Department Administrator

Berkeley Lab’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) Division has an opening for a Department Administrator. You will report to the OCFO Senior Business Manager and work under general direction, you will manage general administrative services for one or more OCFO departments. Your responsibilities include independent management, planning, and oversight of moderately complex and varied operational and administrative tasks and activities. 

What You Will Do:

• Manage all aspects of the Department Heads’ schedule, commitments, and travel arrangements using a high degree of discretion, diplomacy, anticipation and organization, interfacing with Lab Directorate, University of California, DOE and other key contacts, and preparing agenda and meeting materials.  Understand the Department Heads’ operations, priorities, and responsibilities and use independent judgment to triage a broad range of scheduling issues and decide on a course of action.

• Exercise significant professional judgment and independent initiative, review and triage incoming correspondence to determine their significance and plan for distribution. Compose correspondence and send out e-mail under the Department Heads’ signatures to both internal and external recipients.

• Prepare and/or coordinate preparation and compilation of presentations, reports and other material in support of Department Heads’ or senior management activities and meetings. Review documents prepared by others to ensure they are error-free, the subject matter is presented clearly and concisely, and formatting is consistent throughout the document and conforms to OCFO and department branding.

• Provide check entry and signature authority certification support to the General Accounting office.

• Working collaboratively with department managers and staff provide a lead role in a wide variety of ongoing activities including meeting and event planning and scheduling, data gathering, material preparation, travel, and purchasing.

• Arrange logistics for off-site meetings and events, such as quarterly all-hands meetings, trainings, peer-reviews, etc.

• Track and manage action items for department managers, coordinate and support communications flow among the senior management team. 

• Organize and maintain department electronic and paper files and ensure that the appropriate department staff responds to critical deliverables in a timely manner.

• Manage HR and Payroll functions and activities related to recruitment and hiring of employees, and processing of contract workers and affiliates.

• Manage the collection and reporting of departments’ off-site training for DOE conference approval.

• Coordinate the installation of new or upgraded telephone and data processing equipment. Monitor telephone charges. Keep informed of telephone and data services available and coordinate with Telephone Services or LBNL Network Operations to find solutions to operational requirements.

• Coordinate and plan the use of available office space throughout the year – particularly during peak periods to meet additional staffing needs. Coordinate office relocations.

• Perform various administrative responsibilities as needed in support of assigned departments and the OCFO division.  Serve as administrative back-up for other OCFO administrative staff.

• Participate actively in quality, process improvement, and re-engineering efforts. Emphasize continuous improvement and best practices. Help fulfill the overall goals of assigned departments by performing additional tasks as assigned when the need arises.

What Is Required:

• Minimum four years of directly related experience providing administrative/executive assistant support to a senior manager(s) or a combination of experience and a Bachelor’s Degree.

• Experience arranging and rearranging travel, including interacting with travel agencies, hotels and carriers; and processing travel approvals and expense statements.

• Demonstrated skills in organizing and managing multiple priorities and deadlines.

• Excellent judgment in managing Department Head’s daily activities, including scheduling and calendar management, handling of urgent matters, computer issues, etc.  Ability to screen and prioritize requests made to the Department Head; judgment to determine items that require immediate attention, and initiative to redirect requests to other Division staff for action as appropriate.

• Strong skills in providing excellent customer-focused administrative support.  Demonstrated ability to take initiative, assume responsibility and remain flexible in a fast-paced environment with competing priorities. Experience adapting to change and adjusting priorities when needed; ability to anticipate and identify service needs and independently develop solutions.  Demonstrated ability to use creativity and problem-solving skills to meet support needs. 

• Very strong interpersonal and communication skills including excellent verbal and written communication skills.  Ability to act as a point of contact and interact effectively with a wide variety of internal and external contacts at various levels.  Calm, professional appearance, and demeanor and ability to work effectively and professionally with a variety of people, including those at the highest Lab and DOE levels and in distant locations, and to represent the Department Head on logistical and other matters.  Able to function effectively as a team member.

• Intermediate capability in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Calendar and Gmail applications, and ability to produce professional-quality, error-free documents, reports and presentations using PC computer applications.  Basic to intermediate understanding of standard computer applications and office computer hardware configurations.

Additional Desired Qualifications:

• Thorough understanding of DOE, LBNL, UC and Division policies, procedures and systems.

• Working knowledge of LBNL financial and HR systems.

The posting shall remain open until the position is filled.

Notes: 

• This is a full time, 1 year, term appointment with the possibility of extension or conversion to Career appointment based upon satisfactory job performance, continuing availability of funds and ongoing operational needs.

• Full-time, M-F, exempt (monthly paid) from overtime pay.

• Salary is commensurate with experience.

• This position may be subject to a background check. Any convictions will be evaluated to determine if they directly relate to the responsibilities and requirements of the position. Having a conviction history will not automatically disqualify an applicant from being considered for employment.

• Work will be primarily performed at Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) — Bldg. 971, 6401 Hollis St., Emeryville, CA.

Berkeley Lab (LBNL) addresses the world’s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab’s scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Berkeley Lab is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or protected veteran status. Berkeley Lab is in compliance with the Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision under 41 CFR 60-1.4.  Click here to view the poster and supplement: "Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law."