ResponsibilitiesThe National Security Directorate (NSD) Operations Office seeks a highly motivated, dependable, and customer-focused individual to provide administrative support to a dynamic team of operations specialists, the Foreign Travel Office, and Operations Office leadership. This position provides a broad range of administrative and business support to the Operations Manager and the operations specialists, including calendar management, meeting and agenda coordination, travel coordination, document preparation, purchasing, expense reporting, and other day-to-day administrative activities.
The successful candidate will demonstrate strong organizational skills, sound judgment, discretion, and the ability to independently assess and prioritize communications, respond to evolving needs, and appropriately coordinate or route information and actions. This role requires frequent interaction with managers, staff, and stakeholders at all levels across NSD and PNNL, making strong customer service, communication, teamwork, integrity, and the ability to maintain confidentiality essential. The position receives direction from the group leader and plays an important role in supporting the Operations Office and PNNL's research mission. Because close coordination, accessibility, and real-time collaboration are central to this role, the position is expected to work primarily onsite (a minimum of four days per week on average), aligned with the Operations Manager's schedule.
Performs administrative and office support activities. Duties may include managing schedules, emails, and travel, fielding telephone calls, receiving and directing visitors, word processing, creating spreadsheets and presentations, and filing. More specific duties depending on discipline may also include development of required documentation and fielding questions from internal or external stakeholders.
Other responsibilities and duties:
- Provide comprehensive and timely administrative support to the NSD Operations Office.
- The incumbent routinely organizes the calendars for the Operations Manager and Associate Operations Managers, managing and prioritizing multiple tasks within established processes.
- Provide guidance and support to team members on administrative processes and procedures.
- Work autonomously in a dynamic environment, managing and prioritizing multiple tasks within established processes.
- Manage high volumes of incoming email, correspondence, and phone calls with efficiency, accuracy, and attention to detail, assess urgency, prioritize and route communications as appropriate, coordinate responses, disseminate information, and track actions to ensure timely completion.
- Monitor NSD Operations inbox.
- Support domestic travel requests, bookings, and expense reporting for team.
- Prepare, edit, format and maintain documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other program materials using Microsoft Office Suite.
- Maintain/update the group SharePoint site and Microsoft Teams channel.
- Coordinate interviews, hiring processes, onboarding, and related documentation for new hires.
- Provide responsive support for inventory management, purchasing needs and reconciling purchases in alignment with PNNL policies.
- Exercise discretion with sensitive or confidential information, applying sound judgment and escalating complex or non standard issues appropriately.
- Contribute to continuous process improvement by identifying and resolving administrative issues.
- Interfaces with all levels of management and staff involved for the coordination of activities; acts as a resource to all staff.
This role is to be onsite at least 4 days a week.QualificationsMinimum Qualifications:
- High school diploma/GED and 8 years of relevant experience in an administrative environment -OR-
- AA degree or higher and 6 years of relevant experience in an administrative environment.
- Experience in planning meetings and coordinating travel
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience coordinating domestic travel itineraries, including familiarity with federal travel requirements.
- Familiarity with PNNL internal software and Lab business systems (e.g., PeopleSoft, B2B, EXPENSE, PCardPro) with the ability to resolve atypical system issues.
- Experience serving as a Technical Oversight Representative (TOR-1), including coordinating and overseeing technical procurements for goods and services from planning through closeout, while ensuring compliance with PNNL procedures.
- Experience managing P-card purchases and processing procurement requests within departmental procedures.
- Ability to work autonomously, managing and prioritizing multiple tasks within established procedures in a dynamic environment.
- Demonstrate strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to draft and edit content for diverse audiences, build positive working relationships with staff across multiple organizations, and communicate effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic, and sometimes sensitive work environment.
- Proven ability to provide guidance and support to team members on administrative processes and procedures.
- Experience mentoring, coaching, and/or supporting the professional development of other staff, including sharing knowledge, providing guidance, and promoting consistent practices and teamwork.
- Experience working in a customer-service-oriented environment supporting staff, with the ability to impact the group and closely related groups through quality and timeliness of work.
- Proficiency in identifying and resolving administrative issues and contributing to continuous process improvement within the group.
- Demonstrated ability to exercise discretion and handle sensitive or confidential information in a security-focused environment, applying sound judgment within established procedures and gathering relevant information to escalate complex or ambiguous issues appropriately.
Additional InformationThis position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a federal security clearance.
