As a company grows and its leaders become more strapped for time, they may opt to bring on an administrative assistant to help lighten the load.

Administrative assistants support employees in various leadership roles (typically senior managers, directors, or VPs) in organizing and managing their workload. This may include anything from calendar management and answering phones and emails to managing a budget, booking travel according to company policies, and preparing presentations and slide decks.

What’s unique about an administrative assistant is that unlike an executive assistant, a role that typically focuses on supporting a single c-suite executive, administrative assistants may support a handful of the organization’s mid-to-senior level leaders. One administrative assistant may report to a specific level of leader (ie: all of the organization’s senior managers), or, all of the leaders on a given team (your marketing manager, director of marketing, and VP of marketing).

Additionally, administrative assistants may take on some of the general responsibilities that come along with office management – especially if your organization has yet to hire an office manager.

Since administrative assistants wear multiple hats, it may be difficult to comprehensively cover their responsibilities when writing the job description. Luckily, we’re here to help with our administrative assistant job description. But first, let’s cover the basic duties of your administrative assistant.  

When it comes time for your team to hire an administrative assistant, the following job description can be a helpful starting point. In fact, we invite you to use the template and adapt it to your own organization's needs and requirements.

Not looking to grow your corporate department just yet? We’ve still got you covered! Check out our comprehensive guide to job descriptions.

Administrative Assistant Job Description

Title: Administrative Assistant

Location: Chicago

With more than 400 percent growth since 2015, ACME Corporations is North America’s leading energy provider, with the single largest retail customer base nationwide. Since its founding in 2007, ACME Corporations has strived to meet the highest standards of energy delivery, customer service, and cost efficiency. Our mission is to be the top-tier energy provider while fostering a collaborative, diverse, and inclusive workplace.

ACME Corporation is looking to hire an administrative assistant to support various directors and VPs throughout the organization. This individual will work closely with leadership and the office staff to organize and schedule appointments, plan and document meetings, book travel arrangements, and ultimately, support VPs in their day-to-day responsibilities. The ideal candidate is highly organized with impeccable communication skills and the ability to work independently while managing multiple projects.

Responsibilities:

• Support up to five ACME employees in various director and VP-level roles
• Manage calendars and schedules in an organized and efficient manner, including but not limited to: scheduling meetings, appointments, employee reviews, leadership off-sites, media interviews, etc.
• Attend meetings and take detailed minutes
• Book travel arrangements according to ACME’s travel policy
• Research and build direct reports’ presentations and slide decks when necessary
• Serve as direct report’s main point of contact to those outside of the organization
• Answer and direct phone calls to the appropriate contact
• Assist in organization and coordination of company-wide events, leadership off-sites, volunteering opportunities, new hire, anniversary lunches, etc.
• Submit accurate expense reports in a timely manner adhering to company policy
• Assist in other ad-hoc tasks and projects as requested
• Liaise with other administrative assistants to handle requests and queries from directors and VPs

Requirements:

• High school diploma, BA/BS preferred
• 3-5 years of administrative experience
• Highly organized and able to manage multiple projects at once
• Independent, resourceful, and confident with great problem-solving skills
• Proficient with Microsoft Office; strong computer, technology, and office equipment skills
• Ability to prioritize and take initiative to accommodate workflow
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong interpersonal skills, business sense, and professionalism to communicate with all levels of management and staff; ability to uphold a strict level of confidentiality and discretion
• Ability to work effectively with a range of personality types and seniority levels
• Self-starter with a history of pushing for deadline-driven results

For even more help in writing your own administrative assistant job description, we’ve sourced the examples from three companies looking to hire.

The following examples show organizations that have followed a typical job description structure, but customized it based on their unique needs and expectations.

Administrative Assistant Job Description Examples

To see how real employers are writing their administrative assistant job description, check out the examples below!

Groupon

Administrative Assistant

Chicago, Illinois

Do you tell people that you’re the glue that holds things together?

Are you passionate about the details that make businesses tick? Are you calm under pressure and ready to support a leader in e-commerce?

Groupon’s mission is to become the daily habit in local commerce and fulfill our purpose of building strong communities through thriving small businesses by connecting people to a vibrant, global marketplace for local services, experiences and goods. In the process, we’re positively impacting the lives of millions of customers and merchants globally. Even with thousands of employees spread across multiple continents, we still maintain a culture that inspires innovation, rewards risk-taking and celebrates success. If you want to take more ownership of your career, then you're ready to be part of Groupon.

Our Administrative Assistants work hard to support our senior executives across the globe. Whether it's taking care of calendar management, compiling quarterly presentations, or connecting the dots between internal and external team members, our AAs are the ones behind the scenes crossing the T's and dotting the I's to ensure our clients have what they need.

As our newest Administrative Assistant, you will support VP-level business leaders in our Engineering organization, as well as a few other members of our senior staff. Your role is essential and highly visible, as you will spend your time multi-tasking and collaborating with individuals across the organization. Experience supporting multiple senior executives at the enterprise-level and/or at global companies is crucial, as you'll be taking on a broad span of responsibilities in this role.

We're a "best of both worlds" kind of company. We're big enough to have resources and scale, but small enough that a single person has a surprising amount of autonomy and can make a meaningful impact. We're curious, fun, a little intense, and kind of obsessed with helping local businesses thrive. Does that sound like a compelling place to work?

You’ll spend time on the following:

• Managing multiple complex calendars and scheduling requirements
• Managing of expense reports and invoice payments
• Travel arrangement (domestic and international)
• Tracking the completion of key deliverables and following up on outstanding items
• Managing group logistics and event planning
• Additional administrative work as required, including document management and coordination with other administrative staff to ensure processes run smoothly
• Organizing and orchestrating staff/team meetings and other group events as well as proactively coordinates annual calendar
• Participation in space administration

We’re excited about you if you have:

• Minimum of 3 years of recent experience in an executive support role preferably within a large organization and supporting multiple executives
• You have excellent skills in Google Suite (Docs, Calendar, Sheets, Mail) and PowerPoint
• You have strong project management skills, and can juggle multiple priorities with ease
• You have a high level of discretion and maturity
• You have strong calendar management skills, including the coordination of complex executive meetings and scheduling across numerous contacts
• You take an entrepreneurial approach to task management and take control and manage tasks independently
• You're a self-starter
• You have experience responding quickly to requests and adjusting schedules on the fly to accommodate executive needs
• You love to stay busy working in a proudly diverse team environment
• You're an effective communicator and can diffuse even high-tension situations with ease

Dropbox

Administrative Assistant

San Francisco, California

Company Description

Dropbox is a leading global collaboration platform that's transforming the way people work together, from the smallest business to the largest enterprise. With more than 500 million registered users across more than 180 countries, our mission is to unleash the world’s creative energy by designing a more enlightened way of working.

Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Dropbox has more than 12 offices around the world.

Team Description

Our Growth team creates long-term customers by helping people discover the value of Dropbox. We’re responsible for understanding the end-to-end customer funnel in order to optimize opportunities and help users realize the full potential of our products. We are comprised of many teams across the company, including Product, Engineering and Design.

Role Description

We’re looking for a sharp, good-humored Administrative Assistant who enjoys working in a constantly changing environment and streamlining a hectic day. You will primarily provide dedicated administrative assistance to several team leads while also providing general support to the leads' team at large. You’ll be working in a fast-paced, creative environment with passionate team members who are focused on quality and execution. You will primarily provide dedicated administrative assistance to several team leads while also providing general support to the leads' team at large.

Responsibilities

• Administrative support for Team leaders
• Strategic calendar management in a rapidly changing environment
• Project manage special initiatives
• Coordinate both internal and external conference calls, meetings, and events
• Develop and/or maintain strong relationships with internal stakeholders and external contacts
• Make excellent game-time decisions
• Plan complicated travel arrangements and handle monthly expense reports
• Plan and execute delightful on-site and off-site meetings, dinners, and events for the team
• Have deep knowledge of the company's goals and priorities
• Handle confidential and non-routine information and facilitate communication between appropriate people and teams

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree
• 4-6 years of administrative experience
• Experience with calendar management for multiple principals and teams
• Ability to move quickly and make on-the-spot decisions without sacrificing attention to detail
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to work effectively with a diverse set of personalities
• Ability to juggle multiple projects and priorities at once
• Strong Google email/calendar/doc skills
• Microsoft, Excel & PowerPoint a plus
• Track record of consistently going above and beyond
• Ability to maintain composure and sense of humor in high-pressure situations
• Passion for Dropbox and the Executive/Administrative Assistant role

Benefits and Perks

• 100% company paid individual medical, dental, & vision insurance coverage
• 401k + company match
• Market competitive total compensation package
• Free Dropbox space for your friends and family
• Wellness Reimbursement
• Generous vacation policy
• 10 company paid holidays
• Volunteer time off
• Company sponsored tech talks (technology and other relevant professional topics)

Dropbox is an equal opportunity employer. We are a welcoming place for everyone, and we do our best to make sure all people feel supported and connected at work. A big part of that effort is our support for members and allies of internal groups like Asians at Dropbox, BlackDropboxers, Latinx, Pridebox (LGBTQ), Vets at Dropbox, Women at Dropbox, ATX Diversity (based in Austin, Texas) and the Dropbox Empowerment Network (based in Dublin, Ireland).

Facebook

Administrative Assistant

New York, New York

Facebook's mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. Through our family of apps and services, we're building a different kind of company that connects billions of people around the world, gives them ways to share what matters most to them, and helps bring people closer together. Whether we're creating new products or helping a small business expand its reach, people at Facebook are builders at heart. Our global teams are constantly iterating, solving problems, and working together to empower people around the world to build community and connect in meaningful ways. Together, we can help people build stronger communities - we're just getting started.

Facebook is seeking an experienced Administrative Assistant to support 2-3 Directors. The person in this role will need to be a masterful problem-solver and an organizational force given complex calendaring and heavy travel planning. Additionally, the ideal candidate will have exceptional communication skills, and will be resourceful in building relationships across the larger Facebook ecosystem.

This position is full-time.

Responsibilities:

• Coordinate internal and external meetings for multiple executives
• Manage hectic and complex calendars
• Prepare expense reports and purchase requisitions
• Coordinate both domestic and international travel arrangements
• Organize space planning and large offsite events
• General office duties as needed
• Build cross-functional relationships between departments

Minimum Qualifications:

• 2+ years of experience providing administrative support to 1 or more executives
• 2+ years of experience coordinating travel logistics on behalf of 1 or more executives
• 2+ years of calendar management and expense report management experience for 1 or more executives
• Experience prioritizing multiple projects
• Experience with Microsoft Office

Preferred Qualifications: