Executive Assistant

The businesses of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany•Boston, MA

16h•$40 - $61•Hybrid

About The Position

Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us. United As One for Patients, our purpose in Healthcare is to help create, improve and prolong lives. We develop medicines, intelligent devices and innovative technologies in therapeutic areas such as Oncology, Neurology and Fertility. Our teams work together across 6 continents with passion and relentless curiosity in order to help patients at every stage of life. Joining our Healthcare team is becoming part of a diverse, inclusive and flexible working culture, presenting great opportunities for personal development and career advancement across the globe. The purpose of the Executive Assistant role reporting into the Head NA Medical Affairs (NAMA) Strategy & Operations is to provide superior executive assistance to the SVP NAMA. The focus on calendar, travel, and expense reporting, as well as team-wide organizational maintenance, allowing SVP NAMA to focus on key strategic and senior leadership activity. The role ensures medical operations and meetings are in line with corporate policies and organized in a cost-conscious manner. This is a hybrid position requiring a minimum of 3 days in the office per week, with the possibility of additional in-office days depending on the needs of the business during specific weeks This job description is intended to provide a general overview of the role and is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and duties associated with the position

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree.
7+ years in an executive assistant role supporting senior-level management, in a fast-paced global and matrixed environment.
Or
High School or GED with 10 years in an executive assistant role within the pharmaceutical industry
Ability to communicate openly and share information to foster trust while encouraging constructive debate, making informed decisions, and ensuring shared commitment to outcomes.
Demonstrated willingness to take risks and stand up for what is right while prioritizing the needs and experiences of customers and patients in all decisions.
Commitment to setting and reaching ambitious goals and setting high standards while acting in the best interest of the company and taking initiative to drive results.
Uphold ethical standards and being honest in all interactions.
Ability to streamlining processes to focus on what matters and creates impact and acting quickly to adapt to changes.
Demonstrated ability to embrace new ideas, challenge the status quo, and seek innovative solutions while valuing diverse perspectives and treating others with respect and dignity.
Ability to maintain confidentiality of sensitive or proprietary information.
High team orientation.
Ability to multitask and to be agile and flexible to work assignments.
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail and follow-through a must.
Excellent time management skills.
Willing and able to take on responsibility.
Likes working in teams and in an international/global fast-paced and growing environment.
Thinks beyond the confines of own function; considers interfaces, understands need for and actively fosters cross-functional cooperation.
High customer service mentality
Proven experience and examples of developing and maintaining relationships across functions

Nice To Haves

Experience in the pharmaceutical or healthcare industry is strongly preferred.
Knowledge of industry-specific terminology and processes.
Advanced knowledge of personal computer, various office software packages (Microsoft Office software Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams), and electronic filing systems. Demonstrated ability to work within financial software (e.g. SAP, ARIBA) preferred.
Demonstrated ability to apply travel and expense policy requirements to local / country travel and expense reporting.

Responsibilities

Preparing and edit correspondence, communications, presentations, and other documents, handle incoming and outgoing communications, including emails, team calls, and mail
Meeting Coordination: Plan, organize, and coordinate meetings, conferences, and events. Prepare agendas, take meeting minutes, and follow up on action items. Ensure the SVP is well-prepared for meetings with relevant materials and information.
Stakeholder Management: Act as a liaison between the SVP and internal/external stakeholders. Build and maintain positive relationships with key contacts and departments.
Understands how the team integrates with other teams in order to achieve overall objectives, on behalf of the business.
Responsible for understanding the scope and content of ongoing programs that the NAMA team is involved in and assisting with projects where necessary while prioritizing and managing multiple projects simultaneously to ensure follow-through on issues in a timely manner.
Responsible for heavy calendar management, requiring interaction with both internal and external senior executives and their assistants, as well as third party stakeholders and industry partners to coordinate a variety of complex executive meetings and events.
Provide advanced, executive administrative support to the NAMA Leadership Team (LT) members, including coordinating and scheduling high-level business meetings upon request.
Coordinate complex travel arrangements, both international and domestic.
Ensure deadline delivery for requests and assignments (e.g. team meeting agendas/minutes, periodic team reports, etc.).
Apply superior analytical skills to screening of routine and highly confidential responses to incoming mail, email, telephone calls and messages.
Develop and maintain a confidential, centralized filing system, which is linked to computer network filing structure.
Process expense reports for SVP, and members of the NAMA LT as assigned, ensuring timely submission and accuracy.
Collaborate with internal parties at all levels to gather information and prepare reports as per the executive’s needs.
Attend all Administrative Excellence meetings and events.
Generate information to support managerial decisions.
Participate in the design and implementation of staff trainings, as applicable.
Perform other tasks as requested by Line Manager.