Executive Assistant, Office of the Executive Managing Director
CGIAR, France

This vacancy is intended to fill a vacant position in the CGIAR System Organization.

Location: Montpellier, France

Grade: Grade 2 (The position is graded in accordance with the CGIAR System Organization staff salary and grading structure, under which jobs may be graded between grades 1 to 9, with grade 9 being the highest).

Date Published: 26 October 2023

Closing Date for Applications: Monday, 27 November 2023 at 09h00 CET

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science is dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services. Its research is conducted closely with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations, and the private sector.

Established in 2012, the CGIAR System Organization (System Organization) provides governance to the CGIAR System in collaboration with the System Council and has about 60+ staff. The System Organization is committed to cultivating a work environment that reflects teamwork, gender equality, and respect for diversity.

It is a truly exciting time to join the System Organization as CGIAR transforms into a more integrated One CGIAR that will allow us to achieve a more significant impact with our research. One CGIAR is a dynamic reformulation of CGIAR’s partnerships, knowledge, assets, and global presence in key areas where innovation is needed to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. It focuses on collaborating more closely to enable us to deploy scientific innovations faster, on a larger scale, and at a reduced cost so that they can have a more significant impact where they are needed the most. The transition to One CGIAR will have profound implications on how CGIAR and its constituent parts are structured and operate: with unified governance, an integrated structure, a new research modality, and more pooled funding; One CGIAR will be better positioned to achieve its mission.

Please find more information about CGIAR at www.cgiar.org and about One CGIAR here.

The Executive Assistant provides a wide range of proactive administrative and operational support of an executive and confidential nature to CGIAR’s Executive Managing Director (EMD) and Deputy Executive Managing Director (DEMD).

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future dedicated to transforming food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis. The EMD is CGIAR’s Chief Executive, leading CGIAR’s Global and Regional Groups and heading its Executive Management Team (EMT). The DEMD plays a crucial role in supporting the focus on organizational management, resource mobilization, and finance.

The Office of the EMD works alongside CGIAR’s Global and Regional Groups to ensure that the EMD and DEMD have access to the core strategic, operational, and administrative support and advice required to deliver their responsibilities effectively. The Office also convenes and facilitates effective collaboration across top leadership; supports coherent institutional strategy and planning, monitoring, and reporting; and delivers strategic, cross-cutting projects.

Within this context, the Executive Assistant will work alongside colleagues in the Office of the EMD to provide a range of administrative and operational support functions requiring considerable discretion and independent judgment in the following broad areas of responsibility:

• Scheduling and correspondence;
• Travel and events;
• Document and information management; and
• Communications and liaison

The Executive Assistant will be a highly organized team player who can effectively work across multiple stakeholders and multi-task in a fast-paced environment. Attention to detail and a high level of professionalism are essential requirements for this role.

• Proactively manage the calendars for the Office of the EMD, including running weekly calendar review meetings to ensure efficient use of the top executives’ time and interaction with relevant stakeholders to plan and coordinate complex leadership meetings and high-level engagement with partners.
• Proactively manage the shared mailboxes of the Office of the Executive Managing Director, EMD, and DEMD, filing and replying on the EMD’s and DEMD’s behalf when required.

Travel and event support

• Organize and coordinate local and international business travel arrangements to meet organizational priorities, including visa applications, complex flight arrangements, accommodation, transfers, the preparation of itineraries and briefing

Job Rewards and Benefits