Administrative Assistant, Customer Support, Office of Sponsored Projects

University of Texas at Austin • Austin, TX

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) serves as the coordinating office for externally funded research and sponsored projects at The University of Texas at Austin. The mission of OSP is to assist faculty and professional research staff in their efforts to secure and ensure proper stewardship of external funding. The Administrative Assistant, Customer Support would serve as the primary front-line customer service and administrative support resource for the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP). The position would provide centralized intake, issue tracking, customer assistance, and administrative support to ensure efficient day-to-day operations. The role would serve as the first point of contact for internal and external inquiries and be responsible for maintaining a high level of customer service, timely response, accurate routing of requests, and effective communication throughout the resolution process. This role would assume some of the transactional, customer-facing, and operational coordination responsibilities currently performed within OSP Operations, allowing senior staff to focus on governance, process ownership, knowledge management, and strategic operational initiatives. Moreover, this entry-level role would help Operations distinguish transactional operations work from program administration and governance work, creating a more sustainable distribution of responsibilities among the operations team, and a clear pathway from entry-level administrative support to higher-level operations and process management roles.

Requirements

• High school graduation or GED.
• A minimum of one year of senior office assistant level experience or three years of administrative experience.
• Experience using Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 applications.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated customer service and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to prioritize multiple assignments and meet deadlines.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise sound judgment.
• Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working in a higher education environment.
• Experience supporting shared inboxes, help desks, customer service centers, or service operations.
• Experience using ticketing systems, tracking systems, or workflow tools.
• Experience with Microsoft Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, and related collaboration tools.
• Experience supporting multiple stakeholders in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary intake coordinator for OSP’s enterprise mailbox.
• Monitor and manage OSP's central electronic mailbox. Manage intake from departmental phone lines, email, and other shared communication channels. Receive, review, categorize, and route incoming requests to appropriate teams. Serve as a front-line customer service representative for issues and inquiries.
• Ensure service requests are acknowledged and tracked appropriately. Follow up with requestors as needed regarding status, additional information, or resolution. Escalate urgent or unresolved issues according to established procedures.
• Maintain professionalism and customer service excellence in all interactions. Coordinate communication between customers and operational support teams.
• Assist with service-response improvement initiatives.
• Support operational visibility and accountability through tracking and reporting activities.
• Identify requests requiring escalation or attention from leadership.
• Maintain operational intake system. Monitor status of pending and unresolved requests.
• Track service trends and recurring operational issues. Generate routine reports regarding intake volume, response status, and service requests.
• Provide administrative coordination for employee onboarding and offboarding activities.
• Coordinate onboarding and offboarding checklists, account provisioning and deprovisioning activities in partnership with other support teams. Monitor completion of assigned onboarding tasks and follow up as necessary and maintain onboarding and offboarding documentation and records.
• Provide general administrative support for departmental operations.
• Serve as primary UT Voicemail administrator. Handle intake of research administration issues via central phone lines, triage, and route issues to appropriate team for direct support.
• Maintain departmental distribution lists and contact information.
• Assist with records organization and document management activities.
• Provide administrative support for operational projects and initiatives.
• Provide operational support for departmental activities and special events.
• Assist with planning and execution of departmental meetings, events, and training sessions.
• Support logistics, purchasing, and event coordination activities.
• Provide backup coverage for Operations team functions during staff absences.
• Assist with special projects and operational initiatives.
• Other duties as assigned

Benefits

• 100% employer-paid basic medical coverage
• Retirement contributions
• Paid vacation and sick time
• Paid holidays

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: High school or GED