Senior Administrative Assistant

XL Associates, Inc. (XLA) has provided institutional support services to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for over twenty years.  XLA is now seeking a Senior Administrative Assitant to support the Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security (REFS) under a contract that was recently awarded. Through REFS, USAID works to advance inclusive agriculture‐led growth, resilience, nutrition, and water security, sanitation and hygiene initiatives in priority countries around the world to help them accelerate and protect development progress. 

The Senior Administrative Assistant manages the overall workflow and coordination of the Front Office and designated senior staff, and is expected to exercise wide latitude of discretion regarding workflow, priorities, and methods in addition to an in-depth knowledge of the senior staff’s style, methods of operation, relationships, and authorities. The position requires the use of considerable judgment and independent action and may include the delegation of work to others. Work requires a high level of discretion.

The Senior Administrative Assistant will provide support to the principals to which they are assigned for day-to-day work assignments. Activities include assessing operational needs, information gathering and management, travel support and coordination, and providing substantive support in the planning, implementation, and evaluation/oversight of activities related to REFS programs.

This position will be in the Office of the Assistant Administrator (Front Office) within the REFS bureau. The Front Office provides senior-level strategic guidance on resilience; environment; food security; nutrition; water security, sanitation, and hygiene; climate; infrastructure; and energy to the Deputy Administrator for Policy and Planning and the Administrator of USAID, as well as to federal departments and agencies. The office provides strategic, policy, and technical support to the presidentially appointed Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD).

The leadership of this office is comprised of the Assistant to the Administrator (AtA) and four Deputy Assistant Administrators (DAAs). This position will be directly supporting this leadership team. This position is based in Washington, D.C. with limited travel anticipated.

Key Responsibilities:

Operations and Administration

• Serves as an important resource to perform work of broad scope and complexity under the direction of the principals.
• Systematically coordinates, tracks, and completes office workflow to maintain an efficient operating environment.
• Develops and maintains accurate records and file management systems.
• Ensure conference room virtual meetings are set up in advance as needed.
• Makes appointments, travel arrangements, and itineraries; assembles or ensures that packets of information or briefing materials are prepared and oversees development of accurate expense statements.
• Exercises a wide degree of creativity and latitude in developing and coordinating projects on behalf of the principal.
• Relies on extensive experience and judgment to plan and accomplish project goals utilizing strong organizational skills.
• Participates in high level meetings and travels as needed.
• Support principals in managing payroll systems such as WebTA.

 Internal and External Communications

• Streamlines interactions with internal and external stakeholders on behalf of the principal.
• Uses a high level of discretion to manage calendars and controls access to the principals, determining the importance of the issues for each meeting and following protocol procedures for contacting parties based on the preferences of the individual principal.
• Establish appointment priorities and reschedule meetings if needed.
• Monitors email for action items and gleans items from staff meetings and weekly reports that require action; creates a system to generate reminders of completion deadlines.

Travel Processing:

• Process travel requests on receipt of itineraries, including reservations, ticketing, and managing and processing visa and passport requirements.
• Obtain country clearances via email/cable as appropriate three days prior to departure date.
• Process travel vouchers and expense report processing including properly documenting travel in Agency’s electronic systems (i.e. E2i Solutions, FS-Trans).
• Maintain travel databases and track travel budgets; coordinate airline and hotel reservations.

Correspondence:

• Track executive correspondence and work with the USAID point-of-contact to ensure responses are transmitted in a timely fashion and properly formatted.
• Review Office correspondence for proper formatting as prescribed in official agency guidance.
• Produce documents requiring minimal edits prior to clearance and dissemination from Office.
• Ensure documents are correctly formatted according to approved templates.
• Distribute incoming mail and prepare mailings for Officers.
• Occasionally take notes as requested in meetings.

Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of three years of professional experience (to include internships)
• A candidate may substitute years of experience In lieu of a Bachelor’s degree (an Associate’s degree plus a minimum of 8 years’ experience or a High School Diploma and 10 years’ experience)
• Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance
• Excellent oral, interpersonal, and written communications skills to effectively interact with government clients, high-ranking officials, and other stakeholders
• Strong prioritization and organization skills with keen attention to deadlines
• Excellent anticipatory skills and proactive approach to work
• Positive and professional attitude and demeanor
• Detail-oriented and interested in producing quality work products
• Proficiency in Google Suite of products or ability to learn
• Proficiency in Microsoft Suite of products including excel, word, and PowerPoint
• Experience with USAID, USG or other related organizations is a plus