Job Description

We are seeking a Sr. Administrative Coordinator who will provide complex, high-level administrative support to the department of Mechanical Engineering as well as two high-functioning department faculty members and their lab staff, postdocs, and students. This position will perform duties of a sensitive and highly detailed, technical nature, exercising administrative judgment and maintaining responsibility for a high quality of service and discretion. The incumbent is expected to maintain a high degree of professionalism and trust on the telephone, in person, on zoom, and via electronic communication, and must be able to prioritize and multitask based on changing needs and deadlines. Inter- and intra-office communication and teamwork skills are critical.



Administrative 50%

Primary scheduler and provider of administrative support for two high-level faculty members.
Triage and manage requests, tasks, and priorities by flagging important action items and timelines for assigned faculty and ensure project completion.
Coordinate logistics for assigned faculty’s meetings such as lab meetings, quarterly collaborative meetings with multiple co-investigators in multiple time zones, faculty and industry visits, and other routine and ad-hoc meetings as requested.
For assigned faculty, provide proofreading and editing for spelling, grammar, and punctuation of correspondence, scholarly articles, and web postings authored by the faculty members and their research group members. May type routine correspondence and reports from dictation or handwritten copy.
Conduct and manage timely editorial correspondence with authors and peer reviewers on behalf of assigned faculty member in support of their editorial responsibilities for scholarly journals.
Pick up and deliver materials as required, manage faculty announcement boards. Open, sort, and screen mail.
Prioritize, handle, and triage phone calls, messages, and meetings for assigned faculty.
Maintain websites, faculty CVs, prepare manuscripts, construct list of references for academic papers, assist with grant preparation, statistical reports, tables, and charts using knowledge of scientific, literary, or other technical terms.
Maintain records through electronic and physical filing, retrieval, retention, storage, compilation, coding, updating and destruction.
Know the formal and informal departmental goals, standards, policies and procedures, which may include some familiarity of other departments within the school/division. Is sensitive to the interrelationship of both people and functions within the department.
Make travel and accommodation arrangements for assigned faculty.
Onboard new lab personnel for assigned faculty, including welcome and coordination of training and related paperwork.
Provide excellent service to both internal and external customers.
Perform duties of a sensitive and confidential nature.
Anticipate, problem-solve, and exercise independent judgement in the resolution of administrative issues; participate in priority setting with assigned faculty and other administrative team members, as required.
Develop strong institutional relationships; collaborate and liaise extensively with stakeholders critical to strategies, goals, and objectives for the department and assigned faculty. Interfaces with key leadership and their offices across the University.
Provide excellent service to both internal and external customers.


Finance 30%

Initiate and monitor all financial transactions for assigned faculty and their labs (SAP Shopping Cart, Concur Travel/Non-travel reimbursements, Check Requests, Non-payroll Cost Transfers, etc.) and works with the Mechanical Engineering financial team to provide backup for reconciliation of transactions.
Submit software orders, P-card (credit card) ordering, P-card allocation and reconciliation of receipts in Concur, Coordinate with account holders for receipts needed, petty cash forms, vendor setup in SAP, equipment tag number requests, shipping of packages, maintenance and IT service requests, parking validation.
Monitor monthly assigned faculty expenditure statements and prepare documents required to reconcile and maintain balanced accounts for review and approval by supervisor. As required interface with Department business office about accounts.
Assist other staff with departmental ordering and reimbursements as needed.
Interpret, monitor, and analyze information regarding policies and procedures.
Recommends and implements operational processes and workflows.

Events & Planning 15%

Coordinate and manage the following: special projects and events, workshops & symposia, group meetings, office activities, seminars, lectures and committee meetings including planning, setup, cleanup and catering.


Other 5%

Occasionally, manage the main department reception area. Answer the primary department telephone line, retrieve and relay messages to appropriate parties. Greet and provide assistance to all parties doing business with the department. Assist department administrative coordinator with departmental mail and packages.
Perform other duties as required.


Special Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

Highly motivated self-starter with the ability to apply strong planning and project management skills to a range of program and administrative work/situations as needed with efficiency.
Experience in administrative support in an office setting including calendaring, data research, travel arrangements, taking minutes, maintaining filing systems and working with confidential materials.
Strong verbal and written communication skills; with the ability to communicate effectively with diverse constituents.
Demonstrated organizational skills with proven ability to effectively prioritize workload and be proactive in order to meet deadlines.
Must be collaborative with excellent interpersonal and customer services skills.
Ability to work effectively with faculty, staff and students from a variety of diverse backgrounds.
Excellent organizational skills, analytical and problem-solving abilities, and attention to detail.
Ability to perform basic internet and marketing research.
Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team.
Ability to work for long periods of time without direction, prioritize own work and to work with flexibility on several tasks simultaneously in order to meet various concurrent deadlines.
Proven ability to multi-task and process data quickly with a high level of accuracy.
Experience using JHU SAP, CONCUR and SIS systems, preferred.
Excellent computer literacy: Word processing, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, Share point, One drive, and online research.
Experience in writing and editing professional letters, reports, and documents.
Experience in a higher education environment preferred.


Minimum Qualifications
High School Diploma or graduation equivalent.
Five years progressively responsible administrative experience.
Additional education may substitute for required experience, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.