Administrative Assistant II

Administrative Assistant II

This position provides operational and administrative support for the Kaçar laboratory, with immediate responsibility for maintaining continuity on NASA ICAR MUSE and related laboratory operations. The Kaçar laboratory's area of research includes origins of life, astrobiology, early life and evolution, systems and synthetic biology, and molecular paleo biology.

Core responsibilities include:

• Coordinating administrative, budgetary, and communication needs across a high-volume research laboratory.
• Supporting pre-award grant preparation, proposal timelines, document routing, and submission coordination.
• Supporting post-award grant management, including budget tracking, award documentation, purchasing, expense reconciliation, and reporting.
• Serving as the administrative point of contact for NASA ICAR MUSE and other multi-institutional research teams, including scheduling, meeting logistics, communications, and follow-up on action items.
• Coordinating scheduling, recruitment, hiring, payroll, onboarding, offboarding, travel, purchasing, and reimbursements for lab members and project participants.
• Providing direct PI support to project milestones, deadlines, budget oversight, and compliance-related administrative processes.

Key job responsibilities include:

• Sending, receiving, copying, and distributing communications to the appropriate entities according to established policies and procedures under general supervision.
• Scheduling logistics and securing resources for meetings, conferences, travel, and work unit operations.
• Maintaining established methods and organizational systems directed at the maintenance of electronic/physical records related to work operations according to established policies and procedures.
• Serving as a first point of contact for individuals and groups, providing basic organizational information via phone, in person and through other communication mediums, and routing more complex inquiries to the appropriate entities.
• Collecting, analyzing, and preparing various communication materials from established sources utilizing technology mediums.

Department:
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS), Department of Bacteriology, Kaçar Laboratory.

Compensation:
The minimum pay for this position is $22/hour. However, final salary will depend on experience and qualifications. Employees in this position can expect to receive benefits such as generous vacation, holidays, and paid time off; competitive insurances and savings accounts; retirement benefits. Additional benefits information can be found at: https://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)./

Required qualifications include:

• Organizational and time-management skills that include problem-solving, multi-tasking, prioritizing, and meeting deadlines.
• Knowledge of pre- and post-award grant scientific management, preferably with experience in large federal grants.
• Experience communicating and coordinating operational team logistics across teams or institutions.
• Prior experience with personnel administration support such as recruitment, hiring, onboarding, offboarding, travel, purchasing and reimbursements, and records management.

Preferred qualifications include:

• Knowledge of grant submission platforms, such as federal proposal submission systems.
• Prior experience working in a laboratory or research environment.
• Prior experience with administrative systems commonly used in higher education (e.g., Workday, Concur, purchasing card reconciliation, financial/travel platforms, etc.).

Education:

H.S. Diploma preferred minimum

Time Type:
This position is full or part-time, 50%-100%

Work Schedule:

Normal hours are 7:45am – 4:30pm, Monday through Friday.

Headquarters Location (official location of work):
Microbial Sciences Building, 1550 Linden Drive, Madison, WI

How to Apply:

Click on the "Apply Online" button to start the application process. You will be prompted to upload the following documents/application materials:

Be prepared to upload one SINGLE PDF file that contains:

Resume (required) - Detail your educational and professional background

Cover letter (required) – Refer to your related work experience

Finalists will be asked to…