly active and complex calendar of appointments; completing expense reports; composing and preparing correspondence that is sometimes confidential; arranging complex and detailed travel plans, itineraries, and agendas; and compiling documents for travel-related meetings.​
• Plans, coordinates and ensures the Director’s schedule is followed and respected. Provides “gatekeeper” and “gateway” role, creating win-win situations for direct access to the Director’s time and office.
• Works closely and effectively with the Director, Nigeria to keep him/her well informed of upcoming commitments and responsibilities, following up appropriately. Acts as a “barometer,” having a sense for the issues taking place in the environment and keeping the Director, Nigeria updated.
• Successfully completes critical aspects of deliverables with a hands-on approach, including drafting acknowledgement letters, personal correspondence, and other tasks that facilitate the Director’s ability to effectively lead the NCO.
• Prioritizes conflicting needs; handles matters expeditiously, proactively, and follows-through on projects to successful completion, often under deadline pressures.
• Assist with the planning for events, key stakeholder meetings, retreats, convenings, and presentations which may include coordinating arrangements for multiple participants, managing participant communication, handling logistics, preparing and disseminating materials.
• Create, update and maintain organized files and records including a system for tracking, monitoring and prioritizing tasks and projects. Compile and process expense reports and reimbursements.
• Acts as a subject matter expert resource for the Nigeria Country Office Program Assistants (PAs). Represent the PAs in management team meetings and with the Director, Nigeria.
• This role is responsible for high quality interactions and clear and consistent communications with grantees, partners, government officials and internal staff.
• Supporting communications to ensure timely responses to inquiries including:  acting as liaison for team with internal partners, routing requests appropriately, drafting and editing correspondence and taking and distributing minutes of meetings.
• Demonstrates keen ability to anticipate needs of the Director, NCO team, and is proactive in spotting and resolving issues.

Experience

• At least 7 years’ experience supporting an executive in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.
• Excellent organizational skills that reflect ability to perform and prioritize multiple tasks seamlessly with excellent attention to detail.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to develop relationships with stakeholders, including internal staff, grantees, high level officials and other stakeholders.
• Demonstrated proactive approaches to problem-solving with excellent decision-making capability.
• Highly resourceful team-player, with the ability to also be effective independently.
• Demonstrated ability to handle confidential information with discretion, be adaptable to various requests.
• Demonstrated savvy in working across multiple time zones and across multiple cultures.
• Knowledge of Nigeria business environment and standards is required.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English, French skills a plus but not required.
• Experience in an environment requiring diplomacy and good judgment in managing interactions inside and outside an organization, with people at all levels, including senior executives and other high-level officials.
• Ability to effectively manage and work through ambiguity.
• Experience of providing guidance to and supervising the work of others is desirable.
• Experience establishing organizational systems to improve efficiency and functioning in a changing environment.
• Demonstrated proficiency using MS Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, MS SharePoint is required. Experience in learning and mastering new software applications.