Personal Assistant to the Head of Unit

Personal Assistant to the Head of Unit

EMBL – European Molecular Biology Laboratory

Grenoble, France

Contract duration: 3 years
Grading: 4 or 5, depending on qualifications & experience
Reference number: GR00228
Closing date: 9 June 2024

The EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) comprises of 6 laboratories located in Grenoble (France), Heidelberg and Hamburg (Germany), Hinxton (UK), Barcelona (Spain) and Rome (Italy). The laboratories and services (data banks, analysis and research tools) in molecular biology “encourages cooperation between European states in basic research, the development of modern instrumentation and the development of advanced teaching in molecular biology and other essentially related fields of research; to this end, it concentrates its activities on tasks which are neither not usually undertaken nor easily carried out in national institutions”, according to the terms of the intergovernmental agreement that gave rise to it.

For our laboratory in Grenoble, we are looking to recruit a Personal Assistant (PA) to the EMBL Grenoble Head of Unit (HoU). The successful candidate will work as a key member of a busy administration team, providing business support to the HoU and ensuring efficient daily operations for the unit are maintained.

Your role

The three main areas of the role include business support to the HoU as the PA, office management tasks and ad hoc research and project work.

Your tasks will include the following:

• Diary and calendar management: managing the HoU’s diary, including scheduling and coordinating meetings, booking rooms and performing pre-meeting check of the venue and its facilities. Drafting agenda and minutes of meetings. File management of documents associated with meetings;
• Helping with daily time management, ensuring that meetings are on time and participants have all required information; Follow-up tasks if needed;
• Booking travel, accommodation and processing reimbursements for the Head of Unit; – Providing logistics support for meetings, events and visitors (virtual, hybrid and in-person), including welcoming visitors;
• Communications support including updating professional social media posts and the unit webpage;
• Drafting professional correspondence such as emails and letters;
• Undertaking research for the HoU as needed;
• Contact management including developing and maintaining a database of relevant contacts;
• Developing contacts and networks with peers in organizations relevant to the HoU’s work;
• Providing administrative support to unit managers under the HoU’s responsibility as required;
• Providing administrative back-up to other members of the Administrative team (reception, deliveries, archiving, stationery, site entries, petty cash, assistance to newcomers);
• Office management tasks include, but are not limited to managing visitor enquiries and ensuring correct document and file management;
• Performing any other duty that may be assigned by the HoU.

You have

• Minimum of 5 years personal assistant experience;
• Fluency in English and French;
• Excellent communication skills and telephone manner;
• Proven experience in contact database management;
• Confirmed calendar and IT skills (MS office, google docs);
• Excellent drafting skills;
• Excellent organization and administrative skills;
• Ability to prioritize tasks in a busy work environment;
• Customer service orientated;
• Confirmed ability to operate effectively in a team environment.

You might also have

Experience:

• in an international working environment;
• with SAP or another system;
• with social media and communications;
• in project management.

Why join us

EMBL is curiosity-driven, community-oriented and international. As an inclusive, equal opportunity employer, we believe that diversity enables us to collaborate more effectively and be innovative in our approaches. We are, therefore, committed to creating an inclusive and flexible culture – one where everyone can realise their full potential and make a positive contribution to our organisation.

We encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing team – we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and personal experiences reflect the diversity of the populations that our science serves. We actively encourage applications from all genders and cultures, ethnic groups and all demographics to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights at this transformational point in our people strategy.

EMBL offers attractive conditions and benefits appropriate to an international research organisation with a very collegial and family-friendly working environment.

Don’t meet every single requirement? We are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply nevertheless.

What else you need to know

We are Europe’s research laboratory for the life sciences – an intergovernmental organisation performing scientific research in disciplines including molecular biology, physics, chemistry and computer science. We are an international, innovative and interdisciplinary laboratory with more than 1900 employees from many nations, operating across six sites.

Our mission is to offer vital services in training scientists, students and visitors at all levels; to develop new instruments and methods in the life sciences and actively engage in technology transfer activities, and to integrate European life science research. The working language of the institute is English.

The initial contract is for 3 years with a possibility of renewal up to 9 years.

To apply, please submit a cover letter and a CV through our online system.

EMBL is a signatory of DORA. Find out how we implement best practices in research assessment in our recruitment processes here.

Apply Now