Departmental Operations, Senior Coordinator

The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) is a not-for-profit research and development (R&D) organization accelerating the development of new and improved treatments for drug-resistant infections. GARDP works with partners to ensure sustainable access to treatments, promoting responsible use and affordability to all in need.
Initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), GARDP is essential to delivering on the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance.
GARDP’s mission is to bring together the public and private sectors to develop new treatments for bacterial infections. We ensure responsible and sustainable access, addressing the public health impact of antibiotic resistance.

This role within the Executive Office will primarily support the R&D and Global Access departments while also managing ad hoc tasks and duties to aid the broader GARDP organization as needed.

The Operations and Departmental Senior Coordinator is a multifaceted position focused on optimizing departmental operations, ensuring quality and compliance, and driving continuous improvement. Key responsibilities include managing the secretarial and logistical aspects of departmental governance, supporting project and functional teams, and providing personal assistance to key directors.

The ideal candidate will possess a blend of empathy, adaptability, and proactive problem-solving skills, coupled with the ability to build strong relationships, influence without direct authority, and uphold organizational alignment. Exceptional communication, collaboration, and organizational skills are essential.

Under the supervision of the Senior Manager, Executive Officer, the Operations and Departmental Senior Coordinator will play a vital role in ensuring efficient interdepartmental operations. The role focuses on coordinating and overseeing daily departmental and organizational activities, while acting as a bridge between directors, teams, and other departments. By fostering collaboration, improving communication, and streamlining workflows, this position will contribute to enhanced efficiency and cross-functional alignment.

R&D and Global Access Governance support

• Secretarial support for departmental, governance and advisory bodies Coordination of governance meetings including: scheduling coordination with attendees & stakeholders, drafting agendas and compilating presentation materials, preparing minutes and updating action/decision trackers, escalating and communicating meeting outcomes as needed. These would primarily be for: ▪ Management of logistics and secretarial aspects of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)

• Provide coordination and organizational support for other meetings: GMPR, Technical Review Committee (TRC), Safety Review Committee, internal Scientific Steering Committee, Core Access Group, bi-annual Project Portfolio Meetings, R&D LT meetings,
• Provide secretarial and logistical assistance for Project-level Joint Steering Committees (JSC) with strategic partners as requested.
• Other departmental or project-level meetings as required                     
• Ensure all secretarial and logistical aspects of committees, boards, experts workshops (at departmental and project levels) involving external stakeholders comply with relevant rules, including confidentiality/privacy/transparency/COI requirements                      
• Support departmental resourcing and people management activities with regards to R&D: Support the administrative tasks associated to recruitment of R&D staff
• Manage R&D onboarding/offboarding processes, including for consultants and outsourced staffs (not taken in charge by HR)
• Newcomers training on R&D operations and processes

• Act as an effective liaison between the R&D/Access departments and other GARDP departments to ensure timely and effective flow of information

R&D Directors’ administrative and organizational support

• Provide comprehensive administrative and organizational assistance to the R&D Director Efficient and effective calendar management,
• Timely and efficient travel management (flight/hotel bookings, transfers, directions, etc. liaison with other Dept., local ROs or stakeholders when required)
• Manage expense reports in a timely and detailed manner; liaise with Finance and Head of Portfolio to monitor travel and conference budgets against actual expenditures.
• Support organization of external events the Director is attending including workshops, webinars and conferences and act as liaison with other Dept. for any internal/transversal activities or meetings (in particular when requiring logistics)
• Support final editing and formatting of Director presentations and store final external presentations to the dedicated Sharepoint folders
• Support preparation of any document on demand and manage signing process of any formal/admin documentation to be signed off by the Director.
• Management of signature delegations from the Director to his leadership members, prepare CDAs/contracts for the Director on demand, and manage/monitor his direct contracts (non project related; e.g., advisors, consultants contracts, departmental MoU)

Other departmental operations and functions support

• Management of key conferences/congresses and support for external scientific/medical communication and outreach activities Collate attendance across departments for key conferences, ensure appropriate approvals are gained, coordinate grouped travels/logistics for such key events and support the teams, liaise with the Head of Portfolio for related transversal budgets and actuals monitoring
• Support the R&D/Medical Affairs and Global Access teams in coordinating content development, compliance with expected standards/formats, compliance with appropriate internal/external approval process, liaison with Legal for review when relevant, liaison/key point of contact for External Relations for donors statement requirements, storage and tracking of final versions                      
• Maintenance and continuous improvement of tools and systems SharePoint sites management with a focus on maintaining permissions in compliance with access rights and confidentiality rules. Train teams and implement new features for continuous improvement
• Maintain internal distribution lists, attendance lists, Teams groups, departmental specific licenses and accesses to external databases
• Set up and maintain annual departmental calendars                       
• Support to other Governance bodies as needed.
• Ad hoc support at the GARDP organization level when required

Reporting line

• Executive Office Senior Manager

Main interactions

• R&D Director
• Head of R&D Portfolio and Operations Strategy
• R&D and Global Access leadership and team members
• Counterparts in other key departments

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree preferred or equivalent in life science discipline or business administration
• 5-8 years of experience in departmental operations/coordination. Experience within R&D, innovation, or technical environments, a plus.
• Proven experience supporting senior leadership (e.g., directors or executives) in both administrative and operational capacities
• Understanding of the regulated health and clinical/medical research sector environment and culture
• Familiarity with project management methodologies and tools, initial hands-on experience is a plus

Technical and relational skills

• Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills in multicultural, multi-lingual environments
• Proactive and can-do attitude,
• Strong planning and organizational skills with the ability to prioritize and follow-up
• Very strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong ability to use initiative, prioritize, multi-task, and work well under pressure to meet deadlines
• Strong attention to details and quality
• Energetic, flexible, resourceful self-starter

Other requirements

• Fluency in English
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Suite and experience in use of diverse PM/Operations tools and document management systems (e.g., MS Project, SharePoint, Salesforce, Teams)