Sr. Associate, Administrative Services

Job Description

The Sr. Associate, Administrative Assistant is a highly trusted partner who enables Scientific Communications and Information Sciences leaders and team members to work effectively, stay connected, and deliver on departmental priorities. This role requires exceptional judgment, discretion, organization, and adaptability while supporting a dynamic team with complex calendars, communications, meetings, onboarding, travel, financial processes, and special projects.

Beyond day-to-day administrative support, this position plays an important role in creating structure, continuity, and efficiency across the department. The ideal candidate is proactive, resourceful, adaptable, reliable, quality-focused, and highly detail-oriented. They bring the experience and confidence to work effectively with leaders and cross-functional stakeholders. They are also comfortable using both established systems and emerging productivity tools to improve how work gets done.

Responsibilities and Primary Activities

• Manages complex calendars, prepares correspondence and reports, and reliably handles confidential and politically sensitive issues

• Often serves as an initial point of contact for and liaison to outside visitors, clients, and vendors

• Coordinates and performs multiple tasks while understanding the project principles and technical skills related to own work assignments

• Experience supporting simultaneously multiple team members and ability to manage their needs as required

• Desire to learn and take on challenging assignments

• Ability to exercise discretion in dealing with confidential or sensitive matters

• Prioritizes work activities with little supervision

• Supports the use of Teams, SharePoint sites and department databases

• Schedules interviews, and coordinates hiring and on-boarding of new hires; also handles resignations/off-boarding

• Experience with SAP for processing purchase orders, payment requests, and vendor add forms, as well as ability to run reports within SAP

• Concur experience for processing expense reports

• Communicates and interacts effectively with Our Company executives and internal/external clients both onsite and remotely to maintain workflow

• Coordinates special projects within the division or area

• Consistently demonstrates Company Leadership behaviors; able to deal with difficult situations and people diplomatically and effectively

• Experience scheduling complex travel arrangements, including multi-leg domestic and international travel

• Demonstrated experience with visa and passport processing

• Ability to handle and prioritize many simultaneous assignments

• Experience with event planning and coordination

• Extraordinary attention to detail

• Outstanding communication and people skills

• Experience with financial and budget tasks

• Proactively takes initiative

• Familiarity with AI productivity tools, such as Copilot and Claude; willingness to learn and employ new productivity tools

Required Education, Qualifications, Skills, & Experience

Education

• Required: HS Diploma

• Preferred: Advanced education or certifications (e.g., Certified Administrative Professional, Project Management Professional Certification, Professional in Human Resources Certification)

Minimum

• 8+ years of administrative assistant experience.

• 3+ years executive administrative experience supporting executives (Senior Director, Executive Director, Vice President, or above).

• Advanced ability using Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, Power Point) and ability to operate other peripheral devices.

• SAP experience processing expense reports, purchase orders, payment requests, and vendor add forms, as well as ability to run reports within SAP.

• Travel arrangements and coordination.

• Advanced analytical ability, independent judgment, creativity, and problem-solving capabilities.

• Ability to handle and prioritize many simultaneous assignments.

• Extraordinary attention to detail.

• Strong communication and people skills.

• Collaborative, adaptive, and flexible.

• Willingness to explore technology.

Preferred

• Event Planning/Coordination.

• Experience using databases and generating reports.

• Budget/Finance Management.

The salary range for this role is:

$82,700 - $130,200

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs.

The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits. Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days.

Required Skills:

Preferred Skills:

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Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.

As an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, we provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. Asa federal contractor, we comply with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:

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We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing together, talented, and committed people with diverse experiences, perspectives, skills and backgrounds. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when people with diverse ideas, broad experiences, backgrounds, and skills come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.

Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts

San Francisco Residents Only: We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance

Los Angeles Residents Only: We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully

Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company. No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.

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Relocation:

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