Personal Assistant to the Director of Programme Preparation and Development Department

VN 25 / 24 Personal Assistant to the Director of Programme Preparation and Development Department

The Personal Assistant gives secretarial and administrative support to the Director of Programme Preparation and Development Department (D / PRD), coordinates secretarial support throughout the Department and is responsible for the organisation of EUMETSAT Delegate Body meetings and other international meetings.

The Programme Preparation and Development Department (PRD) manages current and next-generation mandatory programmes in various phases of development in addition to other activities. This includes the EUMETSAT Polar System Second Generation (EPS-SG), Meteosat Third Generation (MTG), current and future Ocean Altimetry and Copernicus Sentinel Missions and a constellation of small satellites, EPS-Sterna.

Duties

• Manage the Office of the Director of Programme Preparation and Development (D / PRD) and coordinate shared and temporary secretarial support arrangements across the department;
• Provide personal assistance to D / PRD and the coordination with the rest of the Management Board in liaison with the offices of the Director-General and other Directors, including:

Filtering external and internal solicitations;

Managing his / her schedule and appointments;

Monitoring and supporting the fulfilment of his / her actions;

Preparation of missions.

• Support the Project Management Office (PMO) and selected functions of New Programmes and Services (NPS);
• Conduct and manage assigned activities in support of D / PRD;
• Manage the documentation in the D / PRD Office utilising the EUMETSAT information management tools (e.g. M-files);
• Monitoring and control of relevant budgetary commitments and contributing as necessary to future budget planning, as well as initiating and managing relevant procurements;
• Coordinate departmental inputs to the Management Board Meetings, report on Organisational and PRD objectives, Director-General’s reports to Delegate Bodies, etc.;
• Organise international meetings and conferences as required, in particular Scientific & Technical Group (STG) and Joint Scientific & Technical Group / Administration & Finance Group (STG / AFG) meetings, including:

Provision of timely documentation in both official languages;

Procurement of interpretation services,

Organising travel and practical arrangements for chairpersons and translators, and social events;

Coordination of List of Decisions and Minutes;

Liaising with Delegations and Group Chairs between meetings regarding procedural and administrative matters.

• Review the management of the office on a regular basis and propose improvements as appropriate, updating the Working Practices for the PRD Secretariat and the Preparation of STG and Joint STG-AFG Meetings.

Qualifications

A full secondary education and / or secretarial education or equivalent professional qualification is required.

Languages

The official languages of EUMETSAT are English and French. Candidates must be able to work effectively in English and have some knowledge of French. Knowledge of German is an advantage.

Skills and Experience

• Proven secretarial and administrative experience in a senior executive office in a multi-lingual and complex environment, including drafting of correspondence and minutes of meetings in English;
• Experience in organising large or complex meetings or other events with senior international participants;
• Experience of managing budgets and conducting procurements for the office;
• Autonomy and proven ability to plan and self-organize and to deliver high quality outputs within deadlines, even in stressful situations, while maintaining a service-orientation;
• Experience of people management and / or task coordination would be advantageous;
• Strong analytical and synthesis skills;
• Proficient practice of office software suites (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), and experience of a document / information management system and an ERP, preferably SAP, with ability to adapt to new tools;
• Very good communication and team-working skills with ability to interact effectively at all levels of the organisation with tact and diplomacy.

Employment Conditions

The initial contract will be of 4 years’ duration, with subsequent 5 year contracts being awarded thereafter, subject to individual performance and organisation requirements. There is no limit to the amount of follow-up contracts a staff member can receive up to the EUMETSAT retirement age of 63 and there are certainly opportunities to establish a long career perspective at EUMETSAT.

This post is graded B4 / B6 on the EUMETSAT salary scales. The minimum basic salary for this post is EURO per month (net of internal tax but excluding pension contribution and insurances) which may be negotiable on the basis of skills and experience. The salary scale provides for increments on the anniversary of taking up employment, and scales are reviewed by the EUMETSAT Council with effect from 1 January each year. In addition to basic salary, EUMETSAT offers attractive benefits. Further information, including salary details, is available on the EUMETSAT web site.

EUMETSAT is committed to providing an equal opportunities work environment for men and women.

Please note that only nationals of EUMETSAT Member States may apply. The EUMETSAT Convention requires that Staff shall be recruited on the basis of their qualifications, account being taken of the international character of EUMETSAT.