Executive Operations Specialist

Role Overview

• Serve as the primary point of contact for the Scientific Director with clients, staff, federal agencies, universities, foundations, congressional offices, and the public.
• Implement and coordinate administrative functions for the Scientific Director, ensuring leadership remains informed of organizational activities, issues, and developments that may impact operations or mission objectives.
• Provide administrative and technical support for meetings, conferences, and special events by compiling background materials, preparing documentation, coordinating logistics, and developing reports, briefings, and recommendations based on gathered information.
• Monitor the status of sensitive issues, special concerns, and projects; track milestones and deadlines; alert staff of required actions; and keep the Scientific Director informed of potential risks, delays, or problem areas.
• Analyze organizational programs, activities, and reports to identify operational issues, recommend corrective actions, and support continuous improvement and organizational change initiatives.
• Serve as primary point of contact by coordinating with representatives from within the organization on matters of interest to the Scientific Director.
• Attend meetings on behalf of the Scientific Director as assigned, document commitments and action items, communicate follow-up requirements to staff, and monitor completion of assigned action Review public-facing website content for accuracy, completeness, and currency, providing recommendations and feedback to designated website managers.
• Prepare, review, and process a variety of administrative documents, including travel requests, professional service orders, requests for sponsored travel, outside activities, official duty memoranda, training requests, correspondence, reports, and individual or mass communications.
• Manage and maintain calendars for the Scientific Director and senior staff; coordinate meeting schedules, agendas, materials, and participant communications; and arrange representation at events when leadership is unavailable.
• Relay requests for information or action to appropriate staff during the absence of executive leadership and ensure timely follow-up.
• Maintain administrative databases and tracking systems; analyze data and prepare summaries, metrics, and management reports.
• Support office operations by maintaining staff location information, assisting with personnel-related administrative actions such as payroll correction forms, and coordinating required approvals and documentation.
• Participate in regular team and supervisory meetings to provide status updates, identify potential roadblocks, and support collaborative problem-solving and workload management.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in related discipline; four (4) years of specialized experience plus a high school diploma is equivalent to a bachelor’s degree;
• Minimum seven (7) years of experience in a related field;
• Strong communications skills, both oral and written;
• Knowledge of Federal policies, procedures, and regulations;
• Knowledge of preparing federal government travel orders using the NBS/CGE travel system;
• Knowledge of federal government procurement processes;
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (MS Word, Excel, Outlook);
• Strong virtual meetings organization skills (Zooms, Teams, WebEx);
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.