Switzerland Office Manager

Office Manager

HAP International is a partnership of humanitarian agencies dedicated to building a system of self-regulation based upon quality management and accountability principles, with a specific commitment to making humanitarian action accountable to its intended beneficiaries.

HAP is now seeking to recruit an Office Manager for its Secretariat in Geneva.

This post is responsible for the office management of HAP’s Secretariat, for supporting the certification services, and for facilitating the Governance structures of the Humaniatrian Accountability Partnership.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Office Manager will provide a very diverse range of services to ensure the efficient running of the HAP International Secretariat and its programme. The successful candidate should be educated to degree level with a minimum of 3 years experience in a comparable position and ideally have a good knowledge of the Swiss legal environment and experience in the international humanitarian system.

Specific Responsibilities:

General Administration: Contribute to the efficient running of the HAP International Secretariat and programme, and in particular to: • Maintain cost-effective office service contracts (accommodation, telecommunications etc); • Maintain the staff regulations and recommend changes as appropriate; • Manage staff absence and leave register; • Manage electronic filing system; • Manage the manual filing system, create and maintain files, contact lists and databases • Authorise procurement of office supplies and equipment; • Recruit and supervise short-term administrative support staff as agreed with the Executive Director; • Process incoming mail and emails, draft and edit correspondence; • Ensure the updating of the database; • Manage petty cash float and book; • Ensure minute taking of internal and external meetings; • Provide assistance with the coordination of baseline surveys and certification audits; • Check invoices, obtain approvals and prepare requests for payment.

Governance: • Make practical arrangements for Board meetings and the annual General Assembly, including: board member liability insurance; procurement of air-tickets for subsidised members; accommodation; catering arrangements; meeting room bookings; audio-visual equipment as required and other special needs.

• Ensure that the official records of Board and General Assembly meetings are accurate, up to date and properly authorised with signatures; ensure that the governance pages of the HAP website are accurate and up to date.

Certification Services: Provide support to the certification services team in the conduct of certification audits including managing follow up with agencies on identified corrective actions.

• Assist in monitoring corrective action responses and validate the application of corrective actions and recommendations; • Manage certification audit, recertification audit and mid term audit schedule; • Provide preparatory documents in compliance with the auditor guidelines and regulatory requirements (contracts, ToRs, planning, reports); • Liaise with aid agencies to support their preparation for certification; • Facilitate workshops as needed; • Provide support to the Certification Manager as requested.

Logistics: • Procure office and programme supplies, furniture and equipment; • Maintain office furniture and equipment, including computers, printers, phones, fax, scanner, etc; • Maintain supplies of consumables for printers and other office equipment; • Manage the office supplies and storage room; • Manage equipment and supplies inventory; • Assist in organising agenda and logistical details for meetings, seminars and workshops in Geneva and abroad; • Provide administrative/practical support to consultants as needed; • Arrange for flight reservations, hotel bookings and visa requests; • Manage outsourced IT services; • Organise the distribution of the annual accountability report and other HAP publications.

Integration: Provide advice and other practical support for the furtherance of HAP International’s other mandated and core functions: • Strategic planning, work planning and budgeting; • Identification of good practices of accountability and quality management in humanitarian action; • Provision of development services for strengthening performance in quality management and accountability; • Promoting research into the business case for accountability and quality management; • Advocacy for the promotion of humanitarian accountability.

Behaviour and Attitude: Engage in effective and proactive team work recognising the abilities of others and utilise cooperative approaches. • Work with colleagues and HAP members in a cooperative way; • Portray helpful and open attitude to colleagues and all stakeholders; • Display respectful attitude to colleagues and all stakeholders; • Behave in accordance with the HAP Code of Conduct; • Act with professional integrity and commitment.

Person Specification Essential • Fluency in French and English • Experience in office administration and good knowledge of management systems • Good knowledge of Swiss employment law and administration • Good Word Processing and Spreadsheets skills • “Can-do” problem solver and self-learning skills • Team player • Service oriented • Excellent time-management skills • Flexibility and adaptability • Ability to communicate effectively at all levels. • Ability to maintain confidentiality and security of information

Preferred

• Knowledge of humanitarian organizations • Experience in an organisation based in Switzerland • Experience in working with quality assurance systems. • Knowledge of quality initiatives, codes of practice, principles and standards commonly used in the humanitarian sector.

Education and experience

• Relevant degree in administration or similar • At least three years experience administering a small office or business

Terms and Conditions

Open-ended contract Location: Geneva Switzerland

How to apply:

Interested candidates should submit their applications (in English) by email to: secretariat@hapinternational.org . Please send your CV, with covering letter, and names of three references (two of whom should be previous employers) and mention Office Manager and your name in the subject line.

Please note that we can only consider the applications of Swiss or EU citizens. Applications from non-EU citizens who already have a valid work permit for the canton of Geneva will only be considered when a copy of the permit is sent with the application.