Senior Administrative Assistant, Communications

Job Description

Position title: Senior Administrative Assistant, Communications

Location: Geneva

Purpose of the position: To support Gavi’s Communications team and its Director

Department: Public Engagement & Information Services

Team: Communications

Reports to: Director, Communications

N° of positions supervised (if applicable): 0

Career step level: 2

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership committed to saving children’s lives and protecting people’s health by increasing equitable use of vaccines in lower-income countries. The Vaccine Alliance brings together implementing country and donor governments, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. Gavi uses innovative finance mechanisms, including co-financing by recipient countries, to secure sustainable funding and adequate supply of quality vaccines. Since 2000, Gavi has contributed to the immunisation of more than 888 million children and the prevention of more than 15 million future deaths.

THE ROLE

Gavi’s Communications Team is a small, tight-knit and high-performing team working in a sensitive and fast-paced communications environment. Leading Gavi’s work of communicating its role in COVAX, routine immunisation and the global effort to reach zero-dose children to a global audience, as well as Gavi staff and the wider Vaccine Alliance. The Comms Team consists of a media team, institutional and internal comms teams, an advocacy lead and a content team.

The Senior Administrative Assistant will be expected to bring day-to-day communications and logistics support to the Director of Communications and other team members with timely, accurate and high-quality administrative support in line with Gavi Policy, Procedures and Platforms.

He/she will proactively identify and address issues, and improvement opportunities to drive team logistic ability to thrive in a dynamic team environment, demonstrating critical decision-making skills, and excellent interpersonal and communication abilities.

He/she will demonstrate productive collaborations with relevant Gavi Secretariat colleagues, external collaborators, media professionals, country and partner counterparts and build harmonious working relationships with all stakeholders.

MAIN DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Support for team activities:

• Assist the Director with following up on time-sensitive matters, scheduling and planning, agenda, and implementation of HR processes for decisions to be made in due course;
• Manage the Director’s agenda;
• Support the Communications team in preparation and tracking of documents and contracts;
• Ensure follow-up and timely delivery of the department and the Secretariat demands;
• Schedule and participate in Communications team meetings to identify priorities and critical activities and be the focal point for the administrative or logistic implications. Support flow of information within the team and across the department or with other teams when appropriate;
• Support new Gavi staff and consultants in the orientation and on boarding process. Ensure appropriate arrangements are in place (IT equipment, relevant accounts, and access). Schedule introductory meetings and prepare onboarding documents;
• Attend internal training sessions and stay updated on relevant options or Gavi platform features;
• Encourage the team to use Gavi platforms and systems, set up training sessions when advisable;
• Maintain proper filing and access to information.

Contracts, Vendors and Invoices:

• Advise and support the Director and Contract Managers on contract preparation, process, budget and deadlines;
• Liaise with the Procurement team to identify most effective and relevant procurement model for new contracts;
• Stay up to date with new processes, policies and procedures and encourage the team to follow up and apply those;
• Manage the contracts and invoices through SAP in coordination with the business/contract owners;
• Point person to the external vendors and/or consultants on final contracts and invoices;
• Manage Purchase Orders quarterly reports.

Budget:

• Monitor team budget in SAP / SAC;
• Create SAP/SAC budget reports for the director and prepare quarterly reports for the Managing Director;
• Support the Director on annual budget preparation as per Finance policy and guidelines;
• Liaise with Finance as budget focal point;
• Manage accurate year end closing according to the Finance team deadlines and procedures.

Meetings and events support:

• Assist with event planning including internal and external meetings organisation, facilitation and catering;
• Support the organisation of media trips, set up travel arrangements and process expense claims for third parties (journalists, photographers, videographers);
• Coordinate the logistic for exhibitions or external events including engaging with partner organisations in countries;
• Draft correspondence, prepare letters of invitation;
• Keep calendars up to date.

Travel arrangements/Expense claims:

• Support team members with travel arrangements and submission of travel authorisation through the Gavi travel tool in compliance with Gavi travel policy;
• Arrange and follow up on visa requests;
• Carry out third parties’ travel arrangements;
• Ensure expense claims of third parties are submitted promptly and in due time. Support team members on their expense claim preparation and submission;
• Stay up to date with Gavi travel policy and act as team travel focal point.

Communications and Information support:

• Maintain the subscriptions database up to date also with online login details, as well as periodical renewals;
• On request, purchase articles for the team or the Secretariat;
• On request, coordinate translations for press releases and various internal publications;
• Monitor and maintain the stock of Gavi Corporate products such as publications or goods;
• Point person for corporate products or goodies;
• Monitoring of the Gavi email info box and dispatch to the relevant teams across the Secretariat.

Other administrative tasks:

• Provide cover and/or support for other PE&IS Assistants;
• Maintain Salesforce and team attendance calendars.

Note: The essential functions listed in this section are not exhaustive of the job responsibilities; other duties may be assigned consistently with the department needs.

QUALIFICATIONS

ACADEMIC

• Completion of at least two years of university education. Training in secretarial/administrative field highly desirable.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Significant career in secretarial/administrative field showing of progressively responsible work, including supporting a senior leader/team for at least 3 years;
• Understanding of and demonstrated ability to interact and engage with a large variety of internal and external stakeholders;
• Proven ability to quickly adapt to a complex administrative and organisational environment;
• Experience working in media and communications field is an asset;
• Experience working in multicultural environment is an asset.

SKILLS/COMPETENCIES

• High performer to prioritise and work under pressure;
• Advanced secretarial and administrative skills, with excellent written and oral communications;
• Technology savvy, proficient with Microsoft Office applications, ability to work across multiple platforms; SAP a plus;
• Ability to make decisions and operate independently, as well as judgement to know when to seek guidance;
• Ability to multitask, and judgement to prioritise;
• Highly organised and structured, good planner, with a high level of attention to detail;
• Experience of budget management;
• Good understanding of international travel in order to support travel needs;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, diplomatic abilities, and cultural sensitivity;
• Demonstrated team player, with ability to operate in a multicultural environment, and establish harmonious and effective working relationships;
• Pro-active, with an ability to anticipate and address needs;
• Excellent problem-solving skills– identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner and gathers and analyses information skilfully;
• A good sense of humour.

LANGUAGES

• Written and spoken fluency in English;
• Fluency in French is a plus.

CONTACTS

• Gavi Secretariat;
• Large variety of external stakeholders.

If you wish to apply, please provide a cover letter and resume through our Careers webpage and apply by clicking on “Senior Administrative Assistant, Communications”. Deadline for applications is 7 January 2022.

Please note that as a vaccine organisation and in order to provide duty of care towards its employees, Gavi is requiring its new employees to confirm that they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as a condition for pursuing employment with us. You can find out more by visiting this link.

Become part of our community and join us on Facebook and Twitter for updates about our mission to save children’s lives! You can also follow our hashtag #vaccineswork.

Gavi brings together the public and private sectors to save lives and protect people’s health by increasing equitable and sustainable use of vaccines against 18 infectious diseases. You will be joining an organisation at the centre of the international COVID-19 response, at the most critical time in global health in a lifetime. You will work in a culturally diverse environment with over 70 nationalities. You will collaborate with partners such as WHO, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank – and from business, civil society and government. And you will work in the first global health organisation to receive equal gender salary certification. Your unique experience, skills and talents can help us achieve our vision of leaving no one behind without the life-saving power of vaccines.

In support of Gavi’s commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion, we hire globally and welcome applications regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, national origin, family status, sex, gender identity or expression, physical characteristics, race, religion, spirituality or sexual orientation.

About the Organization

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership committed to saving children's lives and protecting people's health by increasing equitable use of vaccines in lower-income countries. The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. Gavi uses innovative finance mechanisms, including co-financing by recipient countries, to secure sustainable funding and adequate supply of quality vaccines. Since 2000, Gavi has contributed to the immunisation of nearly 855 million children and the prevention of more than 15 million future deaths.

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