Executive Administrative Assistant

Electrical Safety Authority; Cambridge; Hybrid; CAD 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A regulatory body in Cambridge is seeking an Executive Administrative Assistant & Facility Management for a 9-month contract. This role supports the Customer Service Centre with a range of administrative tasks, including managing schedules, preparing confidential reports, and coordinating facility management services. The ideal candidate has strong organizational skills, experience in project management, and familiarity with budgeting processes. The position is hybrid and requires confidentiality and attention to detail.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in administrative and office operations.
• Familiarity with budget planning and preparation.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Experience in facility management.
• Strong project and time management skills.

Responsibilities

• Manage overall administrative services operation for the Customer Service Centre.
• Prepare and review confidential reports and documents.
• Coordinate scheduling and administrative practices across the company.
• Assist in budget preparation and monitor budget performance.
• Ensure compliance with corporate policies and procedures.

Skills

Project Management

Organizational Skills

Communication

Budgeting

Data Analysis

Education

Grade XII or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft Office Suite

Statistical Reporting Systems

Job description

Executive Administrative Assistant & Facility Management – 9-month

GENERAL ACCOUNTABILITIES

The Executive Administrative Assistant & Facility Management role provides a full range of office and facility management, administrative and scheduling services and support the Customer Service Centre. Strict confidentiality is required in many circumstances.

• Manage the overall administrative services operation for the CSC. Provide administrative, office and facility management services and support pertinent to labour relations, communication, project management and project coordination, budgeting, effective work environments and records management.
• Work with Management and department staff on the interpretation and/or application of procedures, guidelines, and business processes to ensure compliance. Provide Management and department staff with insight into the root causes of problems. Generate a range of solutions and courses of action outlining benefits, costs and risks associated with each alternative. Work with Management and department staff on implementation of new initiatives. Coordinate administrative practices in the department and across the company to ensure accuracy, province-wide consistency and conformance with existing corporate policies and procedures. Recommend administrative process improvements, where applicable. Prepare and develop administrative practices and procedures by reviewing with stakeholders and gathering input and approval.
• Prepare, monitor and review confidential reports, high profile events, human resources or legal enquiries/documents, such as contracts, confidentiality agreements, litigation materials, etc. Compile information ensuring ESA’s Privacy Plan is adhered to and provide to Management, ESA Legal Counsel or ESA government liaison for follow-up, as needed.
• Provide coordination services of scheduling to Management, Industry and Consumer Committees, etc. Follow-up on enquiries and deadlines and determine specific requirements related to strategic planning, projects, performance measurement and reporting.
• Participate with Management to set Corporate Objectives and priorities, outline schedule of project work, update on the status of work, target dates, and schedule meetings to identify the impact of new or conflicting assignments or events.

• Perform research, data collection and analysis for meetings, reports and presentations, in support of the department. Contribute to statistical presentations performing extraction of specific data, summarization of information, calculations arithmetically or through use of standard statistical techniques, preparation of tables, graphs and charts.

• Take meeting minutes; prepare communications, meeting agendas, organization charts, presentations, Board and other meeting materials. Use submissions, general guidance or direction to meet requirements. Prepare, have access to, use and process confidential material as required.

• Provide communication services to the department and to other staff including issuing e-mails regarding department and business matters. Contact IT or other service providers, resolving any issues. Provide support with respect to internet services, cell phones and other business tools, as Refer any inappropriate use of these services to Management for resolution.

• Provide coordination, administrative and planning services for events such as ESA conferences, corporate training sessions, etc. involving internal and external stakeholders. Arrange logistics (incl. venue, travel/accommodation, refreshments, audio/visual equipment, presenters and materials). Develop, manage costs and monitor event budgets and source competitive quotes. Coordinate and manage ESA recognition and branding programs. Lead and participate on project teams, programs and committees as required. Assist project leads in developing project plans and milestones, track timelines and RFI/RF scoring and provide reporting on project progress.

• Liaise with Human Resources to interpret general collective agreement language and/or provide clarification to staff. Participate and assist in the coordination of departmental interview process as required (CV screening, phone interviews, etc).

• Monitor and coordinate approval of payroll, track human resources information and prepare appropriate forms, as necessary. Oversee and ensure employee hiring and on-boarding process is followed and completed as per business processes and procedures. Provide Management with request for hire/business case documentation, as required.

• Coordinate and oversee travel and accommodation requirements, hotel and conference bookings, car rentals, etc. as requested. Manage and prioritize schedules for Management and department staff. Manage calendars for meetings and appointments. Obtain required travel documents for Management, Board or Committee Members. Prioritize appointments and meetings to meet schedules and adjust when necessary. Handle incoming/outgoing mail, emails and telephone calls and interface with internal/external stakeholders. Ensure complaints and inquires are appropriately directed and follow the Complaints Policy. Investigate and evaluate the situation, determining the appropriate response. Resolve the situation and, if necessary, involve the appropriate technical or service resource.

• Adhere to a core set of values represented in decisions and actions when planning, submitting and reporting a department budget. Determine, in conjunction with Management and the department, the extent of data and resources required as well as deadlines of the budget process. Contribute to budget development through the compilation and calculation of data, presentation and final submission of budget and forecast details for approval from appropriate authorities. Review and verify consolidated budget data in mainframe to ensure accuracy.

• Maintain records relating to budget preparation, and ensure all budget policies, procedures and instructions are readily available. Secure, as necessary, explanations and interpretations from appropriate staff as to the intent and application of budget regulations and procedures.

• Prepare budget forecasts for revenue and expenses. Assist in coordinating, forecasting and tracking of department headcount. Collect and utilize budget data and calculate year-end and year-to-date trends, variation and cause and process revisions in accordance with corporate policies and procedures.

• Monitor budget performance and identify budget variances, investigating through reference to internal records, accounting details or other resource information. Alert appropriate staff and provide details as a means of explaining variances. Seek ways to reduce expenses, when required. Investigate cost discrepancies and adjust as required and in line with OAR approval limits. Manage budget/financial obligations. Verify all expenses and take action on inappropriate charges. Reconciliation of invoicing, contracts, training, and accounts for cost recovery.

• Approve departmental invoices and expenses as per the current Organizational Authority Register (OAR). Ensure department expense approvals follow the current OAR and are properly allocated. Identify and request transfers and accruals, as required. Safeguard fiscal resources, adhere to all internal control procedures designed to prevent and detect misuse of funds. Remain alert to breaches and report problems to Management with proposed resolutions.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The successful candidate will have:

• This knowledge is normally acquired either through the successful completion of Grade XII in a Secondary, Commercial or Technical School plus intermediate specialized courses or by having the equivalent level of education.

• Requires the ability to be extremely organized while meeting tight timelines and managing change in a professional and efficient manner.

• Requires knowledge of business mathematics and statistics as they relate to cost reporting and budgeting process when extracting or summarizing data, performing calculations or preparing tables and graphs.

• Requires an understanding of business and office principles to assimilate data, maintain records and to handle details associated with office operations.

• Requires knowledge of HR fundamentals to be able to respond to collective agreement queries.

• Requires knowledge of various business software packages for the purposes of extracting and analyzing data for forecasting, planning, identifying and mitigating unplanned variances.

• Requires the ability to provide business operations analysis for financial performance and measure results against expectations.

• Requires experience/exposure to understand administrative and office operations across the company and each department’s roles/responsibilities.

• Requires experience with budget planning, preparation, submission, reporting and forecasting. These activities focus on processing all the requirements involved in budget preparation; variance explanations and the procedures, practices and regulations associated with the budget system.

• Requires familiarity with statistical reporting systems and tools. Requires experience in the setup, security and maintenance of records.

• Requires experience to understand the company’s communications needs, office equipment, tools (Inc. Computer equipment, vehicles, PPE, etc.).

• Requires experience to understand marketing requirements and providers.

• Requires experience supervising and coaching staff in a unionized environment.

• Ability to communicate business needs and decisions with peers and staff.

• Requires experience in facility management, planning and coordination services. Requires excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.

• Requires experience in negotiating contracts and arranging meetings with internal and external stakeholders including hotel/lodging, presenters, material/handouts, refreshments and all other associated needs.

• Requires the ability to deal with situations in a professional and confidential manner, when required.

• Ability to work independently, using sound judgement and to take initiative, when required.

• Project and Time Management, Communication and Change Management skills are essential.

• A period of up to four years is considered necessary to gain this experience.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS

Reports to: General Manager Customer Service
Direct Reports: None
Works Closely with: All ESA

THIS POSITION IS REPRESENTED BY THE POWER WORKERS UNION

This is a non-represented position

We are looking to fill a 9-month contract

This position is based out of ESA’s Cambridge office and the work arrangement is hybrid.

Occ Code: 117024

35-hour basic work week

HOW TO APPLY

• Apply online on our website: https://esasafe.com/careers/
• Please be advised that in relation to all job postings, accommodation for persons with disabilities is available throughout the selection process, upon request in accordance with requirements under the Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.