Executive Administrative Assistant

Embedded in a worldwide network Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America continuously strives to remain at the forefront of successful automotive research and development. MBRDNA is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, with key areas of Autonomous Driving, Advanced Interaction Design, Digital User Experience, Machine Learning, Customer Research, and Open Innovation. In Farmington Hills, Michigan, the focus is on Powertrain and eDrive technology as well as in Long Beach, where the teams test durability of the latest driver assistant and telematic systems. The Digital Hub in Seattle focusses on developing a cloud architecture and building out the cloud platform for the next generation of connected car services. The Testing and Regulatory Affairs Division in Ann Arbor and the Advanced Vehicle Design in Carlsbad complete the competence center.
Serves as the heart of the US Experience team’s administrative and project management function. Plans and directs all administrative and operational activities for the US Experience team and the organization’s Vice President. Anticipates the needs of the team, organizes and prioritizes critical issues, tracks key projects and plans meetings/events for the Vice President. Acts as a point of contact for management, employees and other stakeholders. Provides oversight and guidance to projects of high importance and shows expertise in project management, accountability and follow through. Advances major goals to support broad functional objectives and supports efficient decision-making. Develops policies and processes with various functions and departments. Comprehensive knowledge of the overall US Experience team’s mission, vision and deliverables to prioritize and focus on most relevant topics.

Job Responsibilities:

• Oversee strategic business initiatives from development through successful execution under the guidance of senior leadership and departmental heads, formulating recommendations and driving to timely decision making.
• Serves as project management leader and is experienced in defining, running and maintaining project goals and objectives. Demonstrates passion for the US Experience team alignment and initiatives.
• Champion strategic employee engagement and events- town halls, all hands meetings etc., in collaboration with the People Team.
• Participate in key meetings with internal, external partners-document meeting notes, distribute action items/tasks and track progress versus plan.
• Act as an extension of the VP office when communicating with external and internal partners.  
• Improve current processes and coordinate organizational procedures for optimized productivity, helping prioritize tasks and efforts.
• Coordinate company and site wide initiatives with the Long Beach team and other departments.
• Runs the agenda and execution of weekly staff meetings, all-hands meetings and events. Providing summary notes and executing on follow-up items.
• Build and develop relationships with all employees to support effective coordination and communication among the teams.
• Support the People Team with onboarding of new team members.
• Orchestrate cross-functional opportunities for collaboration to ensure continued focus and execution on KPI’s, milestones and deliverables, execution on KPI’s, milestones and deliverables.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelors + 3 yrs / Masters + 1 yrs
• Proven experience organizing and directing multiple teams and departments.
• Extremely versatile, dedicated to efficient productivity.
• Experience with planning and leading strategic initiatives.
• Exercises a high degree of maturity, discretion, and integrity, as this role requires handling confidential information.
• Proven experience in managing complex projects with financial impact.
• Extremely versatile, dedicated to efficient productivity.
• Experience with planning and leading strategic initiatives.
• Exercises a high degree of maturity, discretion, and integrity, as this role requires handling confidential information.
• Ability to work on-site and able to travel domestically for business as required
• Ability to plan travel, meetings and calendar.
• Operational and task oriented, with great attention to detail.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Project Management certification is a plus.
• Experience working with automotive or digital organizations is a plus.
• Proven expertise in excel, PowerPoint, Word, OneNote.
• Experience creating and managing project workflows, and prioritizing those projects leveraging collaboration tools such as Jira and Confluence.
• Excellent written and oral communication with a strong sense of professionalism.
• Strong organizational skills with the abil