Management Office Assistant Communication & Marketing and HR

Do you have secretarial training and/or experience, and are you able to keep a cool head in sometimes dynamic circumstances? Are you organizationally sensitive, enterprising, a true team player, and a proactive administrative all-rounder? Are you service-oriented, able to work independently, and capable of managing your attention effectively? And would you like to start the new year working for a growing organization with global impact, located on a beautiful green campus? Then we are looking for you!

We are seeking a colleague to support the two staff departments Communication & Marketing and HR within the Environmental Sciences Group. As a Management Assistant, you will have a varied range of tasks within a complex organization where a certain level of hustle and bustle is part of daily work. You will work closely with communication and marketing advisors as well as HR professionals. The role involves many peak periods, and you are the one who maintains oversight, with an eye for detail and sensitivity to issues that may arise, for example in the media, with clients, or within the HR domain.

In your role, you will maintain good working relationships with fellow team assistants from other staff departments such as Finance & Control and Legal Affairs/Risk & Compliance. You will support and cover for one another when necessary, for example during periods of high workload or holiday leave. In the coming years, you will increasingly align your activities with one another, and you will also proactively contribute improvement suggestions yourself.

You ensure that you stay up to date with the latest developments in administrative processes within the organization—not only for the Communication & Marketing and HR departments, but also more broadly within ESG and WUR. You know how to make effective use of tools such as AI in your work, you are not afraid of the organizational tasks surrounding events, and as a true team player you are happy to roll up your sleeves when needed. You create and maintain overview in complex information flows. You enjoy dotting the i’s, and customer focus and proactiveness come naturally to you! You are flexible and do not mind occasionally adjusting your working hours, for example in connection with an event.

Your tasks will include, among others:

• Managing calendars; handling mail and correspondence; processing telephone and email traffic;
• Supporting various administrative processes within the Communication & Marketing and HR departments, such as placing orders and processing invoices;
• Supporting events, including booking rooms and catering, registering and welcoming participants and speakers, keeping schedules up to date, internal communications, and follow-up with participants and speakers;
• Booking travel, supporting expense claims, ordering office supplies, and organizing “care and concern” moments (e.g. cards or gifts) for team members;
• Supporting the posting of job vacancies and the administrative aspects of recruitment.

You have:

• A completed secretarial qualification and/or demonstrable work experience in a secretarial or administrative role;
• A people-oriented and social personality, and you enjoy being the “hub” or “linchpin” of the team; you like contributing to a positive atmosphere and job satisfaction within the department;
• Strong digital skills; Microsoft Office holds no secrets for you (especially Teams, Outlook, Word, and Excel), and you know how to use AI efficiently (or are willing to learn);
• Clear communication skills, ensuring accurate information sharing and feedback on ongoing tasks;
• The ability to organize your work effectively, distinguish between priorities and details, remain calm under pressure, and feel confident asking questions when needed;
• Flexibility, integrity, accuracy, a learning-oriented mindset, proactiveness, and a strong focus on quality;
• Good command of both Dutch and English (spoken and written, B2 level), with excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

In our international working environment, English is increasingly used as the primary language of communication. For this position, proficiency in both Dutch and English at B2 level is required. If you do not yet meet this level, we will of course support you, and you can make use of our language centre, Wageningen in’to Language.

You can see that there are plenty of challenges ahead. These challenges can also be viewed as development opportunities. Therefore, even if you do not yet have the exact track record described in the vacancy, but do have solid relevant work experience, we warmly encourage you to apply.

Your workplace
The Environmental Sciences Group (ESG) consists of the Department of Environmental Sciences, with 21 Chair Groups, and Wageningen Environmental Research (WENR), which has 19 teams. ESG is the research institute focused on our living environment and its sustainable use, covering expertise in water, nature, forestry, environment, soil, landscape, climate, land use, and recreation.

The Communication & Marketing team consists of 5 colleagues, and the HR team of 11 colleagues. The main focus of your work will be with the Communication & Marketing team (16 hours), alongside supporting the HR team (8 hours). Your workplace will be within the C&M team, and you will be managed by both the Head of Communication & Marketing and the Head of HR. Preferably, you will spread these hours over a minimum of four working days.

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed year-end bonus of 8,3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

These excellent secondary employment benefits are, of course, accompanied by a competitive salary. Depending on your experience, we offer a market-conform salary of up to € 3,567.- gross per month based on a full-time working week of 36 hours, in accordance with the CLA (scale 6). This position is for 24 hours per week, spread across the various teams. We offer a temporary contract for a period of one year. Naturally, we are happy to discuss this further should you have any questions.

Wageningen University & Research offers plenty of opportunities for growth and development, with a strong internal recruitment policy and excellent training programmes.

You will work on the greenest and most innovative campus in the Netherlands, in an international and open working environment. For 20 consecutive years, we have been voted the "best university" in the Netherlands! A place to be proud of.

The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With its roughly 30 branches, 7,600 employees (6,700 fte) and 13,100 students and over 150,000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.

Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch the video below to get an idea of our green campus!

We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.