As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.

The Institute for Protein Design (IPD) at the University of Washington in Seattle is creating a new world of synthetic proteins to address 21st-century challenges in medicine, energy, and technology. The IPD is a unique interdisciplinary environment where world-class researchers with expertise in computing and software, biochemistry, genome sciences, biological structure, pharmacology, immunology and other basic science disciplines, as well as clinical medicine, work together to both computationally design and experimentally characterize novel biomolecules. Current projects include the design of novel therapeutics for cancer, neurological diseases, and more, as well as new vaccines, nanomaterials, and enzymes. For more detailed information about the Institute for Protein Design please see www.ipd.uw.edu .

The Department of Biochemistry – IPD has an outstanding opportunity for an Assistant to Director.

The Assistant to Director is primarily responsible for providing complex administrative support to Executive Director Lynda Stuart and the IPD leadership and strategy teams. This includes but is not limited to: complex calendar management, coordinating travel and logistics for speaking engagements and conferences, including complex itineraries, briefings, and processing visa paperwork; coordinating on site event logistics, obtaining document signatures for scanning and distribution, tracking expenses and reimbursement; interacting closely with internal and external stakeholders to coordinate schedules; assisting with HR onboarding/offboarding, serving as backup support to IPD admin staff when needed, and responding to a wide variety of time sensitive tasks that come up on a daily basis.

In this role, the Assistant to Director will commit 60% of their effort to managing Dr. Stuart and Dr. King’s calendar and insuring responsiveness to all CEO’s communications to ensure a conflict-free meeting schedule and excellent external and internal communications. Another 20% of effort will be dedicated to coordinating complex travel and visits and meeting logistics for a variety of stakeholders who visit the IPD, including organizing special events both independently and with the CEO’s guidance or review, to insure optimal progress towards the IPD’s long term strategic goals. The remaining 20% of effort will be dedicated to a variety of Assistant to Director tasks including overall administrative and organizational support to the leadership (including acting as secondary EA to Dr. Baker) and strategy and operations teams, assisting in visa and appointments for postdoctoral scholars and contribute to maintaining a positive culture within the IPD as a whole.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Lead Responsibilities:

1. The Assistant to Director will work in close collaboration with the IPD’s Chief of Staff to ensure the overall smooth running of the Institute as a whole.
2 .As an integral member of the team, the Assistant to Director will work with IPD leadership to prioritize scheduling needs for the team and will act as a thought partner to manage overall needs for meeting requests that align with Institute priorities. This includes proactively reviewing upcoming schedules, recognizing potential conflicts, and providing insight on how to reconcile scheduling issues.
3. Manage complex calendars for IPD CEO Dr. Lynda Stuart. Organization and execution of high-level executive meetings, including communication and coordination with internal and external stakeholders and providing reminders, setting up teleconference calls and coordinating meetings in different time zones.
4. Manage travel logistics including booking flights, lodging, drafting itineraries and briefings, and coordinating visit information and meetings with host institutions, and processing visa paperwork. Involves a lot of detailed coordination and logistical planning, and includes keeping track of expenses for reimbursement.
5. Manage routine and confidential correspondence within the University of Washington, School of Medicine, and to the outside community as needed on behalf of IPD leadership team.
6. Serve as a point of contact/liaison for the IPD CEO by managing inquiries and visits, triaging media and interview requests to other relevant stakeholders as needed. Respond to requests and inquiries from both within the University of Washington and the external community that require Dr. Stuart’ s attention, using appropriate professional judgment and discretion to ensure timely delivery of such correspondence on his behalf. Answer incoming phone calls and escort visitors to/from meetings, triage various email requests that come in from IPD Admin account
7. Schedule and plan events, such as meetings, conferences, Institute tours and presentations. Coordinate with other UW offices, including UW Advancement, to handle logistics and preparations and dissemination of relevant materials. Coordinate arrangements and itineraries for postdoctoral fellow candidates, visiting professors, and other guests.
8. Provide wide and varied administrative and organizational support for Institute leadership and strategic teams. Serve as a backup for other admin staff and assist with HR onboarding and interviews, including scheduling meetings with incoming staff
9. Coordinate with Institute fiscal team to compile and process expense reports and reimbursements.
10. Work on special projects as needed

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Human Resources, Liberal Arts, Biology or related field or equivalent experience and 7 - 10 years of experience in related field.

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Human Resources, Liberal Arts, Biology or related field, or equivalent experience.

This role requires an experience, competent professional, with at least 7-10 years of experience and proven track record in service as the administrative assistant to an executive level leader in the private sector, government, or academia. An appreciation for the development of new knowledge with positive societal and medical impact is desirable.

•              High attention to detail
•              Event management experience
•              Creative problem solving in a complicated and continuously changing environment.
•              Deep familiarity with calendaring software solutions, office related software, and communication tools
•              Excellent writing and verbal skills
•              Cool headed, careful minded, caring personality with good sense of humor
•              Recognized as a resource for others to use in dealing with complex logistic scenarios
•              In-depth understanding of organizational structure both within and outside the work unit.
•              Ability to develop innovative processes to achieve goals.
•              Excellent organizational, time management and decision-making skills.
•              Able to maintain a high level of confidentiality.
•              Able to the represent the CEO’s views in internal committee or other professional meetings as needed.
•              Experience interacting with diverse partners ranging across students, faculty, staff, elected government officials, private donors, and executive level leaders.

DESIRED:

An ideal Assistant to Director will be someone who (i) is good at creative problem solving and can take charge of a situation when necessary, (ii) has an extremely high level of attention to detail, (iii) elects to look at the bright side of things and assume the best intentions, (iv) continually learns and develops new skills, (v) figures out how to get things done, (vi) and has knowledge or experience of the UW work environment and its rules and regulations.

Application Process:

The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process.  These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others.  Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.