Administrative Assistant, NWP

Position: Administrative Assistant, NWP

Location: Thoreau, Gallup, or Albuquerque, NM (Northwest New Mexico and surrounding areas)

Employment Type: Full-time, Hourly, Nonexempt

Compensation Range: $21.50/hour - $25.25/hour DOE

Level: Associate I

Reports To: Director, Navajo Water Project

Manages: None

Supported By: Operations team, Program teams

Education/Experience Preferences: Associate's Degree, or equivalent professional experience preferred

Start Date: ASAP, open until filled

We Are DigDeep

The DigDeep Right to Water Project is a WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) organization committed to closing the water access gap for the 2 million + people in the U.S. who still don’t have a tap or a toilet at home.

DigDeep believes access to clean water is a human right. We run several nationally recognized programs that empower communities to build their own water and sanitation systems. We won the 2018 US Water Prize for our Navajo Water Project, which has brought clean, running water to hundreds of Native families across New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. DigDeep launched the Appalachia Water Project in 2020 in McDowell County, WV. It has since brought clean, sustainable running water to hundreds of families in Southern West Virginia through public - private partnerships with the McDowell County PSD and East Logan PSD in Wyoming County. In addition to clean running water, the project is installing septic systems and connecting households to centralized sewer. The AWP is now expanding into neighboring states of Kentucky and Virginia to continue its quest of clean water for every Appalachian family. Our water projects expanded in 2022 when we launched our Colonias Water Project. This project works to bring clean, running water to the residents living in communities along the Texas-Mexico border. The Texas colonias are largely unincorporated, low-income communities that fall just outside city limits and often lack basic infrastructure. Our work began in Cochran colonia near El Paso. DigDeep partnered with residents, housing nonprofits, and county officials to innovate a new model for public-private-partnership that brings these basic services to families for the first time. Now we're getting the water flowing in 5 more communities.

The Opportunity

DigDeep is looking for a motivated, collaborative, organized, and detail-oriented person to join our growing Navajo Water Project team as the Administrative Assistant, NWP (“AA”) to the organization’s Director of the Navajo Water Project. The ideal candidate is located within commuting distance from our Thoreau, NM office. They will be required to provide both in-office support at least 2-3 days per week, as well as attend external events in the surrounding area as needed.

The position will handle a wide variety of administrative tasks. It requires nimble, strategic thinking, excellent prioritization, a positive “everything is figure-out-able” attitude, diplomacy, and above all, complete discretion. The AA will support the Director by working with, and liaising between, internal teams and external stakeholders, including, but not limited to: board members, vendors, donors, government officials, and more. This is a support role, so a love of organizing, streamlining systems, prioritizing tasks, and being one-step-ahead is a must!

Ultimately, you will contribute to DigDeep’s impact by providing exceptional support for one of the leaders of our organization as the organization grows.

Key Responsibilities

This is what you’ll do once you join the team:

Calendar, Meetings, and Operations

• Calendar management: schedule and manage meetings and events of the Director, keeping them on schedule throughout the day, prioritizing and shifting meetings as conflicts arise
• As needed, schedule, prepare and attend external meetings for/with the Director; have a clear understanding of each meeting’s purpose and benefit; maintain excellent communication with all participants around location, technology, attendees, and scheduling; document distribution and conference technology setup as needed
• Meeting, event, and trip support: assist staff with the organization of meetings, events, work trips, and in-person engagements with logistics, including setting reminders, ordering and picking up catering/food/refreshments, venue use, set up and clean up, purchasing meeting supplies, welcoming and greeting guests/partners, and other support responsibilities as-needed
• As needed, prepare Director for meetings with documentation and a review of purpose, attendees, agenda, and goals
• Attend meetings and take notes; disseminate notes to appropriate stakeholders; add action items to the appropriate task management system (ex. Asana); and follow-up on action items
• Draft, format and distribute information for internal and external communications (ex. memos, emails, presentations, reports, etc.)
• Create and prepare presentations as directed by Director
• Support general administrative duties, including, but is not limited to: returning calls, answering emails, scanning, photocopying, composing and sending mail/email, and generating other documents as needed
• When necessary, serve as a first point of contact for Director, relaying urgent information, updates, or calls as needed
• Serve as the liaison between Director and internal staff and external stakeholders

Travel & Expenses

• Support the planning and coordination of site visit activities, training, events, and visits from donors, government officials, and other DigDeep staff; organizing meals, lodging, and transportation
• Alongside the Events Officer, coordinate all aspects of domestic and international travel (air, ground, and lodging); compose detailed itineraries for travel and key meetings; collect boarding passes and complete check-in
• Maintain a clear understanding of Director’s travel preferences and make plans that align to those preferences and company policies (i.e. airline mileage program, airport location, seat assignment, rental car, hotel rewards, etc.)
• Reschedule or troubleshoot travel and logistics in real time; maintain tracking of meeting and itinerary changes and communicate proactively; track flights
• Manage payment and expense reporting for all travel and meetings; organize and track invoices and receipts, and create cash and expense reports using expense system Expensify
• Prioritize inquiries, meeting requests, emails, calls, etc., making judgements and recommendations to ensure smooth day-to-day; anticipate and troubleshoot conflicts as they arise; RSVP to events
• Assist with ad-hoc projects and support other tasks/duties as assigned

Maintain absolute discretion and confidentiality in all verbal and written communication including messages, calls and reports; treat all information confidentially.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. As the organization continues to evolve, duties or tasks may change without impacting the overall job description.

Competencies

• Analytical Thinking: Begins to analyze information for related trends, patterns, and gaps. Makes logical deductions from information. Identifies and proposes workable options and solutions for any problems and inconsistencies. Gather information needed to address problems and inconsistencies. Prioritize between multiple issues and tasks. Investigates to define problems more accurately. With guidance, determines importance and priorities for action.
• Collaborative Working: Actively solicits ideas and opinions from others to efficiently and effectively accomplish specific objectives targeted at defined organization outcomes. Often expresses an interest in others' experiences, ideas, and roles. Always remains respectful in communications and approach where disagreement exists. Proactively sources feedback and integrates it into approach. Takes an interest in cross-functional teams and fosters relationships outside of individual scope.
• Initiative: Begins deeper questioning of processes in order to improve them. Able to focus in the face of pressure, deliver against timelines and not be intimidated by tasks/time limitations. Identifies person, resource, or technology that can provide support and procures their input. Identifies problems/challenges and collaborates with management towards a solution.
• Innovation: Actively seeks opportunities to try out new experiences. Beginning to generate innovative responses to current problems. Displays open mindedness and is willing to try new approaches. Adapts readily to changes and needs. Is able to shift attention and priorities in own work in response to needs of their work. Offers suggestions to improve the ways things are done.
• Personal Development: Displays commitment to improving and learning by seeking opportunities for development. Proposes ideas for own development. Independently reviews own progress. Reflects, analyzes and learns from past performance of self and others, both successes and mistakes. Responds well to new situations that require a stretch/growth.
• Professional Communication: Professional presence, strong written and verbal communications skills, with the ability to express oneself clearly and effectively in conversations and interactions with others (both internal and external). Ability to effectively determine and use appropriate written and visual communications, graphics, statistics, presentations, and language in such a way as to have maximum impact on the intended audience. Handles conflict empathetically. Converses and writes in ways that support both transactional and administrative activities. Seeks and shares relevant information, opinions, and judgments. Explains the context of interrelated situations, asks probing questions, and solicits multiple resources of advice prior to taking action when appropriate. Practices active listening, repeats message back to speaker in a way that it is clear that the message is understood.
• Technical Expertise: Has demonstrated ability and depth of knowledge with the technology in the desired technical area. Effectively uses and applies technical knowledge, and uses knowledge to identify solutions to existing problems. Basic understanding of data security best practices.

Skills and Qualifications

We want to hear from you if you have:

• High school diploma, Associates degree, or equivalent administrative work experience preferred (courses in business helpful)
• At least 2 years of applicable professional experience required; preferably in the nonprofit sector
• Proficiency in MS Office Suite, Google Workspace required
• Experience with Slack, Asana, Zoom, Expensify required
• High computer literacy, and tech savviness required
• Experience and/or willingness to use data collection platforms (e.g., such as mWater)
• Comfort and accuracy inputting, organizing, and sharing data
• Professional presence and excellent interpersonal skills; strong phone etiquette; strong writing skills
• A track record of care and discretion; the ability to keep information completely confidential
• Excellent, error-free written and verbal communication skills
• Able to focus in the face of pressure, deliver against timelines and not be intimidated by tasks/time limitations
• Organized, trustworthy, dependable, and detail oriented
• Comfortable with autonomy, able to work independently and complete assigned tasks within established time frames required
• Experience/Willingness to work across various cultural contexts and communicating across cultural differences
• Fluency/strong proficiency in the Navajo language preferred
• Be able to work 10 hours per day, 4 days per week
• Willingness to travel, including but not limited to: Navajo Nation (AZ/NM/UT), West Virginia, Texas, DigDeep HQ, and additional locations as needed.

Compensation and Benefits

At DigDeep, we believe that great work requires a great job. We understand that people thrive with rest and holistic support, which is crucial for our long-term success. We take pride in offering top-notch benefits to our team across the United States, prioritizing their health and wellbeing, as well as providing additional support for our employees' families. If you join us, here’s how we’ll support you in your work:

• Competitive wage to commensurate with level of position
• Generous vacation and sick leave
• 23 weeks paid Parental Leave
• Annual Professional Development Stipend
• Annual Wellbeing Reimbursement
• BrightPlan membership (Financial Wellness Benefit)
• Health Benefits
  • Employee Offering: Medical, dental, vision insurance, 100% employer paid
  • Spouse/Children/Family Offering: Employer covers up to $500 of the monthly cost for medical insurance for spouse/children/family; Employer covers 100% of the cost for dental and vision insurance for spouse/children/family
• One Medical membership
• Life insurance, 100% employer paid
• Work laptop
• Monthly cell phone use allowance
• Monthly internet use allowance
• 15 paid holidays (including one week closure for Labor Day)
• Domestic travel
• 401k retirement plan, with employer match