Senior Administrative Assistant The World Bank

Roles and Responsibilities
The new Senior Administrative Assistant position at the level of GD will provide dedicated support in areas of Administration, Transaction Processing and Logistics, including performing administrative tasks for the Hub Manager, transaction processing for the Hub Office, coordination of major events/conference planning and logistical support where needed. The Senior Administrative Assistant is also expected to take on several corporate roles, such as Learning Coordinator, Transport coordinator, Travel Coordinator, Leave Coordinator, and Health Focal Point. Additional tasks include Facilities liaison, and oversight of the shared room facilities coordination and booking, including for the training facilities and cafeteria where needed.
The successful candidate is expected to work under the leadership of the Regional Hub Manager, and closely liaising with the Regional Operations Director in Washington DC, and the Regional Practice Directors based in Riyadh.
The Senior Administrative Assistant will be expected to handle a variety of concurrent activities and competing demands in a fluid and fast-paced environment, including the following duties:
ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT
Ensure smooth operation of office and administrative support by maintaining and coordinating general office procedures and guidelines and ensure their dissemination across the function to enable efficiencies and consistency. Identify potential areas for improvement and develop solutions.
Perform with a high degree of efficiency, discretion and judgment to provide a wide range of administrative assistance to the Regional Hub Manager, especially in the areas of managing priorities, and work flow; staff interaction with the Hub Manager; screening of all in-coming documents; screening, prioritizing and following up on emails and phone calls and ensuring the smooth delivery of services. Ensure all documents requiring signature are of high quality and adhere to administrative operational guidelines. Routinely prepare correspondence on a range of topics on behalf of the Hub Manager and prepare minutes of meetings.
As the first point of contact for the Hub Manager, keep abreast of and maintain sufficient working knowledge of the tasks being performed in each unit with an ability to independently respond to inquiries and exercise strategic thinking and decision-making skills to address clients within and outside the Bank.
Use judgment, tact, diplomacy and discretion in answering and/or redirecting inquiries to appropriate sources and in dealing with sensitive or highly confidential matters; make decisions when multiple courses of action are possible.
Coordinate the time management and scheduling on behalf of the Hub Manager, to include effective prioritizing and resolving related conflicts and competing demands. Gather and collate materials and prepare mission briefing materials and binders for the Hub Manager s schedule of meetings. Handle logistics of the Hub Manager s mission travel. Handle logistical planning for meetings or equivalent events held in the office or sponsored by the office.
Support the management team of the Hub Office as well as work collaboratively with other colleagues and teams from the GCC regional team and other regional country offices in diverse work groups/teams/task forces.
Coordinate with the Administrative teams of the other Offices to ensure alignment with processes and procedures.
TRANSACTION SUPPORT
Liaise with the Resource management (RM) staff, as needed, for information on cost object master data accuracy and budget availability.
Monitor contracts in context of the Hub Office unit budget.
Work with the RM staff to collect data necessary for various outputs from available systems and databases; maintain a database to facilitate information update and retrieval within the SAP framework.
Liaise with Task Teams, as needed, for the identification of upcoming contract needs and specifications.
Create and maintain contracts and payment requests within the SAP framework using Epayables and AdminPortal.
Communicate with the Hub Manager to gather all required information pertaining to all contract creation and ensure requirements are clear.
Adhere to ex ante and ex post controls related to various commitment items including travel, the procurement of goods and administrative services.
Adhere to record retention policies regarding commitment items procured within the unit.
Check status of specific contracts.
Flag and troubleshoot project specific discrepancies and problems identified by RM staff.
Monitor e-mail and SAP workflow and take immediate action on any rejected payment requests in SAP
Liaise with Appointments (HR), Accounting, GSD as needed to ensure contracts and associated payments are processed quickly and accurately.
Check goods and services payment status.
OFFICE PROCUREMENT
Assist with procurement of office goods and services in collaboration with other staff.
Assist the Resource Management Officer with day-to-day procurement by identifying potential suppliers and requesting quotes.

Selection Criteria
Bachelor s degree with at least seven years of relevant experience, preferably with international development organizations.
Ability to process, handle, and communicate matters of a sensitive and confidential nature with a high degree of judgement and maturity.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including ability to speak articulately and to write clearly, precisely and concisely for various audiences, and strong ability to work within a team environment.
Excellent organizational, administrative, and time management skills with proven ability to work promptly and efficiently under pressure and meet tight deadlines. Ability to shift gears at short notice to work on a wide range of assignments, remaining flexible and effective with a clear understanding of objectives to be achieved.
Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to reorganize, edit and draft a variety of documents.
Strong interpersonal skills and ability to deal tactfully, diplomatically, and effectively with internal/external contacts at all levels in a multicultural environment. Demonstrated ability to independently respond to extensive and diverse inquiries and make decisions when multiple courses of action are possible.