Personal Assistant to Chief of International Relations

Position description

The International Relations Unit at EMBL plays a central role in managing high-level diplomatic engagement, strategic partnerships, and intergovernmental coordination. As the Chief of International Relations’ Personal Assistant (PA), you will operate at the heart of a fast-paced, high-profile environment, requiring impeccable organizational skills, discretion, and the ability to manage competing demands with professionalism and tact.

The PA will provide comprehensive administrative and executive support to the Chief of International Relations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Executive Support & Calendar Management:

• Manage a complex and dynamic calendar, ensuring optimal scheduling and strategic prioritization of meetings and engagements;
• Coordinate appointments across multiple time zones with internal and external stakeholders, including high-level officials and partner organizations.

Communication & Liaison:

• Manage high-level correspondence with professionalism, clarity, and discretion;
• Maintaining courteous and efficient communication with senior officials and internal colleagues;
• Liaise with internal departments and across EMBL sites to support coordinated efforts.

Travel & Logistics:

• Organize complex international and domestic travel itineraries, including transport, accommodations, and coordinate the submission of relevant briefing materials;
• Prepare travel-related expense reports in accordance with organizational policies and procedures.

Administrative & Budgetary Oversight:

• Support budget tracking and expenditure forecasting as requested;
• Maintain accurate and confidential records, databases, and filing systems (physical and digital);
• Monitor office procurement needs and liaise with relevant departments for purchases and payments;
• Accurately take minutes, track follow-up actions, and ensure timely distribution of documents.

Qualifications

• Relevant training and work experience in general administrative services, ideally in an international environment;
• In addition to excellent organisational skills, you should have the ability to work under pressure to fixed deadlines if required;
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, the ability to work independently as well as in a service orientated team are essential;
• Proven expertise with standard software packages, databases and internet-based applications are required (Google Suite and MS Office).

You may also have

• Experience using Workday would be beneficial;
• A knowledge of German, French or Spanish would be an advantage;
• Fluency in English, written and oral, will be essential.

Contract length: 3 Years

Why join us

EMBL is curiosity-driven, community-oriented and international. As an inclusive, equal opportunity employer, we believe that diversity enables us to collaborate more effectively and be innovative in our approaches. We are, therefore, committed to creating an inclusive and flexible culture – one where everyone can realise their full potential and make a positive contribution to our organisation.

Application instructions

Please be sure to indicate you saw this position on tendersglobal.net