Bilingual Secretary/Assistant (f_m_x) [english] in Potsdam bei Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ

Reference Number 8621

Your responsibilities:

• Coordination, planning and delivery of all aspects of administration for the section
• Acting as PA to the Head of Section, Professor Jean Braun, including diary and travel management
• Correspondence and communication (translating as required) in English and German
• Organising the hiring of new staff and carrying out a local induction for new staff and visitors
• Supporting new staff and visitors to ensure that they are able to settle in well at GFZ
• Maintaining financial and staff files and records efficiently
• Acting as liaison/interface between section and key administrative departments, especially HR, travel expenses team, the finance department, procurement, and IT
• Monitoring the section budget and liaising with Head of Section and Finance Department as needed
• Ordering and purchasing all equipment and checking financial transactions
• Maintaining and updating the section website
• To provide English writing support, translation and proofreading of proposals, papers, etc., as required
• Administering new and existing publications and uploading on to the GFZ database
• Organising and supporting larger projects such as conferences and workshops
• Willingness to act as first aider and/or fire warden for the section (training will be provided)

Your qualifications:

• Qualification or equivalent professional experience as a foreign language secretary and/or administrator with proven fluency in both English and German essential; knowledge of a third language, especially French, would be advantageous
• Excellent communication skills, and enthusiasm for supporting a team
• Excellent IT skills including internet, email and Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), or equivalent in Mac/iOS
• The ability to understand and summarise complex processes and communicate these to others
• Excellent organisational and forward-planning skills, with the ability to work on your own initiative and prioritise a busy workload
• Independent, service-oriented and result-oriented work approach, high flexibility, ability to work effectively under pressure, self-starter and quick learner
• The ability to run a small administrative office independently, often without direct supervision, while maintaining good communication with the team

What we offer:

• Ambitious and varied tasks in a dynamic and international research environment
• State-of-the-art equipment
• Public service benefits
• Extensive training opportunities
• Flexible working hours and conditions
• Support with finding a good work-life balance offered by benefit@work
• Institute day-care centre on site
• Working at the Albert Einstein science park on the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam
• Work place within walking distance of Potsdam main train station, or just a short ride on the shuttle bus