Administrative Assistant III-III, Business Support Services Lead

Administrative Assistant III-III, Business Support Services Lead

The Delaware Department of Education is seeking an experienced administrative operations leader to supervise and strengthen the Department's Shared Administrative Services team. This role directs agency-wide service delivery, allocates staff and resources, and serves as the Department's lead administrative subject-matter expert for financial processing, purchasing, travel, project coordination, records, and related operations. The Business Support Services Lead establishes operating expectations, assigns and prioritizes work based on Department needs and team capacity, monitors service levels, resolves escalated issues, and ensures consistent, responsive support across offices and workgroups. The position formally supervises Shared Administrative Services staff and is accountable for coaching, performance, coverage, and results across the full employee lifecycle.

Major Responsibilities:

• Team Leadership and Service Delivery
• Supervise the Shared Administrative Services team and provide day-to-day direction, coaching, training, performance management, and accountability.
• Assess Department-wide needs and assign, prioritize, and monitor administrative work based on urgency, deadlines, staff expertise, workload, and capacity.
• Establish intake, tracking, coverage, documentation, and service standards; monitor deadlines, deliverables, outstanding requests, and service levels.
• Coordinate backup coverage during absences, vacancies, peak workload periods, and special initiatives, and promote cross-training to strengthen continuity.
• Partner with Department leaders to identify support needs, balance competing demands, resolve escalated concerns, and recommend appropriate resources.
• Analyze workload trends, service gaps, duplication, and capacity needs and implement practical process improvements and technology-enabled solutions.
• Financial Management
• Serve as the lead administrative subject-matter expert for First State Financials and State and Department financial processing requirements.
• Oversee the quality and consistency of purchase orders, vouchers, reimbursements, budget reconciliations, purchase-card transactions, contracts, travel requests, and related records.
• Review documentation for accuracy, coding, approvals, and required support; coordinate with Finance and Procurement to resolve issues and reduce recurring errors.
• Develop guidance, job aids, checklists, standardized procedures, and training for financial, purchasing, procurement, and travel processes.
• Track outstanding transactions and risks and intervene when processing delays or discrepancies threaten service delivery.
• Department Operations and Improvement
• Provide expert advice and advanced administrative support on the Department's most complex or sensitive business-support matters.
• Coordinate agency-wide initiatives, high-priority meetings, events, projects, executive materials, records, and administrative workflows.
• Review correspondence, reports, presentations, spreadsheets, and other work products for accuracy, consistency, and professionalism.
• Apply expert-level Microsoft Office, data-analysis, workforce-trend, and artificial-intelligence capabilities to inform business decisions and improve efficiency.
• Collaborate with Human Resources, Finance, Technology, Communications, and program offices to address operational needs.

General Duties

• Collaborate with office staff to ensure appropriate office and phone coverage is available during business hours.
• Provide professional customer service and support to both internal and external partners.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Essential Qualifications:

Education: Minimum high school diploma or GED; some college coursework preferred.

Experience: Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible administrative, office management, financial processing, or related experience preferred. Demonstrated experience coordinating or leading administrative operations or the work of other administrative staff. Significant experience using First State Financials (FSF) strongly preferred. Demonstrated experience with financial processing, purchasing, procurement, travel, and/or expense reconciliation. Experience developing procedures, improving business processes, or implementing standardized administrative practices preferred. Experience coordinating projects involving multiple stakeholders preferred. Experience working in a government, education, or similarly complex organization preferred. Advanced experience in Microsoft Software to include Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Google Suite, One Drive, SharePoint, and Teams.

Skills: Knowledge of principles, practices, and procedures of administration and office management. Advanced knowledge of First State Financials (FSF) and State financial processing. Strong knowledge of purchasing, procurement, travel, reimbursement, and financial administrative processes. Demonstrated ability to coordinate and direct the work of others. Strong project management, planning, and organizational skills. Ability to assess competing priorities and appropriately assign resources based on organizational needs. Ability to establish workflows, operating procedures, tracking systems, and performance expectations. Ability to identify inefficient processes and develop practical solutions. Ability to train, coach, and provide technical guidance to administrative staff. Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office products, including Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint. Ability to learn, implement, and support technology solutions designed to improve administrative efficiency. Strong organizational skills. Skill in collecting, compiling, evaluating, and analyzing information from a variety of sources. Ability to work effectively and efficiently in managing multiple priorities. Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment and multi-task without sacrificing attention to detail. Ability to perform responsibilities with minimal supervision. Ability to set priorities and work under pressure. Strong interpersonal, communication, and customer service skills.

Salary: Salary Range: $53,336.40-$77,935.00 annually. The final salary will be determined based on the candidate's education and experience in accordance with the Department of Education's compensation policy. The position includes a comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, and vision insurance, participation in the state retirement program, annual, sick, and personal leave, and supplemental benefits options.

Notes: A criminal background check is required. The successful candidate must demonstrate during the interview process an understanding of diversity, educational equity and multicultural education. This job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. The selected candidate should expect to perform any other related activities needed to deliver the position's key duties and responsibilities and follow any other instructions as defined by his/her supervisor. The Delaware Department of Education is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its employment practices or educational programs, services or activities based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, veteran's status or any other legally protected category.