Administrative Assistant, Customer Support, Office of Sponsored Projects

Job Posting Title: Administrative Assistant, Customer Support, Office of Sponsored Projects

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Hiring Department:

Office of Sponsored Projects

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Position Open To:

All Applicants

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Weekly Scheduled Hours:

40

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FLSA Status:

Non-Exempt from FLSA

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Earliest Start Date:

Immediately

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Position Duration:

Expected to Continue

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Location:

AUSTIN, TX

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Job Details:

General Notes

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. We do that by assisting research faculty and staff with the following: proposal review, authorization, and submission; award negotiations and acceptance; account management; close-out, reports, audits, collection; professional development and education; export control, and research compliance.

UT Austin offers a competitive benefits package that includes:

• 100% employer-paid basic medical coverage

• Retirement contributions

• Paid vacation and sick time

• Paid holidays

• Eligible for Hybrid Telework

Please visit our Human Resources (HR) website to learn more about the total benefits offered.

Purpose

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.

Responsibilities

Customer Support, Intake & Service Coordination

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.

Issue Tracking & Operational Reporting

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.

Employee Onboarding & Offboarding Support

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.

Administrative Operations Support

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.

Events, Coverage & Team Support

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

Required Qualifications

• 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.

Preferred Qualifications

• 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.

Salary Range

$40,000 + depending on qualifications

Working Conditions

• May work around standard office conditions

• Repetitive use of a keyboard at a workstation

• Use of manual dexterity

• Occasional weekend, overtime, or morning and evening work to meet deadlines (occasional event work)

Required Materials

Please mark "yes" on the application for required materials. Failure to attach all additional materials listed may affect candidates being considered for the position.

• Resume/CV

• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor.

• Letter of interest

Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.

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Employment Eligibility:

Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.

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Retirement Plan Eligibility:

The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

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Background Checks:

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

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Equal Opportunity Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

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Pay Transparency:

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

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Employment Eligibility Verification:

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

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E-Verify:

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (English) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

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Compliance:

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.