Position Description:
Position Summary
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a prestigious research and development organization that plays a vital role in the study of the universe. Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) is a nonprofit organization that manages and operates the NRAO under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The Observatory is a hub for technological and scientific collaboration, operating state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. The Observatory has been instrumental in the study of black holes, galaxies, and the early universe.
The NRAO is are seeking a General Office Assistant/Receptionist. This position is based in Socorro, New Mexico at the Domenici Science Operations Center. The NRAO Science Operations Center is located in NM, on the campus of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (www.nmt.edu).. With a high level of professionalism, the Receptionist will perform a variety of administrative and clerical assignments, frequently handling confidential information. This position creates a positive first and last impression for the organization and is key for monitoring our visitors.
What You Will be Doing:
- Greeting and monitoring visitor access
- Maintaining office security by following safety procedures and controlling building access via the reception desk (monitor visitor access log, issue visitor badges, etc.)
- Prepare visitor packets, issue room keys, and collect payment from visitors who stay at the NRAO Guest House.
- Answering, handling, and directing incoming calls accordingly
- Responding to visitor inquiries in a polite and timely manner
- Serving as primary administrator for the Meeting Planner system, assists or schedule meetings and conferences including the posting of daily meeting schedules at conference rooms.
- Overseeing the NRAO Guest House reservations, collect payment, update occupant spreadsheet, and submit NM Tech Work Orders as needed.
- Prepare Pay Order and Petty Cash
- Assist with staff vehicle registration log & issuing company vehicle keys, as needed.
- Coordinating facility use for non-NRAO organizations and assisting with meeting set-up and break-down
- Preparation of correspondence, reports, and the NRAO-NM phone list & NRAO Directory updates for NM staff
- Maintenance of the NM staff picture display & office supply cabinets
- In compliance with the Fiscal Division policies will be responsible for the petty cash fund, prepare, issue, and send out receipts, bills, policies, invoices, statements, and checks as needed
- Assisting with various clerical duties such as typing, filing and photocopying, etc.,
- Routing & distributing incoming mail; preparing outgoing mail as needed, maintain staff mailboxes
- Update video displays in lobby each work day morning. Pro-active compliance with NRAO and government safety policies and procedures in own work area is expected
- Other duties as assigned
Work Environment
Work is typically performed in an open office environment but may occasionally be required to be outdoors. Must be able to sit at a desk, use a personal computer and other standard office equipment; the ability to climb stairs is required
Who You Are:
Education
- Minimum of High school diploma or GED
Skills and Competencies
The successful candidate must possess excellent verbal and written communication skills, excellent customer service skills, and feel comfortable interacting with the general public, groups, and individuals of all professional levels. Ability to maintain accurate records. Knowledge of standard office practices, procedures, various office equipment, and administrative techniques; thorough knowledge of business English, spelling, and arithmetic. Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and knowledge of personal computers, including word processing and spreadsheet software. Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with other employees and the public; ability to understand and follow oral and written instruction; ability to organize and perform work independently in the absence of specific instructions.
Additional Requirement
Observatory employees must be authorized to work in the United States. The Observatory presently cannot sponsor H-1B Visas for this position.
Total Rewards:
Compensation
Minimum starting compensation is $15.00 per hour. Factors which may affect starting pay may include; education, experience, skills, competencies, other qualifications of the successful candidate, as well as internal equity and labor market conditions.
Benefits:
Associated Universities, Inc (AUI) offers a comprehensive benefits package addressing the needs of employees and their families with most benefits beginning on the first day of employment, subject to eligibility requirements. AUI provides:
- Excellent paid time off (13 holidays, annual accrual of up to 24 vacation days)
- Medical, dental and vision plans are effective on the first day of employment.
- AUI’s retirement benefit contributes an amount equal to 10 percent of a qualified participant’s base pay with no required employee contribution.
- Click Total Rewards for more information.
Application Instructions:
Select the “Apply” button above. Please be prepared to upload your current CV/Resume and a cover letter describing interest and suitability for the position.
Equal Opportunity Employer Statement:
AUI is an equal opportunity employer. To view our complete statement, please visit https://public.nrao.edu/careers/. If you require reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process, you may submit your request by sending an email to [email protected]. PM20
Skills Required
- High school diploma or GED
- Authorization to work in the United States
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Excellent customer service skills and comfort interacting with the public and people at all professional levels
- Ability to maintain accurate records
- Knowledge of standard office practices, procedures, office equipment, and administrative techniques
- Knowledge of business English, spelling, and arithmetic
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, word processing, and spreadsheet software
- Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees and the public
- Ability to understand and follow oral and written instructions
- Ability to organize and perform work independently
- Ability to sit at a desk, use a personal computer and standard office equipment, and climb stairs
What We Do
Developed over the past seven years in collaboration with 60,000 human agents, Apollo is a breakthrough language model for objective-oriented conversational agents. Apollo replaces the transformer architecture of traditional LLMs with a neuro-symbolic architecture that couples the conversational skills of generative AI with the predictability and actionability of rule-based AI, making it better suited for agents. Companies of any kind can fine-tune the Apollo base model on a specific task and deploy conversational agents that work on their behalf. These fine-tuned agents can continuously improve from human feedback, which is integrated into their updated versions. They further feature fine-grained control, the capacity to adhere to the deploying company’s policies and a white-box view of their operations. With native tool use, defined scope and guardrails and superior steerability, Apollo Agents outclass LLM Agents across all conversational use-cases. Apollo does not train on company data, instead, it can be pre-integrated with any number of internal systems, and seamlessly call the relevant API endpoint whenever necessary. Like transformer-based LLMs, Apollo has a “system prompt”, broken down to structured, conditional policies. Workflows and tools are native to Apollo and do not rely on function calling or chaining. This enables 100% success rate in executing complex API calls and the ability to return grounded answers in each interaction from any number of endpoints or sources. Unlike transformer-based LLMs, Apollo is fine-tuned at the interaction level. In the Simulator, companies can generate automated conversations simulating the agent in production in front of users. They then proceed to fine-tuning the agent by correcting its output in each unsatisfactory interaction. This process can be repeated continuously to improve the performance and alignment of the agent. Unlocked with Apollo are some exciting new agentic use-cases, including the ability for companies to responsibly communicate with their customers using conversational AI, and to sell their products and services without the need for human involvement, the example featured in the Live Demo Agent.






