Job Listing / September 2024

Job Opening: Program Assistant

The Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity was established with a $15M grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to Berkeley to support the building of a new field of cyber-security research that is multi-disciplinary and global in scope, and that contributes to shaping long term policy in the field.  The field of cybersecurity in the past has been seen primarily as the domain of defense professionals who have sought technological solutions to short-term threats. The CLTC is based in UC Berkeley’s School of Information (I School), a graduate research and education community committed to expanding access to information and to improving its usability, reliability, and credibility while preserving security and privacy. Our multi-disciplinary faculty conduct research in the development of user-friendly interfaces, new approaches to security and privacy, and exploration of the role of technology in developing regions. The I School offers two professional master’s degrees and an academic doctoral degree.

The Program Assistant will play a critical role in helping to develop and expand the role of the CLTC on campus by providing a wide range of support, which includes tracking both administrative and research projects, composing correspondence, facilitating communications across the organization, coordinating travel arrangements, and scheduling appointments. The Program Assistant will assist with the general operations of the Center, helping to build and support the Center’s programming, navigating UC Berkeley’s procurement and human resources systems to hire and onboard suppliers, new staff, visitors, and student workers.. The Program Assistant also will be in charge of administering CLTC’s grant allocation program, including managing complicated grant applications and ensuring funds are appropriately allocated. The Program Assistant will maintain CLTC’s outreach databases containing sensitive lists of prospective donors and prominent community and government officials in the cybersecurity community, and will ensure that CLTC maintains regular contact with those individuals. Part of this responsibility will be to help grow and steward the Center’s relationships with external partners, including corporate, government, civil society, and individual partners.

Application Review Date

The First Review Date for this job is: October 9, 2024 – Open Until Filled

Responsibilities

20% Procurement and Payments:

  • Manages the onboarding of suppliers
  • Facilitates purchase orders for supplies, vendors, and event expenses.
  • Processes payments, including reimbursements, vendor invoices, honoraria, stipends, and awards.

20% Budget and Grant Tracking:

  • Manages periodic CLTC Requests for Proposals (RFPs) processes, including writing and administering RFPs, tracking applications, managing review processes, owning internal and external communications, and overseeing the allocation of award funding;
  • Assists in preparing budget for contract and grant proposals;
  • Monitors CLTC expenses and pending reimbursements and provides financial reports to the Director.

15% Scheduling and Events Support:

  • Schedules large and small meetings, including but not limited to meetings with staff, faculty, potential, new and current donors, visitors, and prominent public officials.
  • Assists in the organization of a wide-ranging set of stakeholder engagement activities, including private dinners and events sponsored by key partners.
  • Coordinates travel arrangements for CLTC staff and key external stakeholders, including using UC systems to book airfare and lodging accommodations, ride-share vouchers, etc..
  • Oversees administrative and logistical arrangements for CLTC engagements involving multiple parties, receiving limited direction.
  • Compiles and completes documentation for expenses related to events, communications, and operations.

15% Relationship-Building:

  • Handles sensitive and confidential information regarding prospective donors and prominent community and government officials, and maintains a database of CLTC interactions with such officials, including restricted information (e.g.contact information).
  • Acts as a representative of the program and Director to high-level internal and external contacts on complex matters.

15% Facilities and Operations:

  • Recruits and hires undergraduate student assistants.
  • Liaises with Building Manager and Facilities to meet needs of occupants of CLTC’s shared office suite.
  • Coordinates office relocation with multiple campus stakeholders.
  • Maintains CLTC-specific applications, such as Salesforce, Slack, Shared Drives, Google Groups, and Google Calendars.
  • Assists with onboarding of new CLTC staff, academic and visitor titles.
  • Frequently make recommendations to the Director regarding operational issues, then implementing the decided upon course of actions.

10% Research and Project Management:

  • Independently prepares reports and research for the Director and CLTC research staff based on information compiled from various specified sources, using spreadsheets, standard office and G-Suite software programs, and PowerPoint to better display results.
  • Tracks ongoing projects and ensures deadlines are kept. Keeps Director and other staff abreast of ongoing activities and commitments.
  • Prepare highly professional and technical presentations with minimal direction and guidance.

5% Communications:

Prepares correspondence and other written materials, and proofreads such correspondence.

Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in related area and / or equivalent experience / training.
  • Working knowledge of common campus-specific and CLTC-specific computer application programs.
  • Solid communication and interpersonal skills to communicate effectively with all levels of staff, both verbally and in writing, including active listening and critical thinking skills.
  • Solid organizational skills and ability to multi-task with demanding timeframes.
  • Ability to use sound judgment in responding to issues and concerns.
  • Skill in managing sensitive and confidential information regarding prospective donors and prominent community and government officials.  Ability to use discretion and maintain confidentiality.
  • Ability in problem identification, reasoning; ability to develop original ideas to solve problems.
  • Strong interpersonal and customer service skills sufficient to establish and maintain effective working relationships, including the ability to interact with individuals from diverse values, cultures, and backgrounds, and with a wide ranging clientele VIP.
  • Strong time management, including the ability to triage work based on priorities and time sensitivities.
  • Ability to apply patience and discipline when dealing with logistical coordination under difficult circumstances.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with UC Berkeley financial and administrative systems is preferred.
  • An interest in cybersecurity or technology is preferred.