Executive Administrative Associate

Position Overview: 

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory’s Director’s Office is seeking a highly skilled, results-driven, and detail-oriented Executive Administrative Associate to provide complex administrative and operational support to executive leadership with minimal supervision.

This highly visible role will serve as a key administrative partner to senior executive leaders within the Director’s Office supporting a dynamic portfolio of operations, projects, infrastructure, and organizational priorities. The Executive Administrative Associate will independently manage complex executive calendars and high-volume scheduling; lead coordination for meetings, site visits, and events; and provide quality oversight to promote consistency, efficiency, and effective administrative practices across the office.

As a member of the Director’s Office administrative team, the successful candidate will exercise sound judgment, maintain strict confidentiality, anticipate leadership needs, and build effective relationships with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders. This position requires exceptional organizational leadership, discretion, customer service, and the ability to operate as a trusted partner in advancing SLAC’s mission and values.

Reporting to the Executive Administrative Supervisor for the Office of the Laboratory Director, this position will support a dynamic portfolio of executive, operational, and organizational priorities.

Core responsibilities:

• Provide high-level, proactive administrative and operational support to executive leadership in the Director’s Office.
• Independently manage multiple complex executive calendars, including high-volume scheduling, prioritization of competing requests, resolution of scheduling conflicts, and coordination across internal and external stakeholders.
• Lead planning and coordination for executive meetings, leadership forums, site visits, conferences, and special events, including agendas, attendee communications, logistics, materials, room arrangements, catering, transportation, vendor coordination, and follow-up actions.
• Anticipate the needs of executive leaders and proactively identify solutions to administrative and operational challenges.
• Prepare, edit, format, and distribute executive correspondence, presentations, briefings, meeting materials, reports, and other documents with a high degree of accuracy and professionalism.
• Coordinate travel arrangements; prepare itineraries and support travel-related logistics and expense reporting.
• Oversee and/or process complex financial and administrative transactions, including purchasing, reimbursements, invoices, expense reports, and budget tracking; research and resolve discrepancies as needed.
• Maintain accurate and organized electronic and physical records, files, and shared resources, ensuring appropriate confidentiality and accessibility.
• Provide quality oversight and support continuous improvement of administrative processes, tools, procedures, and communications across the Director’s Office.
• Partner closely with other administrative professionals and operational teams to ensure coordinated coverage, consistency of service, and effective execution of shared priorities.
• Build and maintain productive working relationships with laboratory leadership, staff, faculty, external visitors, partner institutions, vendors, and other stakeholders.
• Exercise independent judgment in handling sensitive and confidential information and in determining appropriate actions, priorities, and escalation pathways.
• Support special projects and perform other related duties as assigned.

The expected pay range for this position is $45.23 –54.00 per hour.

Minimum Qualifications: 

• High school diploma or equivalent and six years of relevant administrative experience, or a combination of education and relevant experience.
• Demonstrated experience providing advanced administrative support to senior leaders in a complex, fast-paced environment.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, Google Workspace, email and calendar systems, virtual meeting platforms, and other administrative productivity tools.
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage complex calendars, coordinate high-volume scheduling, and balance multiple competing priorities.
• Strong organizational and project coordination skills, with exceptional attention to detail and follow-through.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare professional correspondence, presentations, and briefing materials.
• Demonstrated ability to exercise discretion, maintain confidentiality, and use sound judgment when handling sensitive information and matters.
• Strong interpersonal, customer service, diplomacy, and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to take initiative, anticipate needs, solve problems independently, and adapt effectively to changing priorities. 
   
• Ability to work collaboratively across diverse teams and with stakeholders at all levels of the organization.

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree
• PeopleSoft and Oracle, including Purchase card administration and reconciliation
• Experience working with executives or C-suite  
• Prior experience in a National Laboratory or with the Department of Energy

SLAC employee competencies:

• Effective Decisions: Uses job knowledge and solid judgment to make quality decisions in a timely manner.
• Self-Development: Pursues a variety of venues and opportunities to continue learning and developing.
• Dependability: Can be counted on to deliver results with a sense of personal responsibility for expected outcomes.
• Initiative: Pursues work and interactions proactively with optimism, positive energy, and motivation to move things forward. 
• Adaptability: Flexes as needed when change occurs, and maintains an open outlook while adjusting and accommodating changes. 
• Communication:  Ensures effective information flow to various audiences and creates and delivers clear, appropriate written and spoken messages. 
• Relationships: Builds relationships to foster trust, collaboration, and a positive climate to achieve.

Core Duties:

• Act on behalf of the supervisor, department manager, or chair in regards to establishing priorities and identifying and resolving problems that are administrative in nature.
• Research and/or write background information for meetings. Participate in meetings on supervisor’s behalf, inform after the fact.
• Oversee and/or perform duties associated with scheduling, organizing, and operating complex conferences, seminars, and events, including arranging with vendors for services, overseeing the production and distribution of materials, administering logistics, and managing event within budget.
• Compose and draft documents and correspondence for presentations, course handouts, grants, conferences, seminars, and reports; perform substantial research editing and fact checking. Create, maintain, modify, and/or ensure accuracy of content in various unit documents, displays, reports, brochures, social media, and/or websites.
• Plan and schedule calendar(s) without prior consultation, resolve calendaring conflicts, and arrange travel in compliance with unit, university, and sponsor policies.
• Create complex reports and spreadsheets which may utilize specialized software and systems. Make recommendations based on reports.
• Oversee and/or process a variety of complex financial transactions; produce, monitor, and reconcile budget statements; research, identify, and resolve discrepancies. May assist with capital or special equipment requests and/or vendor selection.
• Coordinate complex office moves. Plan and coordinate routine remodeling and renovations.
• Analyze and review material and extract pertinent information for briefing purposes.

Positions at this level also include one or more of the following duties:

• In conjunction with financial lead and/or principal investigator, assist with sponsored project research proposal submissions and post award administration.
• Responsible for leading the administrative functions of a program or unit.
• Perform human resources transactional support and/or faculty affairs support; coordinate or manage the visa process.
• Serve as building coordinator.
• Oversee or supervise day-to-day work of other administrative or support staff, student and/or temporary workers, including scheduling, assigning, and prioritizing workloads, setting appropriate deadlines, reviewing work for quality and timeliness, and providing performance review input.

Minimum Education and Experience

High school diploma and six years of administrative experience, or combination of education and relevant experience.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Advanced computer skills and demonstrated experience with office software and email applications.
• Proven success in following through and completing projects.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent customer service and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to prioritize, multi-task, and assign work to others.
• Ability to take initiative and ownership of projects.
• Ability to routinely and independently exercise sound judgment in making decisions.