Administrative Assistant

This important role supports our organisation in the delivery of its essential work programmes. This role provides candidates with the opportunity to work in a diverse organisation which invests in and celebrates its people.

The person will work from the Marine Institute Headquarters in Rinville, Oranmore, Co. Galway and will report directly to the Research Funding and System Accountant.

The successful candidate will have responsibility for providing financial and administrative support for externally funded projects across the Marine Institute. That support will primarily relate to OCIS and FEAS on the Acclimatise project. The support may extend to other EU-funded projects across the Institute as required. EU-funded projects include Interreg Peace Plus, Interreg Atlantic Area, Interreg Northwest Europe, Horizon Europe, CINEA, EMFAF and other European funding streams.

The person will be responsible for preparing and submitting claims on externally funded projects and will work closely with staff across the Institute, project leaders, Research Accountant, colleagues in Research Funding Office and Research Coordination and Support team, and will work closely with the Finance and HR departments.

The person will also be required to build relationships with external funding agencies, auditors and others as required. The nature of the work will be largely project driven, therefore requiring a degree of flexibility with regards to planning. Teamwork is also important as the person will be required to work with others to ensure that reporting deadlines across all Marine Institute projects are met.

The Marine Institute recently completed reviews of its organisation and strategic achievement. The outcomes of these reviews are expected to affect the roles and duties of employees and to bring about other organisational changes. Any impacts or changes will be communicated.

What Will You Be Doing Every Day?

Principal Tasks:

• Provide administrative support to MI Project Leads and act as the primary point of contact for research reporting, research team members and the Research Accountant in managing externally EU-funded projects
• Review and ensure that expenditures incurred on projects are eligible and supported by appropriate documentation, including purchase orders and invoices
• Review time recorded on the Time Management System to ensure all time recorded is eligible
• Prepare timesheets in line with funder requirements
• Liaise with Finance and HR for salary costing information
• Prepare financial claims for Research Accountant review promptly
• Ensure all claims comply with regulatory, financial, system and statutory obligations and with Marine Institute policies as appropriate
• Track and review project expenditure and provide management with updates as appropriate
• Upload all supporting claim documentation to the MI SharePoint Online
• Upload claims to relevant grant management portals
• Liaise with external funders and external stakeholders regarding financial reports
• Track and review claims expenditure against the budget
• Ensure that technical reports are received on time for submission
• Prepare all requested sample information for audits
• Provide support for various meetings, workshops and conferences as required
• Assist with ensuring that outputs and reports are received, disseminated and published
• Assist with the centralising of project deliverables and reports and liaise with the Marine Institute library to publish onto the Marine Institute’s Online Access Repository
• Any other duties suitable to the role and grade as identified and assigned from time to time

What do You Need to Have Done to Apply for This Role? (Education, Professional or Technical Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills, Aptitudes, Experience and Training)

Essential and Important:

• A suitable qualification in a relevant discipline
• At least 18 months of work experience in a busy office environment
• Demonstrated experience in project support in an accounts or financial administration setting
• Knowledge of public sector procurement rules
• Strong organisational and administration skills with proven attention to detail and working to deadlines
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Demonstrated ability in project reporting and record keeping, ideally including financial records
• High level of computer skills, including MS Office and SharePoint Online
• Experience in supporting meetings, conferences and events
• The ability to work unsupervised and to work together in a team environment
• A background in working with confidential data and personal information, respecting privacy

Ideally Nice to Have and Desirable:

• Accounts Technician or Third Level Finance Qualification
• Experience in financial reporting requirements
• Experience in supporting audits
• Public sector experience, including grant funding
• Intermediate level in Excel and familiar with formulae, V lookup, Pivot tables, etc.
• Knowledge of data protection and GDPR as it applies to personnel data

What else do you need to know? (Special personal attributes required for the role)

• An ability to work in an organised manner and progress work independently
• Demonstrate energy and a positive attitude
• Bring solutions, initiative and ideas
• Be reliable and flexible and be able to provide support to other members of the research team and other service areas as required when reports need to be completed
• An ability to remain calm under pressure and respond quickly to changing demands
• Ability to effectively prioritise multiple outputs and manage time to deliver outputs on schedule, including multiple equally important deliverables
• Approach work carefully and methodically, always displaying accuracy, even when conducting routine and repetitive work
• Always seek to improve process efficiency
• There may be a requirement for the successful candidate to further develop specialist knowledge and expertise relevant to the role. Training will be encouraged, formal and informal, and supported where required

Description of Service Group and the Wider Team

Corporate Services includes Finance, Human Resources, Facilities and Services, Communications and Library and Information Services, as well as Corporate Governance, Procurement, Tendering and Contracts Management and responsibility and oversight for the General Data Protection Regulations. The Corporate Services team provides vital support to each of the Marine Institute staff countrywide, helping to maintain a consistent and high quality service in line with the strategic objectives and priorities of the Institute.

The successful candidate will initially provide support for ongoing and new externally funded projects in the following two service areas. This may evolve depending on priorities, work programmes and requirements.

Oceans, Climate and Information Services provide support for national and international marine monitoring and research and development, as well as Information Technology infrastructure and information management.

Fisheries Ecosystems Advisory Services research, assess and advise on the sustainable exploitation of the marine fisheries resources in the waters around Ireland and on the impacts of fisheries on the ecosystem.

Who Will You Report to and Who will Manage and Support You?

The successful candidate will be based at the Marine Institute Headquarters in Rinville, Oranmore, Co. Galway and will report to the Research Funding Accountant.

What we offer

We value our staff and we value their contribution to the work of the Marine Institute. In return for this, we provide benefits that promote a healthy work life balance and which we hope will help them to develop professionally. These include personal and career development, work life balance policies, an employee assistance programme, Bike to Work Scheme, staff medicals and annual flu vaccination.

Training

A full range of training will be provided as required, on the job and through appropriate courses. Training needs will be identified through the Marine Institute Performance Management Development System.

Contacts

Within the Marine Institute The roles will liaise closely with the Research Coordination and Support team and the Research and Systems Accountant in Corporate Services. Contacts will be established as required with other team leaders in the Marine Institute for reporting purposes.

External Funding agencies, researchers based in Higher Education Institutes, project officers where relevant, and project coordinators.

Salary

Remuneration is in accordance with the Public Sector, Department of Finance approved salary scale for Administrative Assistant, Executive Officer grade, which runs from €38,419 to €62,601 on a full time basis per annum, pro rated with time worked. You will commence on the first point of the scale and become a member of the Single Public Service Pension Scheme unless you are currently or have worked in the Public Sector in the past 6 months and are a member of another Public Sector Scheme.

Annual Leave

Annual leave entitlement for an Executive Officer is 23 days per annum. Annual leave entitlements are exclusive of Public Holidays and are managed using the Time and Leave Management System in place in the organisation. All leave must be approved by your manager or their authorised representative in advance of being taken and in line with Marine Institute leave policies.

Duration of Contract

This temporary specified purpose contract of employment will be for a duration of up to the 30th of June 2029. The successful candidate will be on probation for the first six months of this contract.