Business Services Open Rank Professional (Senior – Principal)

University of Colorado•Aurora, CO

28d•$58,792 - $86,001•Hybrid

About The Position

The Assistant to the Chair supports the Chair of the Department of Surgery (DOS) and provides high-level support to ensure the Chair's duties and responsibilities are carried out effectively. This position reports to the Director of Operations. The person in this role must consistently demonstrate professionalism and represent the Chair, Department, faculty, and staff with the highest standards. The Assistant to the Chair will collaborate with all parts of the community—both internal and external—and will proactively seek innovative and suitable solutions to overcome any challenges in achieving the Chair’s goals for the Department. The Assistant to the Chair will oversee the DOS Chair schedule which is critical to the Chair’s effectiveness. This position will be intimately involved in the day-to-day use of the Chair’s time while keeping in mind all specific directions given by the Chair. It is also imperative that this role balances the demands of both DOS Chair responsibilities and general administrative duties for the overall department administrative structure. This includes coordination with the support professionals within all eight divisions of the DOS, its affiliates and hospital partners. This position is required to be on site Monday through Friday, with options to be hybrid. Any remote requests are subject to approval. This position reports to the Department of Surgery Director of Operations. This position does not supervise others. The University of Colorado Anschutz Department of Surgery offers a compelling opportunity for a Director of Operations who wants to lead within a prestigious, mission-driven academic medical environment. As part of the largest academic health center in the Rocky Mountain region, with nationally recognized hospitals and a major research enterprise, you’ll support a department committed to innovating surgical care, curing through discovery, and educating future leaders—advancing clinical care, research breakthroughs, and training programs that impact patients locally and globally. In this strategic role, you’ll work closely with world-class faculty and administrative leaders to optimize operations, enhance quality and safety, and translate organizational goals into measurable results—helping shape the future of surgical practice and academic medicine within a dynamic, highly collaborative, and impactful academic health system.

Requirements

Senior Level:
Bachelor’s degree in education, psychology, business, public administration, health care, educational technology, social science, liberal arts, communications, accounting, finance, library science, or a directly related field from an accredited institution.
A combination of education and related technical/military/paraprofessional experience may be substituted for a bachelor’s degree on a year for year basis.
Two (2) years of professional level administration experience.
Principal Level:
Bachelor’s degree in education, psychology, business, public administration, health care, educational technology, social science, liberal arts, communications, accounting, finance, library science, or a directly related field from an accredited institution.
A combination of education and related technical/military/paraprofessional experience may be substituted for a bachelor’s degree on a year for year basis.
Three (3) years of professional level administration experience.
Applicants must meet minimum qualifications at the time of hire.
Ability to communicate effectively, both in writing and orally.
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees at all levels throughout the institution.
Outstanding customer service skills.
Ability to manage and maintain complex, sensitive, and confidential information.
Advanced skills in Microsoft Office Suite, video conferencing platforms.
Phone system knowledge and etiquette.
Excellent time management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple projects.
Ability to multitask and move from one task/duty to another without errors despite frequent interruptions.
Strong sense of urgency and the ability to take direction and prioritize projects.
Ability to realize the work unit’s mission statement, vision, and goals, as set forth by the Chair.
Excellent research skills and attention to detail.
Ability to use independent judgment to coordinate various projects and meet multiple deadlines.
Ability to effectively explain processes and procedures.
Demonstrated problem-solving skills.
Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
Ability to adequately understand budgets for events and projects.

Nice To Haves

Five (5) or more years of experience in an executive-level administrative support role.
Experience in an academic healthcare environment.
Experience providing administrative and technical assistance to faculty and staff within higher education and/or medical education environment.
Experience working with UCD software such as Marketplace, Concur, and Peoplesoft.

Responsibilities

Oversee the DOS Chair schedule and prioritizing appointment requests.
Oversee the Chair’s/business-related travel - this includes preparing itineraries, making reservations, solving travel challenges and processing reimbursement and travel expenses in a timely manner.
Maintain all files – electronic and paper – related to or used by the Chair.
Provide ad hoc support to the Chair as needed which may include but is not limited to:
Oversee credentialing by the University of Colorado Hospital and affiliates.
Serving on or providing administrative support to committees, programs, projects, and events involving the Department.
Submitting articles; analyzing and/or extracting research publications.
Providing administrative and travel support for visiting job candidates, speakers, and visitors to the Department.
Review, edit, and suggest modifications regarding correspondence required by the Chair as appropriate to ensure the highest level of consistent quality.
Act as a personal representative of the Chair for contacts within the Department and across the School of Medicine, whether in person, on the phone, or via electronic or written means.
Work professionally and cordially with the Surgery Administrative staff to ensure coverage of the Chair's directives and assignments.
Provide executive-level customer service for those coming to the Chair’s office and interacting with the Chair via correspondence.
Coordinates with the Communications Program Manager on internal communications.
Perform other duties as assigned.
Perform financial research and compile accurate data to develop reports or spreadsheets as requested.
This roles serves as secondary support to the Vice Chair of Administration for DOS.
Support daily administrative tasks at the department level, including direct service of main telephone line; incoming calls.
Acts as a primary for supply ordering of department administration and Chair supplies.
Acts as a primary for daily maintenance of stocking and inventory management of the administrative lounge.
Manage and lead multiple projects which cross DOS and affiliate partners.
Maintain an understanding of the crossover of these two offices and respond to inquiries and requests in an accurate and professional manner.
Principal Level: Provide advance level project management for the DOS Administration Office.
Principal Level: Acts as Subject Matter Expert (SME) on project management and coordination.
Principal Level: Oversee various DOM initiatives and projects and ensures that each moves forward in a coordinated, consolidated, and concerted manner.
Assist with special projects as assigned.
Taking minutes at meetings and training sessions.
Coordination of IT and AV equipment, virtual meeting software, etc.
Provide support for the preparation of conferences, presentations, speeches, meetings, and training sessions. This includes Executive Committee Meetings, Faculty Meetings and any ad hoc Chair initiated meetings.
Creation and oversight of budgets for special events sponsored by the Department.
Adequately understand, track, and adhere to assigned budgets for events and projects not to exceed the designated amount as directed by the Director of Finance and Administration.
Principal Level: Manage standing meetings, staff high level enterprise meetings.
Principal Level: Provide concise written documentation of these events.
Principal Level: Independently prioritize needs and follow-up on outstanding needs.
Principal Level: Act as SME in facilitating executive level meetings.
Perform other duties as assigned.