Personal Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer - Switzerland

Role and Responsibilities

To provide an efficient and responsive administrative, organisational, and logistical support to the Chief Executive Officer, helping them to manage and prioritise their time and maximise their productivity.  Also provides secondary support to the rest of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT).

Medair Headquarters

Medair Headquarters (HQ) provides operational guidance for country programmes and activities, along with both technical and compassionate support for our relief workers. Within our headquarters, we are also responsible for promoting the work of Medair to the world, to raise and manage the funds needed to run our life-saving and sustaining programmes. Our headquarters teams are also responsible for recruiting international and HQ staff, and like our field teams, we are committed to serve the world’s most vulnerable with practical and compassionate care.

Medair

Medair is a humanitarian organisation inspired by Christian faith to relieve human suffering in some of the world’s most remote and devastated places. We bring relief and recovery to people in crisis, regardless of race, creed or nationality. As signatories of the Red Cross Code of Conduct, we believe that aid should be given to everyone who is in need, regardless of political, social or religious viewpoint. We save lives in emergencies and then stay to help people recover from crisis with dignity—working side by side with communities to leave a lasting impact. We provide a range of emergency relief and recovery services: health care and nutrition; safe water, sanitation, and hygiene; shelter and infrastructure.

Workplace         

Medair HQ, Ecublens, near Lausanne, Switzerland

Starting Date

As soon as possible

Initial Contract Details

Full time, open-ended contract

Key Activity Areas

Administration

• Diary management and day to day logistical support for the CEO.
• Organise travel and accommodation plans for the CEO.
• Ensure ELT meetings run effectively and efficiently.
• Screen telephone calls, enquiries and requests, and handling them when appropriate.
• Deal with correspondence and writing letters, meeting minutes etc.
• Represent the CEO to a variety of internal and external stakeholders including CEOs of other organisations, the IBoT, suppliers, local and national authorities.
• Maintain office filing and plan ahead ensuring the CEO is well-prepared for meetings.
• Prioritise and highlights issues of day to day importance for the CEO’s attention.
• Produce documents, briefing papers, reports and presentations.
• Support other ELT members individually as above on an ad-hoc basis.

Delegated Responsibilities

• Represent the CEO on a regular basis.
• Make day to day practical decisions as delegated by the CEO.
• Make travel, accommodation and other logistical decisions on behalf of the CEO / ELT.
• Reply to correspondence in the name of the CEO within agreed parameters.

Qualifications

• Higher level qualification in a relevant subject or equivalent professional qualification / experience, such as Administration or Business Management
• HR certificate desirable

Languages

• Strong working knowledge of English (spoken and written)
• Strong working knowledge of French (spoken and written)
• Working knowledge of German and other languages a plus

Experience / Competencies

• 2 years’ experience in administration / secretarial work; 1 year as a Personal Assistant desirable

·         Ability to effectively juggle a variety of simultaneous work tasks

·         Practical working knowledge of HR management

·         Can prioritise tasks and delegate when necessary

·         Polished communications and influencing skills (both spoken and written)

·         Excellent planning and organisation skills; accurate reporting skills

·         Maintains personal boundaries and unshakable confidentiality; is trustworthy and discreet

·         Presents themselves professionally

·         Flexible and mature approach with ability to work unsupervised

·         Operates calmly under pressure working effectively to tight deadlines

Medair Standard Working Requirements for the International Headquarters

• Committed Christians; commitment to the Medair values
• Reflect the vision and values of Medair when interacting with team members and external contacts
• At least one year of professional experience in a relevant field (more experience preferred)
• Strong working knowledge of English (spoken and written)
• Working knowledge of French (spoken and written) for French-speaking roles
• Competent with MS Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
• Motivated by a spirit of service
• Solid team player

Benefits

• Salary commensurate with pay-grade of the position
• Travel expenses to country programmes (for staff who are required to make field visits)
• Annual leave; Accident insurance and pension
• Death and disability insurance; Health insurance for loss of earnings
• The opportunity to work in a Christian organisation where your contributions make a difference for the world’s most vulnerable

HQ Working Conditions

• Swiss or eligible EU citizens, or those with a valid work permit for Switzerland, can apply.
• This is an HQ based position in Lausanne, Switzerland.
• Travel may be required both accompanying and on behalf of the CEO.

Application Process

Follow this link: www.medair.org/work-with-us, check if you fit our standard working criteria, then: apply for this vacancy (or another position that matches your profile).

Please do not make multiple applications. We will not review email applications. Only English-language applications / CVs will be reviewed. Medair does not set closing / deadline dates for applications; recruitment is on-going until the position is filled.