Administrative and project management officer (80-100%)
Introduction
The National ORD Strategy Council (StraCo) is a high-level science policy body in Switzerland, created to oversee the implementation of the Swiss Open Research Data Strategy and Action Plan. It is composed of top-level decisions makers from key institutions: the presidents of ETHZ and EPFL, the director of SNSF, the president of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Science, and 5 rectors or other senior executives from cantonal universities.
As an independent governance body formed jointly by the four principal national research actors (ETH Board, SNSF, swissuniversities, and the Swiss Academies), the StraCo is a novelty in Swiss education, research and innovation (ERI) governance. As such, it ambitions to demonstrate new capabilities for coordination, collaboration, and common policymaking in the area of Open Research Data (ORD)/Open Science.
The StraCo is advised and supported by a decentralised Coordination Group (CoG) formed of expert staff from the institutions represented in the StraCo. It has a decentralised secretariat, which this position would belong to. The StraCo ecosystem also includes two sounding boards (researchers and service providers) as well as ad-hoc task forces. To support the members of the CoG and facilitate interfaces in the StraCo system, the StraCo is looking to hire an Administration and Project Management Officer.
More information on the StraCo on openresearchdata.swiss
General objective of the position
As a member of the StraCo’s distributed secretariat, the Administration and Project Management Officer supports the seamless operation of StraCo’s activities, ensuring effective communication, robust administrative processes, and the successful execution of projects.
Main duties and responsibilities
Administrative support.
- Provide a high quality administrative service for the StraCo ecosystem:
- Provide accessible and efficient services for purchasing, procurement, subcontracting, grant-making, and hiring, while ensuring compliance with internal EPFL processes.
- Track budget and accounts, coordinate the preparation of financial reports
- Support office management at EPFL’s office (in collaboration with the VPA-OS administrative staff) and support staff of the decentralized secretariat seconded to other institutions.
- Administer the calendars of StraCo entities, location management, support the preparation of agendas, and liaise with stakeholders to support their engagement before, during and after meetings. Maintain and disseminate an overview of deadlines, timelines, and stakeholder touchpoints. Take administrative minutes.
- Administer a documentation platform, ensuring timely information sharing, access rights, archival, and documentation quality.. Produce and maintain documents of an administrative nature, including for reporting purposes.
- Continuously evaluate and improve administrative processes to better meet the needs of diverse stakeholders across Swiss institutions.
The Officer is expected to be autonomous and take responsibility for completing administrative tasks and oversee processes, referring to general service-level objectives defined by the Chair of the CoG.
Project Management.
- Oversee project workflows to keep team members on schedule, supporting project leaders and proactively addressing potential issues.
- Support projects led by other staff, assisting with event organization, document editing, presentations, and translations, or performing technical/analytical work and research depending on the Officer’s skills.
In this area, the Officer is expected to refer to the project leader. They may be asked to take responsibility to deliver specific tasks within the project.
Communication.
- Facilitates information flow between StraCo partners and other ERI stakeholders.
- Develops and implements a robust communication strategy, encompassing activities such as social media content creation, and graphic design (e.g. layout for documents, reports, both print and web). The strategy should span three key areas: advocacy communication with partner organizations, information dissemination for ORD stakeholders, and general communication for Swiss researchers, and students.
- Oversees communication subcontractors and ensures alignment with the broader communication strategy.
- Manages the openresearchdata.swiss website, ensuring content accuracy, consistency, and proposing new content ideas.
- Stays updated on pertinent events and opportunities within Switzerland and abroad and supports the participation of StraCo, CoG, Task Forces, and other stakeholders in relevant events.
- Maintains a network and liaises with communication staff from partner organisations.
Profile
Education and Experience
- Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (e.g., administration, communication, project management) or equivalent work experience.
- Minimum of 3 years of experience in a similar role
Skills and Competencies:
- Language: English (must) and German at level C1 French at level B2, understanding C1.
- Proficient in graphic design (Adobe Suite) and office collaboration tools (Word, Excel, Office365/Teams/SharePoint, Zoom, Asana or other workflow management platforms).
- Understanding of institutional administration and processes in the ERI domain would be a plus
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously and work independently.
- Creative mindset with a flair for innovative communication strategies. Proven ability to develop and implement a communication plan, intended for institutional communication.
- Ability to work closely with top decision-makers, and complex stakeholder/partner institutions.
- Ability to work in a decentralised team, with coworkers in different locations and institutions.
- Dependable, detail-oriented, and self-reliant with an exceptional sense of professional responsibility.
We offer
- An opportunity to contribute to the development of a new high-level national ERI governance body, and with forward-looking, ambitious open science policy.
- A stimulating, dynamic, working environment
- Attractive and flexible work conditions
- Continuing education opportunity
Conditions
- Application deadline : October 20th, 2024
- Type of contract : CDD
- Start as soon as possible
- You will be affiliated with EPFL, which is the mandated organisation for the administration of the StraCo and hosts a part of the distributed secretariat (policy officer). Salary and work conditions will be those of EPFL employees. Your workplace would be Lausanne, with the expectation to work in Bern for 1-2 days a week in one of the StraCo institutions. Details will be discussed and adapted to the candidate. Flexible working conditions will be offered for that purpose, including opportunities to work from home