SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE SPECIALIST

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.

UW Medicine Advancement has an excellent opportunity for Senior Administrative Specialist to join their team.

At UW Medicine, we work to improve health for all people through excellence in clinical, research, and education and training programs. As the only comprehensive clinical, research and learning health system in the five-state WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) region, UW Medicine provides the most up-to-date care for each individual patient, leads one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive medical research programs, and provides innovative learning programs for students, trainees, and practitioners in the health professions.

The passionate, 77-person team at UW Medicine Advancement works collaboratively to connect donors with meaningful opportunities to enhance patient care, expand educational opportunities and advance research at UW Medicine. This inspiring, challenging and rewarding work provides team members an opportunity to grow their careers, while making a difference in people’s lives, in our community and around the world. In the 2023 fiscal year, UW Medicine Advancement raised $268 million in gifts and private grants (43 percent of the University of Washington’s total) from over 16,000 donors to support the mission of UW Medicine. You can find out more about UW Medicine Advancement’s priorities and office culture on our career website: https://give.uwmedicine.org/careers/

The Senior Administrative Specialist provides direct and far-reaching support as a trusted partner to three leaders at UW Medicine Advancement and their teams, and lead special projects as assigned:

• The Assistant Vice President for Development and Major Gifts (AsstVP-Development) and
• The Assistant Vice President for Philanthropy and Talent Management (Asst VP-Philanthropy)
• The Senior Director for Philanthropy – IPD

The Senior Administrative Specialist provides senior-level administrative support in a confidential and professional manner, exercising independent judgment and discretion. This position is responsible for a broad range of duties including, but not limited to: executive scheduling and briefing, executive communications, special project coordination, scheduling complex meetings and interviews, planning travel and submitting reimbursements, onboarding new team members, and managing other administrative functions.

The Senior Administrative Specialist is also responsible for HR and talent management activities that support the high-performing team at UW Medicine Advancement. The Specialist provides strategic customer support and project management for HR, recruitment, and talent management in partnership with the Senior Director for Finance and Operations. This includes serving as a recruiter to review candidate applications and driving the interview process.

The Senior Administrative Specialist must have the ability to work in a fast-paced environment with many complexities and ambiguity. The Specialist manages relationships with internal and external stakeholders including other unit leadership, UW Administrators, UW Medicine faculty, donors, and other campus partners. This position takes care to nurture positive relationships with colleagues and campus HR partners. The ability to professionally handle highly confidential matters is critical to this position.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Operations Administration:
Administrative duties include coordinating with the unit’s administrative team and acting as liaison for UW Medicine Advancement with other offices both in University Advancement and UW Medicine.
• Routinely exercise independent judgment and decision-making skills, set own work priorities, interpret policies, and provide direction, expertise, and assistance.
• Independently evaluate and take action on requests that affect the UW Medicine Advancement office while recognizing strategic priorities and when to escalate.
• Assist with the assessment of the support staff needs for UW Medicine Advancement office and with the hiring and training of permanent, temporary and student employees. Promote teamwork and professionalism.
• Coordinate with administrative team to ensure that main Advancement phone line and central office email addresses are covered and responses to callers and correspondence are timely and appropriate.
• Handle travel arrangements for Asst VP-Development, Asst VP-Philanthropy, Senior Director for Philanthropy, and their team members.
• Prepare and submit reimbursement requests for Asst VP-Development, Asst VP-Philanthropy, Senior Director for Philanthropy, and their team members.
• When requested, provide administrative support to the Chief Advancement Officer, Associate Vice Presidents, or Assistant Vice Presidents in the absence of their Executive Assistant and Senior Administrative Specialist.
• Schedule interviews and coordinate the onboarding program for new employees.
• Pull weekly and monthly reports from Tandem database for Asst VP-Development, AsstVP-Philanthropy, Senior Director for Philanthropy, and their team members as requested.
• Assist with entering donor contact reports are entered into UW’s proprietary CRM as requested.

Complex Scheduling and Administrative Support:
• Calendar management for Asst VP-Development and Asst VP-Philanthropy and Senior Director for Philanthropy:
o Schedule meetings, appointments, conferences, interviews, retreats, and other team building meeting with staff. Secure briefings and materials for these engagements.
o Schedule donor visits, gather all necessary materials, and ensure that the donor has directions, parking instructions, and is met at the reception desk. Set up meeting rooms for attendees.
o Maintain list of assistants for executives, faculty, UW colleagues and donors as contacts.
o Receive and screen meeting invitations.
• Screen telephone calls and incoming requests for the for Asst VP-Development and Asst VP-Philanthropy and Senior Director for Philanthropy:
o Make independent judgments on possible solutions such as referrals to other staff members as appropriate.
o Draft responses and provide replies based upon knowledge of the views and actions of for Asst VP-Development and Asst VP-Philanthropy.
• Assist with correspondence, meeting minutes, PowerPoint, and Excel materials to support presentations, reports and proposals for internal and external audiences.
o Draft and copyedit written materials.

HR and Talent Management:
• Reviews, edits, and submits job descriptions and salary changes to HR.
• Supports the full cycle of recruitment including advertising, candidate review, driving the interview process, and providing strategic guidance on onboarding and retention practices.
• Makes recruitment, project-related purchases on a UW-issued Procurement card and reconciles purchases.
• Tracks training and development opportunities, employee activity, and ensures UW Medicine Advancement employee compliance for any required trainings.
• Supports annual planning process for frontline fundraisers for major gift strategy.
• Recommends and implements continuous improvements that support equity, diversity, and inclusion at UW Medicine Advancement.
• Coordinates annual performance reviews and submits them to HR.
• Exercises the upmost discretion on highly confidential and sensitive employee information.
• Assists the Senior Director for Finance Operations and Assistant Vice President for Philanthropy and Talent Management on special HR projects, as assigned.
• Develops and implements recommendations to standardize HR procedures to create efficiencies.

Event Coordination and Special Projects:
• Work with Executive Assistant and independently to plan for all-staff events such as retreats, meetings, and recognition events.
o Contact speakers, coordinate with vendors.
o Coordinate venue, food, A/V, set-up, clean-up (events staff may provide advice/assistance).
• Assist with special projects as needed.
• Provide administrative support for high-level fundraising volunteer committees.
o Provide information on advancement policies and philanthropy issues for internal and external audiences.
• Draft and coordinate agenda items and discussion documents/PowerPoints for various internal recurring meetings (for example, Principal Giving Prospects (PGP) monthly meetings and Frontline Fundraiser-FLF monthly meetings), take minutes, and track all information from these meetings for historical purposes.
• Assist with A/V set-up for hybrid meetings and in-person meetings.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
• Bachelor of Arts degree and four or more years of progressively responsible experience in an administrative office environment.
• Four or more years of experience providing direct support of an executive, senior administrator, or lead faculty member.

Additional requirements:
• Values the UW’s commitment to inclusiveness and UW Medicine’s commitment to becoming an anti-racist organization. Demonstrates respect and commitment to diversity.
• Demonstrated project management with creativity, organizational ability, empathy, and strong attention to detail. Ability to manage emerging priorities and varying project timelines.
• Strong interpersonal skills and customer service orientation. Poised, professional manner and the ability to communicate clearly, directly, and empathetically in all interactions: verbal and written communications, one-on-one conversations and in groups, etc.
• Demonstrated ability to engage others proactively and skillfully in ways that help resolve differences, manage conflicts and build consensus, all with the best interests of the organization in mind.
• Demonstrated strong computer skills, including strong proficiency with Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint and Teams for calendaring, correspondence, presentations, special reports, spreadsheets, etc. Comfort with learning new software.
• Works to resolve conflicts and differences through dialog and open communication in a timely manner. Sees every difference as an opportunity for growth and change.
• Ability to make decisions in ambiguous situations, exercise good judgment based on information and analysis in a fast-paced, dynamic, deadline-driven environment in an organized and professional manner.
• Demonstrated ability to maintain confidences and protect confidential information.
• Ability to act in a selfless manner and model ethical values of UW Medicine.

Equivalent education and/or experience may substitute for minimum requirements.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
• Program management experience.
• Knowledge of development/advancement principles.
• Experience with UW travel, purchasing, budget and timekeeping systems and policies.
• Experience working with complex CRMs.

Attitudes, Behaviors and Skills We Value
• Placing team goals before individual goals
• Assuming the best of intentions from faculty and colleagues
• Embracing a spirit of continuous improvement
o Focus on the highest priorities and manage time accordingly
o Manage and improve programs independently and build ownership over time
o Anticipate needed next steps; think through problems
o Approach work strategically, keeping the big picture in mind
o Address problems proactively and present potential solutions for resolution
• Learning from each other
o Demonstrate the desire to learn new things while also meeting current position responsibilities
o Take the time to build fluency in ALL fundraising operations
o Be a proactive problem-solver; show resourcefulness in anticipating and addressing issues and concerns
• Demonstrating professionalism
o Transparency: Be honest and straightforward with colleagues and donors
o Attitude: Work with a positive and collaborative approach
o Humility: Share credit generously; take ownership of challenges (“be generous with credit and selfish with blame”)
o Dedication: Consistently follow through; keep your word
• Maintaining high emotional intelligence
o Build, maintain and recover relationships with internal and external constituents
o Partner and communicate well with supervisor and peers
o Hone self-awareness, including the ability to admit mistakes and knowing when to correct course

WORKING ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
• Cubicle/Open workspace environment which may result in additional or higher levels of noise and visual distractions.
• Occasional travel to support local special events or meetings.

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.

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