Section Support Assistant

Maternity cover - fixed term up to 50 weeks

Based at Lancaster

The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) is part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and is the UK's Centre of Excellence for integrated research in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and their interaction with the atmosphere. This position is based within the Shore Section of CEH on the Lancaster University site.

The primary objective of the role is to provide support to the Section Head and department which consists of some 60 staff and students, various visiting scientists, volunteers and Masters students.

 Duties include:

• Acting as the central point of contact for the Section
• Providing general administration support to the Section [eg., mailing reprints,  photocopying, collating, filing, archiving and typing, population of Endnote libraries, placing notices on the intranet, general enquiries including phone enquiries, organising reception display boards)
• Coordinating visitor arrangements
• Organising travel arrangements
• Arranging appointments and meetings for staff
• Liaising with project leaders over reporting requirements, collation and archiving of a range of outputs produced by the section (media contacts, papers, students, numbers etc),
• Facilitating Section communication (includes booking [and setting up as appropriate] meetings, rooms, refreshments, VC/Access grid as requested, for section staff and for section meetings, collation of replies to requests for information from the SH]
• Maintaining section Health & Safety documents, including Overseas Travel Authority and coordinating renewal of risk assessments forms and their placement on the intranet.
• Liaising with Infrastructure staff for Inductions, Occupational Health and Display Screen Equipment assessment/referrals.
• Attending and taking minutes at relevant meetings
• Managing and maintaining the Section’s Intranet and Internet page, documents and  databases
• Acting as Personnel information liaison (to include sick leave reporting, appraisal support etc.)
• Project Support
• Section Purchasing
• Induction of new starters

Position and person requirements

The successful candidate will have experience of working in a busy and varied administration role and providing excellent customer service to a range of internal and external contacts.

You are expected to be confident and professional in your communication with good oral and written English. You are expected to be flexible in your approach and be able to adapt and cope with change. You will be expected to work independently, managing your own time effectively but also work within a team, providing support to others as appropriate.

As part of the role is to support the Section Head, experience of working as a Personal Assistant would be advantageous. Candidates are expected to be fully conversant with MS Office, email and the Internet.

Salary & benefits

The salary for this post is £14,620 progressing to £18,660 per annum, pro rata to the fixed term contract.  In addition NERC offer a public sector pension scheme, 30 days’ annual leave and 10½ days’ public and privilege holiday per annum pro rata. 

How to Apply

To apply please send your completed application form (MS Word doc) together with a covering letter to the People and Skills team at the following email address: cehpersonnel@ceh.ac.uk.

Closing date for receipt of completed applications is 15^th June 2012.