Executive Assistant, Director's Office
Director's Office
Job posting information
Salary range: $8,659 - $10,391 per month
Location: Seattle, WA
Date posted: July 8, 2024
As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills, and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.
UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has an outstanding opportunity for an Executive Assistant to join their team.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent research organization at the University of Washington. Its mission is to deliver to the world timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence to improve health policy and practice. IHME carries out its mission through a range of projects within different research areas including the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors; Future Health Scenarios; Cost Effectiveness and Efficiency; Resource Tracking; and Impact Evaluations.
IHME is committed to providing the evidence base necessary to help solve the world’s most important health problems. This requires creativity and innovation, which are cultivated by an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment that respects and appreciates differences, embraces collaboration, and invites the voices of all IHME team members.
IHME has an outstanding opportunity for an Executive Assistant to support the Director of IHME, Dr. Chris Murray, in a fast-paced, demanding environment focused on research, training, and evaluation. The Executive Assistant is a highly visible representative of the Institute and a primary point of contact for the Director's office. The Executive Assistant’s purpose is to facilitate the smooth operation of the Director’s office so the Director can focus on key priorities and manage relationships with key stakeholders.
POSITION PURPOSE
The person in this role will represent IHME and the Director’s office in their interactions with individuals in a wide range of positions internally and externally, including faculty, staff and students at IHME; the University President, University Regents, and other senior administrators at the University of Washington; and senior government officials, intergovernmental institutions, academia, media, and public and private institutions. As such, discretion, independent judgement, political savvy, poise, proactiveness, attention to detail, and a positive manner will be critical to the Executive Assistant’s success in this role.
The Executive Assistant’s ability to effectively manage the Director’s time, taking into account institutional priorities, interdependencies, and complex individual and organizational relationships directly impacts the management of the entire organization. The person in this role will be able to learn a great deal about Global Health, building relationships with an incredibly diverse group of mission-driven people. They will use their positive attitude, desire to work on the never-ending puzzle of scheduling and reprioritizing, and ability to bring order to chaos to be of service to IHME and its many dedicated stakeholders.
Relationship Management and Prioritizing
- Act as a highly visible representative of the Institute and of the Director through interactions with external guests.
- Exercise a high degree of judgment in communicating with all parties and be proactive in seeking options to ensure efficiency.
- Work closely with the Chief of Staff and Project Officer, Director’s Office, to garner relevant knowledge, receive important input, and fully understand meeting needs and priorities.
- Promote a positive image of IHME and the Director.
- Understand the nuance of different relationships, including which are critical for the Director to maintain, and which other staff can manage.
- Interactions with all stakeholders on behalf of the Director’s office must be handled personably, diplomatically, and with a service-oriented mindset.
- Work closely with other support staff and administration to prioritize and coordinate projects and interactions.
Administrative Duties and Executive Support
- Carefully manage the daily calendar to ensure efficient workflow, focus, and effective use of the Director’s time and attention.
- Schedule and coordinate meetings involving internal and external participants who often have competing demands on their time.
- Ensure timely and efficient transitions from one meeting to the next.
- Receive, screen, and prioritize all incoming telephone calls to the Director personably, diplomatically, accurately, and efficiently.
- Create and maintain an organized system of tracking, monitoring and prioritizing tasks and projects.
- Develop and maintain highly confidential materials as appropriate, from a variety of internal and external sources.
- Perform other administrative duties for the Director such as tidying the office and personal travel arrangements as needed. Working closely with the Program Specialist, Director’s Office, prepare highly detailed itineraries for the Director’s travel.
- Coordinate closely with the Program Specialist, Director’s Office, particularly around travel logistics.
- Direct the Program Specialist, Director’s Office in purchasing travel and hotel bookings by providing the timing constraints within which travel must be booked.
- Maintain awareness of any changes to travel and hotel bookings that may occur during the travel and monitor and respond to communications while the Director is traveling in different time zones.
- Make restaurant bookings for the Director, taking into consideration the stature of involved participants.
Bachelor’s degree in business administration, communications, marketing, public administration, or related field and at least four years’ experience as an Executive Assistant, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.
- Proficient on a PC and comfortable learning new software and utilizing project management tools like Asana, Trello, Jira (Asana preferred).
- Experience working with Microsoft Office applications and highly proficient in MS Outlook.
- Exemplary interpersonal skills required: must be adept at diplomacy and able to form respectful and harmonious working relationships with people with different levels of experience and expertise from a variety of cultural, linguistic, and professional settings.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills.
- Experience with executing complex calendar management and travel arrangements.
- Experience handling sensitive situations with tact and confidentiality.
- Attention to detail.
- Strong organizational skills.
- Ability to function in a rapidly changing office environment while remaining steady, reliable, and attentive to emerging priorities.
- Experience setting priorities and meeting deadlines while balancing the needs of providing support for an individual in a fast-paced, demanding and high-volume work environment.
- A commitment to working alongside others at IHME to illuminate the health impacts of systemic racism and to work within IHME to make our organization more diverse and inclusive. See IHME’s DEI statement here: https://www.healthdata.org/about/dei.
- Interest in Global Health.
- Experience establishing organizational systems to improve efficiency in office and meeting coordination.
- Basic event planning skills.
- Evening and weekend work is required, particularly during times when the Director is traveling and in different time zones.
- This position is expected to report in-person to the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health on UW Seattle’s campus whenever the Director is in the office.
- This position is open to anyone authorized to work in the US.
- Working internationally is only allowed for IHME sponsored work that requires in-country participation.
Application information
Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, the University of Washington will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable, and welcoming.
The University of Washington is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. To request disability accommodations in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 / 206-543-6452 (TTY) or [email protected].
Application Process: The application process may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment, you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are access ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent research center at the University of Washington (UW). Its mission is to deliver to the world timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence to improve health policy and practice. IHME carries out its mission through a range of projects within different research areas including the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD), Injuries, and Risk Factors; Future Health Scenarios; Cost Effectiveness and Efficiency; Resource Tracking; and Impact Evaluations. Our vision is to provide policymakers, donors, and researchers with the highest-quality quantitative evidence base so all people live long lives in full health.
IHME is committed to providing the evidence base necessary to help solve the world’s most important health problems. This requires creativity and innovation, which are cultivated by an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment that respects and appreciates differences, embraces collaboration, and invites the voices of all IHME team members.