Reports To: Associate Director of Research Programs
FLSA Status: Exempt, Full Time
Date: June2023
To apply for this role, send a cover letter and a resume to careers@braintumor.org.
Background:
National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS) unrelentingly invests in, mobilizes and unites our community to
discover a cure, deliver effective treatments, and advocate for patients and their care partners. NBTS is a
leading policy advocacy and research organization as well as a convener of brain tumor research leaders
including industry, regulators, funders, clinician researchers and patient advocates. The organization also
delivers timely information and support to patients and families. Through collaborative leadership with
partners, our results include paradigm shifting research discoveries, increased federal funding for brain
tumor research, innovative new clinical trials, opportunities for entrepreneurship and venture philanthropy to benefit brain tumor research, and empowering collaborative advocacy that results in reforms and advances to health care and the development of treatments.
While we have seen significant progress in terms of scientific understanding of brain tumor biology, we
are unsatisfied with the status quo of today’s treatment options. NBTS is committed to investment in new
ideas and research poised to incent the development and realization of treatments that dramatically
increase survival and quality of life for patients.
Summary of Position:
Reporting to the Associate Director of Research Programs, the Research Coordinator provides critical administrative and operational support to the Research team and the Brain Tumor Investment Fund (BTIF) Managing Director. The Coordinator is responsible for providing comprehensive executive support to the Chief Scientific Officer and the BTIF Managing Director, including sophisticated calendar management. This role will also provide administrative coordination for mission-critical research projects, including serving as the primary point of contact for internal and external scientific stakeholders on matters pertaining to the NBTS research agenda and related contracts.
This position requires impeccable organizational, project management and problem-solving skills, including the capacity to coordinate details, strong Microsoft Office and G-Suite skills, and the ability to engage in multiple tasks simultaneously. The ideal candidate will have the ability to exercise good judgment and professionalism in a variety of situations, with strong written and verbal communication, administrative, organizational and people skills, and the ability to work under pressure to handle a wide variety of activities and confidential matters with discretion.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities:
Executive Support:
- Provide administrative support to two executives, the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and the Brain Tumor Investment Fund Managing Director
- For the CSO and BTIF Managing Director:
- Manage calendars and perform complex scheduling to ensure that key stakeholders can attend and host relevant meetings or events
- Attend monthly meetings preparing agenda and disseminating notes, assisting with preparing presentations.
- Coordinate remote and in-person meetings by managing logistics, compiling agendas, preparing relevant materials in advance, taking minutes, distributing meeting minutes to attendees, and assigning tasks based on meeting action items
- For the CSO:
- Manage CSO’s monthly credit card receipt reconciliation (including expense coding, uploading receipts and ensuring timely submission to finance)
- Perform routine administrative duties for CSO such as maintaining electronic filing systems, answering phone calls, arranging travel, completing expense reports, mailing supplies or documents, and liaising with external contacts
Research Team Administration:
- Works on assignments necessitating exposure to sensitive information and contacts requiring considerable discretion, judgment, tact and diplomacy.
- Coordinates special projects which may include the planning and coordination of multiple presentations, disseminating information or coordinating activities with external stakeholders such as medical researchers
- Support event and meeting logistics remotely or in-person as needed (occasional travel to in-person meetings, events, and scientific conferences may be required)
- Coordinates NBTS presence at scientific conferences, including coordinating conference calendar, arranging travel, scheduling networking meetings, prepping and shipping conference materials in collaboration with the Marketing team, and providing support as-needed to conference attendees
- Ability to assimilate complex information and create professional level decks (familiarity with powerpoint and ability to design visually appealing presentations for internal and external use).
- Supports preparation of external-facing documents, including confidential agreements.
- Maintains accurate records, updates Salesforce records on key advisors/collaboration.
Research Project Coordination:
- Support organizational strategic goals by managing enterprise-wide Research team project processes related to key initiatives in brain tumor research, drug development, and clinical trial design
- Assist the CSO in establishing detailed project plans, including relevant KPIs, metrics, timelines, milestones, budget/payments, deliverables, and risk assessments
- Collaborate with Research team to coordinate staff and internal resources
- Monitor project progress and adapt work as required to ensure projects meet final deadlines and intermediate milestones
- Keep all relevant stakeholders informed about project progress through clear, consistent status updates and visually-oriented status dashboards
- Ensure accountability and deadline adherence across all project teams through regular check-ins and monitoring of project timelines
- Take a proactive approach to problem-solving and effectively manage challenges to ensure that projects are completed successfully
- Conduct project reviews and present retrospective reports to executive leadership
- Perform other duties as assigned
Education & Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent prior work experience required
- Prior administrative experience required, prior experience in executive-level support a plus
- Demonstrated ability to manage complex, cross-departmental projects across matrixed organizations required
- Project Management Professional (PMP) certification a plus
- Experience in nonprofit, healthcare, or pharmaceutical sectors preferred
Required Skills, Knowledge, & Abilities:
- Strong project management skills required: ability to help build and track project plans and communicate project status in a systemized and regular manner (daily and weekly report outs)
- Proficient in project management software for task management (Asana or similar)
- Demonstrated ability to work independently and proactively on multiple projects simultaneously
- Dynamic and proactive team member; naturally inclined to look ahead and problem solve
- Strong follow up and follow through communications
- Strong written and verbal communication, presentation building, organizational, office technology, and customer service skills.
- Proficient or advanced office technology and platforms such as Salesforce, NetSuite, Asana or equivalent. Proficient in MS Office (particularly PowerPoint, Word, and Excel) or the equivalent G Suite applications. Comfortable learning a variety of new software platforms.
- Ability to exercise good judgment and professionalism in a variety of situations
- Ability to work collaboratively and diplomatically with Executive Team, NBTS staff members and external stakeholders, while maintaining confidentiality of records and information
- Strong attention to detail, with a commitment to high quality work, high productivity, and timely completion of deliverables
- Positive, can-do approach and an interest in mission-driven work
Work Environment:
The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Location: Hybrid. Primary work location must be within driving distance of NBTS headquarters in the Boston area.
- Category: Full-time Exempt. Normal hours are 9:00am to 5:00pm ET, Monday through Friday. Infrequent meeting/event attendance outside of normal working hours and on weekends may be required.
- Travel to headquarters and/or meeting locations by car and/or plane may be required less than 10% of the time.
- Role is largely sedentary and requires sitting or standing in a stationary position for extended periods of time.
- This role frequently involves communicating on the phone and operating a computer for at least 70% of the work day.
How to Apply:
To apply for this role, send a cover letter and a resume to careers@braintumor.org.
NBTS provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment, and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.
