Personal Assistant

University of Oxford; Oxford; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 35,000; Part time

Job summary

University of Oxford requires a highly organised Personal Assistant to provide executive support to senior academics. You will manage complex diaries, coordinate meetings and arrange travel with discretion and professionalism.

The role starts ASAP, runs for 12 weeks at 36.5 hours per week (Mon-Fri, 7:30am-3:30pm) with a pay rate of £16.92 per hour plus holiday pay. On-site based in Oxford, eligibility for holiday pay applies.

Qualifications

• Good level of general education, preferably degree level or equivalent.
• Significant experience as a personal assistant in a complex, busy organisation.
• Experience with Committee administration and supporting senior staff.

Responsibilities

• Provide executive support, including diary management, meetings and travel arrangements.
• Act as a key contact for stakeholders and handle confidential information appropriately.
• Coordinate conferences, seminars and travel, including venues, catering and registrations.
• Prepare agendas, papers and minutes; track action plans and reporting to senior management.
• Support research groups with administrative tasks and project-related duties.

Skills

Diary management

Travel arrangements

Stakeholder liaison

Office IT systems

MS Office

Education

Degree or equivalent

Tools

Oracle Financials

Google Workspace

MS Office

Job description

We are seeking a highly organised and proactive Personal Assistant to join our team. This role is ideal for someone who excels at providing high-level administrative and executive support, managing complex diaries and travel, coordinating meetings and committees, and building effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.

The position is set to commence ASAP and will be from 36.5 hours per week (Mon-Fri from 7:30am-3:30pm) for 12 weeks(with a pay rate of £16.92 per hour + holiday pay).

Main Duties:

Executive support for the senior academics

• Provide first-class administrative support, including diary management as required, making appointments, organising and supporting meetings, and booking refreshments/catering for meetings.
• Act as an ambassador and a key contact on behalf of the academics, establishing and maintaining key relationships with a diverse group of stakeholders, recognising the highly confidential nature of correspondence and documentation and treating it appropriately.
• Research and source information as requested to respond to queries, provide material for presentations or papers or undertake ad hoc projects for the academics sometimes to tight timescales.
• Maintain, develop and improve as appropriate, online record-keeping and filing systems
• Process Purchase Orders, using Oracle Financials, and ensure accurate records are maintained, including liaison with suppliers to ensure that orders are processed and can be delivered in a timely manner.
• Manage email accounts, flagging any high priority emails and responding to emails on behalf of the academics when appropriate. This includes providing advice and using own initiative to field queries to all levels of external stakeholders; monitoring and independently responding to email and hard copy correspondence, drafting and preparing documents on behalf of the academics.
• Make the arrangements for conferences, seminars and meetings, including booking accommodation, meals and registration
• Provide assistance for visitors and new arrivals to the research groups, including dealing with basic queries and making travel and accommodation arrangements

Committee Administration and reporting

• Manage a Committee Schedule.
• Make arrangements for committee meetings, for example, make room bookings and order catering as required. Collate presentations. Liaise with IT colleagues to ensure technical arrangements run smoothly, particularly for hybrid meetings.
• Prepare agendas and papers. Prepare lists of attendees and apologies. Take and circulate minutes.
• Support the tracking of action plans and reporting on progress to senior management and committees.

Research projects

• Support research group projects as required such as getting quotations, investigating supplier options and raising purchase orders.
• Supporting the research group with planning for visits to research labs, exhibitions and conference attendance.
• Administrative tasks associated with project publications.

Other duties

• Provide cover as needed
• Develop effective and successful working relationships with academic and support staff colleagues across the Department and in the Divisional office.
• As a member of the Department’s Operational Support Network, share information and exchange best practise.
• Act as a role model and mentor for other administrative staff, particularly those in administrative support/PA positions.
• Carry out any other duties which are requested and are commensurate with the grade of this post.
• Manage submission of project funder reports for the professors, liaising with internal and external collaborators.
• Submitting publications to ORA on behalf of the professors.
• Make complex travel arrangements for UK and international travel (for ORI academic staff), including production of itineraries and travel packs, booking of flights, travel insurance, and making arrangements for visas where necessary etc.

Many of these duties will have to be completed to tight deadlines or in the absence of detailed information, and the post-holder will need to use their initiative, balanced with a keen sense of the extent of their executive authority.

Selection Criteria:

• A good level of general education, preferably to degree level or equivalent.
• Significant experience as a personal assistant in a complex, busy organisation.
• Experience of Committee administration
• Experience of working with senior members of staff and demonstrable experience of operating efficiently without reference to a senior line manager or other colleagues taking initiative when necessary, and prioritising effectively to meet deadlines.
• Experience of co-ordinating or managing projects, action plans or similar.
• Excellent written communication skills, demonstrated through a high standard of literacy and ability to draft correspondence, reports, minutes, etc., including accurate typing and proofreading skills.
• An eye for detail and creative flair in the presentation of various materials (written and visual).
• Proven ability to manage, organise and prioritise a varied and busy workload and work to deadlines, including ability to cope with unpredictable volumes of work.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including an excellent telephone manner and a proven ability to deal with highly influential external contacts.
• Evidence of tact and discretion in dealing with confidential matters or sensitive situations.
• Excellent skills in office IT systems, including e‑mail, the web and MS Office applications such as Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint and Google Workspace. Able to deal with changing office technologies.
• Self‑motivated, resilient, with a proactive approach, and commitment to high standards
• A complete team player, flexibility in all senses and willing, on occasion, to work outside regular hours.
• Experience of events organisation
• Experience with creating forms, designing databases
• Experience of using financial information systems (e.g. Oracle Financials)

Vacancy ID: 23894

Please be aware that all candidates need to be able to start work immediately and must be able to work on site if required to do so.