Executive Officer

The Garvan Institute of Medical Research; Sydney; On-site; AUD 135,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary packaging

Training & development

International environment

Flexible work arrangements

Parental leave

Leave types including cultural/confer/

Discounted Health Insurance

Lifestyle discounts

Job summary

Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney seeks an Executive Officer to lead the Executive Office and provide governance support. You will prepare briefing packs, manage the Executive Director’s diary, and oversee high‑stakes communications in a fast‑paced scientific environment.

The role covers people leadership of the Executive Assistant, governance infrastructure design, and proactive cross‑functional coordination with internal and external stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Exceptional organisational capability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication for senior executives and diverse stakeholders.
• Ability to distil complex material into concise, decision-ready briefings.
• Anticipatory mindset, proactive diary and information management.

Responsibilities

• Executive Support: briefings, papers, and high-stakes communications for the Executive Director.
• Day-to-day operation of the Executive Office in partnership with the EA.
• People Leadership: supervise the Executive Assistant and set service standards for the office.
• Planning: coordinate annual calendars, governance architecture, and board/committee support.

Skills

Organisational excellence

Written & verbal communication

Analytical judgement

Anticipatory mindset

Stakeholder management

Education

Tertiary qualification desirable

Tools

PowerPoint

Google Slides

Canva

Job description

Garvan Institute of Medical Research brings together world leading scientists and clinicians, collaborating locally and globally, to advance our understanding of disease, particularly cancer, autoimmunity and genetic disorders. Garvan is a global leader in fundamental biomedical research and its translation. Our mission is to make discoveries that will improve health for all.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Executive Officer is responsible for the operational leadership and governance support of the Executive Office. This includes the people leadership of the EA/Office Manager, the design of institutional governance infrastructure, and the management of a wide variety of stakeholder communications. The Executive Officer partners closely with the Executive Director to determine priorities, plan activities, and prepare for key engagements. Central to the role is ensuring the Executive Director is fully briefed and prepared in advance of each day, and leading the Executive Office – in close partnership with the Executive Assistant – so that it operates as a seamless, anticipatory and highly organised function.

Salary: Up to $150k + 12% super + salary packaging (depending on experience)

Employment Type: Permanent Full Time

SNAPSHOT OF BENEFITS

• Generous salary packaging to save you income tax on your wages thereby boosting your monthly take home pay (max. $15,900 general expenses + $2,650 meals/accom)
• Ample opportunities for on-going training and development
• Stimulating, diverse and highly international research environment
• Flexible work arrangements e.g. start / finish times
• 18 weeks paid parental leave for both parents including paid superannuation
• A range of additional leave types to meet your personal needs including cultural leave, conference leave, community service and study leave
• Discounted Health Insurance
• Lifestyle discounts with our community partners

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Executive Support

Ensure the Executive Director is fully briefed and prepared in advance of each day. Prepare and present a daily briefing pack covering the day’s schedule and run of events, background and context for each engagement, the people involved, talking points and key messages, decisions required, priorities and outstanding actions, and any emerging issues requiring the Executive Director’s attention. Own the Executive Director’s forward preparation horizon, working ahead of the diary to ensure briefing material, papers and supporting information are complete, accurate and provided in sufficient time. Anticipate what will be needed and act without prompting, so that no engagement is entered unprepared.

Lead the day-to-day operation of the Executive Office, partnering closely with the Executive Assistant to integrate diary, correspondence, briefing and logistics workflows into a single, smoothly operating function with clear standards, rhythms and handovers. Support the Executive Director and oversee the Executive Assistant in the management of queries and requests sent to the Executive Office, developing action plans, drafting responses and assisting with the dissemination of communications. Manage, author, edit and review high stakes communications and correspondence for the Executive Director. This includes the development of briefing materials, drafting of Board papers, crisis communications, and sensitive institutional messaging.

Ensure ‘voice’ consistency across all Executive Office outputs. Represent the perspectives of the Executive Office in key leadership forums (e.g., Program Director workshops) to ensure alignment with Executive Office priorities and maintain visibility on cross‑functional initiatives. Support the Executive Director’s presentation commitments including scheduling, run sheets and other supporting material. Assist with presentation preparation using tools such as Powerpoint, Google Slides or Canva. Provide research assistance for the Executive Director, e.g. by performing background research, or critically analyse initiatives, trends or developments that may impact the Institute.

People Leadership

Provide formal people leadership to the Executive Assistant. Accountabilities include performance management, regular career check‑ins, professional development, and the oversight of office‑wide R/DACI frameworks to ensure high‑performance operational workflows. Set the standards, ways of working and service expectations for the Executive Office as a whole, ensuring consistently smooth, responsive and professional support to the Executive Director and to stakeholders engaging with the office.

Planning

Develop and coordinate an annual calendar of key initiatives led by or involving the Executive Director including internal and external symposia and events, industry and sector activities, and international roadshows. Design and maintain the governance architecture for the Institute Leadership Team (ILT) and Executive Leadership Team (ELT). This includes the development of Terms of Reference, decision‑making protocols, and the integration of forward‑planning cycles with Board governance. Provide proactive secretariat support to ELT, ILT and relevant committee/s as required including the setting of meeting dates; distribution of agenda and meeting papers.

Ensure time and focus is prioritised on key strategic and priority operational matters. Follow up and ensure action items from relevant meetings are dealt with promptly and efficiently. Develop appropriate communication content for timely delivery through agreed Executive and ILT communication channels.

ABOUT YOU

The key skills and experience include: Exceptional organisational capability, with a demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex and competing priorities to deadline without loss of accuracy or attention to detail Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to distil complex, technical or sensitive material into concise, decision‑ready briefings for a senior executive audience, and to adapt tone and register across internal, Board, government and external stakeholders. Strong intellect and analytical judgement – able to rapidly absorb unfamiliar scientific, financial and governance material, identify what matters, and form sound independent conclusions. Level‑headed and composed under pressure, exercising discretion, sound judgement and emotional steadiness in high‑stakes, ambiguous or contentious situations. Anticipatory mindset – consistently works ahead of the Executive Director’s requirements and acts before being asked. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills including demonstrated experience and skills in liaison, negotiation and conflict resolution with staff at all levels Ability to build and maintain strong, long‑lasting relationships with a variety of stakeholders Advanced working knowledge of word processing and spreadsheet software Ability to think independently, work autonomously and be proactive Comfortable with a flexible working environment and able to maintain productivity while working remotely Demonstrated experience supporting an executive or board‑level principal, or equivalent experience in a complex professional or research environment Science experience and/or knowledge of scientific/medical terminology is desirable A relevant tertiary qualification is desirable.

ABOUT GARVAN

Garvan Institute of Medical Research is an independent Medical Research Institute (MRI) in Sydney, delivering scientific and clinical impact on a global basis and in partnership with organisations that share our vision. We are proud to be one of Australia’s largest and most highly regarded MRI’s. Our vision is global leadership in discoveries to impact and our enduring purpose is to impact human health, by harnessing information encoded in our genome. We seek to see our world‑class discovery research achieve life‑changing impacts, not only for individual patients with rare diseases, but for the many thousands affected by complex, common disease.

Garvan promotes a diverse workplace and is committed to the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. We are always looking for culture ‘add’, not culture ‘fit’ and are building diverse teams with great sets of complementary styles and skills to help deliver our important work effectively.

Through our key scientific strengths in data, genomics, cellular, translation and clinical science, we aim to catalyse research from fundamental discovery to transformational impact. Enabled by cutting‑edge technology and world‑class facilities, and the support of our passionate Garvan family; our researchers and professional staff strive, every day, to create a future where everyone lives longer, healthier lives.

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