Senior Executive Assistant

The Senior Executive Assistant provides exceptional, high-level, executive support to the university president, ensuring seamless operations in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. Reporting to the president, this position provides comprehensive administrative support while managing all aspects of the president’s engagements, schedule, and travel.

The role requires a strategic thinker with exceptional judgment, political acumen, discretion, and organizational expertise, along with the ability to anticipate needs, navigate competing priorities, and support institutional initiatives of significant complexity and impact. The incumbent is a proactive, adaptable professional who thrives in high-pressure situations, excels at managing multiple projects simultaneously, and maintains professionalism and diplomacy.

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

 Strategic Executive Coordination and Presidential Support – 60%

• Act as a primary point of contact and liaison for the president, balancing competing priorities while maintaining a comprehensive understanding of strategic objectives for the university.

• Analyze, prioritize, and execute complex scheduling requests, ensuring alignment with the university’s mission and the president’s goals and priorities.

• Coordinate and manage all aspects of travel, including detailed itineraries, logistics, approvals, briefing materials, expense reconciliation, and contingency planning.

• Command a strong knowledge of the university’s organizational structure and the resources/stakeholders that can be utilized when making scheduling decisions and preparing the president for engagements.

• Manage donor and external stakeholder relationships effectively and maximize the impact of the president’s time to enrich these engagements.

• Consistently demonstrate strong judgment to create, adjust, and manage the president’s calendar, travel, and critical meetings to most effectively utilize the president’s time. Anticipate emerging priorities, operational challenges, and scheduling conflicts while proactively developing solutions and recommendations.

• On behalf of the president, initiate contact with a wide range of internal and external constituencies to accomplish scheduling goals, including UNH and university system administrators, faculty, staff, students, elected officials, donors, news media and members of public.

Executive Support and Preparation – 25%

• Proactively maintain awareness of substantive issues, activities, and events within the university community and a general knowledge of events and activities external to the university to assist in strategic scheduling and preparation.

• Proactively research and prepare comprehensive briefing materials and talking points, ensuring the president is well-equipped for all meetings and events.  Accountable for delivering these documents, following appropriate reviews, with ample time for the president to prepare for events

• Anticipate and address operational needs, conduct in-depth research, and gather critical information to support executive decision-making, institutional initiatives, and special projects..

• Support university events at the president’s house. Coordinate general maintenance of the residence as an event space.  Supervise the calendar of events at the residence while always balancing the president’s family needs at the residence.

Office Operations and Administrative Leadership – 15%

• Represent the President’s Office with exceptional professionalism, discretion, and customer service.

• Establish and maintain efficient administrative processes, records management practices, and office operations that support the effectiveness of the Office of the President.

• Undertakes special projects, either individually or collectively; collaborates with administrative staff to execute high-priority projects and events seamlessly.

• Maintain confidentiality and act as a trusted advisor in managing sensitive information and relationships.  Prepares confidential correspondence and other documents of a highly sensitive nature. Set an example for the rest of the organization, managing confidential information, and being a trusted advisor.

Minimum Qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree and six (6) years of progressive, relevant experience.

• Demonstrated expertise in managing complex schedules and communications at the executive level.

• Ability to prioritize time and manage multiple priorities under deadlines while maintaining a high level of professionalism and attention to detail.

• Exercises discretion and independent judgment in determining priorities of requests

• Ability to exercise sound judgment, tact, and discretion and maintain integrity with sensitive and confidential information.

• High emotional intelligence, with the ability to build and sustain relationships across various levels of the organization, and with diverse internal and external constituencies. Demonstrated ability to work as part of a team.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to assess complex situations, conduct research, and recommend effective solutions.

• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a high-profile executive office environment.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, Workday , office management systems, and scheduling tools.

• Ability to build briefing documents and presentations that effectively translate the messages of the President and other Senior Leadership as needed.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including professional experience in preparing, editing and proofreading reports, presentations, and correspondence.

• Ability to occasionally work nights and weekends, as needed.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience supporting a president, chief executive officer, or other senior executive in a complex organizational environment.

• Experience in higher education, research institutions, public administration, or similarly complex mission-driven organizations.

• Demonstrated communications experience, including preparing, editing, and proofreading correspondence, reports, and/or presentations.

The University of New Hampshire is an R1 Carnegie classification research institution providing comprehensive, high-quality undergraduate and graduate programs of distinction. UNH is located in Durham on a 188-acre campus, 60 miles north of Boston and 8 miles from the Atlantic coast and is convenient to New Hampshire’s lakes and mountains. There is a student enrollment of 13,000 students, with a full-time faculty of over 600, offering 90 undergraduate and more than 70 graduate programs. The University actively promotes a dynamic learning environment in which qualified individuals of differing perspectives, life experiences, and cultural backgrounds pursue academic goals with mutual respect and shared inquiry.

EEO Statement

The University System of New Hampshire is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access employer. The University System is committed to creating an environment that values and supports diversity and inclusiveness across our campus communities and encourages applications from qualified individuals who will help us achieve this mission. The University System prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or marital status.

Compensation Pay Range:

The pay range for this position is listed above. Actual offer will be based on skills, qualifications, experience, and internal equity, in addition to relevant business considerations. More information on benefits can be found here: USNH Employee Benefits | Human Resources

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