Executive Assistant & Team Coordinator, Africa Regional Office at Rockefeller Foundation

Position Overview

The Rockefeller Foundation (RF) is seeking an Executive Assistant & Team Coordinator (EA) for the Africa Regional Office Team on a one-year renewable term role, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

The EA will play a key role in the Foundation’s Africa Regional Office to advance and influence the agenda and execution of the Foundations strategy in the region. The EA will receive direct day-to-day supervision from and be accountable to the Vice President, Africa Regional Office and will support the entire Africa Regional Office team in an administrative capacity and support team operations and contribute to the success of the work. This position requires reliability, organization, the ability to anticipate the needs of the VP and the team, and above all, a desire to learn and grow. To be effective in this role, the candidate must be able to advance work independently, maintain confidentiality, and work across a complex organization with high-profile internal and external partners.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Maintains calendar for VP and other directors, including identifying key deadlines /milestones in team plans and flag follow-up.
• Manages VP’s correspondence as delegated including drafting and responding to VP’s emails as appropriate.
• Anticipates organizational needs to ensure smooth team operations. Assisting in composing and preparing office correspondence related to team needs.
• Organizes and executes events on behalf of the VP’s Office as well as organizing, executing, and attending team events for the Africa Regional Office.
• Organizes and facilitates meetings for both Foundation staff and external partners, including coordinating meeting logistics and preparing meeting materials, and interacting directly with attendees.
• Coordinates both domestic and international travel arrangements ensuring tight schedules and well-articulated itineraries; creates and modifies travel itineraries; informs and plans actions based on the itinerary with appropriate parties.
• Schedules appointments and organizes transfer and accommodation details for visiting Foundation staff.
• Ensures the VP and team’s office has the technology and any tools or equipment required to successfully and flawlessly perform their work is operating effectively.
• Assists in creating high-level presentations and any other documentation required on an ongoing basis. This includes but is not limited to Board Presentations, budgets and forecasts, white papers, complex schedules and events, and travel and expense documents.
• Organizing and maintaining an internal contact details database for RF partners and grantees. Also maintains a proper filing system – physical and electronic e.g. on Box and Salesforce.
• Prepares and processes expense reports, vendor invoicing paperwork, and purchase requisitions, including monthly expense reconciliation and on-demand expense reports.
• Processing and renewal of work permits.
• Accompany VP to meetings and take notes and prepares action and follow-up items.
• Support preparation of documents for internal communications (quarterly reviews, reports) and external convenings (event organization, briefing reports, talking points, input into speeches, etc.) as needed.

Education, Experience, and Skills

• A bachelor’s degree in Business Administration or a related field is preferred.
• A minimum of 5 years of proven executive level administrative experience in supporting an Executive Leader.
• Experience in a complex, fast-paced, and highly professional role at a global or regional organization with multiple offices and with a strong mission and focus on people, or a related role in a not-for-profit organization focused on a highly dynamic, evolving organization and work environment.
• Direct experience in managing sensitive and confidential matters with a high level of professionalism and grace under pressure.
• Strong execution and organization skills and demonstrated experience in prioritizing and executing multiple priorities seamlessly with excellent attention to detail.
• Demonstrated proactive problem-solving skills with strong decision-making capability.
• Identifies, prioritizes, and manages agendas, employee communications, high-level presentations, and documents and is comfortable multi-tasking in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills and is effective in developing positive and productive relationships with all levels of staff and management across the organization.
• Proven experience working effectively as part of a team and autonomously.
• Proven excellent project management and organizational skills with a demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality, accurate work on time.
• Demonstrated technical proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and the ability to learn new applications quickly.
• Must have experience booking and managing international travel. International work experience is a plus as well as intercultural competence.

Qualifications and Competencies

• Bias for Action: Takes on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency, high energy, and enthusiasm.
• Communicates Effectively: Develops and delivers multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences.
• Decision Quality: Makes good and timely decisions that keep the organization moving forward.
• Strategic Learning: Actively learns through experimentation when tackling new problems, using both successes and failures as learning fodder.
• Values Differences: Recognizes the value of different perspectives and commits to inclusion, equity, and diversity in every aspect of work.