Senior/Principal Administrative Support - Sandia's Washington, D.C. Office (WDCO), Onsite
Sandia National Laboratories
Washington, USA
Job posting number: #7310596 (Ref:Sa695588)
Posted: June 17, 2025
Job Description
About Sandia:
Sandia National Laboratories is the nation’s premier science and engineering lab for national security and technology innovation, with teams of specialists focused on cutting-edge work in a broad array of areas. Some of the main reasons we love our jobs:
- Challenging work with amazing impact that contributes to security, peace, and freedom worldwide
- Extraordinary co-workers
- Some of the best tools, equipment, and research facilities in the world
- Career advancement and enrichment opportunities
- Flexible work arrangements for many positions include 9/80 (work 80 hours every two weeks, with every other Friday off) and 4/10 (work 4 ten-hour days each week) compressed workweeks, part-time work, and telecommuting (a mix of onsite work and working from home)
- Generous vacation, strong medical and other benefits, competitive 401k, learning opportunities, relocation assistance and amenities aimed at creating a solid work/life balance*
World-changing technologies. Life-changing careers. Learn more about Sandia at: http://www.sandia.gov
*These benefits vary by job classification.
What Your Job Will Be Like:
Are you passionate about your work and want to join a dynamic team that solves real issues impacting national security? You will leave work every day knowing that you made a difference in our nation's security!
We are seeking an Administrative Support Assistant to provide office operations and project management leadership in planning, organizing, and executing all aspects of customer contact, scheduling functions, and meetings held in Sandia's Washington, D.C. Office (WDCO) and provide support to our Offsite Extended Duty Assignments. The incumbent will exercise initiative, manage organizational workflow, handle multiple matters concurrently to meet schedule, and collaborate with team members to fulfill our mission. This role may include arranging hotel and restaurant reservations, booking catering, coordinating transportation, as well as providing support to Sandia employees assigned to the DC area. This may include the proper transfer of clearances and other sensitive information. Meeting participants include high-level staff from U.S. government agencies, Congress, industry, the military, and distinguished professionals serving on boards and panels.
On any given day, you may be called on to:
- Serve as DC office operations lead. Oversee office operations, including scheduling, inventory, and resource allocation.
- Greet visitors, provide on-site administrative support for visiting VIPs and guests to the site.
Coordinate conference room calendars, set up video conferencing, and maintain relevant request forms and procedures.
- Prepare and maintain workflow procedures, and statistical reports for organizations requesting meetings in the DC office.
- Serve as a corporate resource in Washington DC for Sandia conference and event planners.
- Connect employees assigned to Washington DC, in a social setting, with other agencies and labs leadership, counterparts, and peers.
- Provide analysis on allowable and unallowable costs and manage expensing for customers through proper procedures.
- Use common office software and proprietary software to compile and generate reports, statistics, timelines, tables, and graphs; to review status of projects and budgets; and to create presentations.
- Recommend, interpret, and implement Sandia and US Government hospitality & administrative policies and procedures.
- Work closely with Executive Assistants and staff across the Labs.
- Develop strong working relationships with administrative support assistants across DoE/NNSA and agency partners.
- Exercise expertise in etiquette/decorum in support of VIP/executive staff interactions.
Serve as backup to our facility security officer.
This position requires travel less than 5% of the time.
Due to the nature of the work, the selected applicant must be able to work onsite.
Salary Range:
$48,700 - $89,700
*Salary range is estimated, and actual salary will be determined after consideration of the selected candidate's experience and qualifications, and application of any approved geographic salary differential.
Qualifications We Require:
- Candidates must have a bachelor¿s degree in relevant discipline, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and experience, plus at least (5) years of directly related experience.
- Experience working with government/military, and foreign formalities, customs, and courtesies.
- Experience with computer-based applications, Teams, Excel, Word, & SharePoint.
- Knowledge of governmental regulations and potential environmental impacts related to administrative practices and assigned business function.
- The ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance.
Qualifications We Desire:
- Ability to interface, in a professional manner, with all levels of management, as well as high level distinguished visitors.
- Demonstrated ability to organize, prioritize, and follow through to completion on multiple tasks, often under strict deadlines, frequent interruptions, and competing priorities.
- Extensive knowledge and practical experience with Microsoft Office products, specifically calendar and scheduling functions.
- Ability to independently resolve complex situations quickly and diplomatically, often in politically sensitive environments.
- Self-starter with ability to operate with minimal direction in an ambiguous environment.
- Ability to negotiate hotel and/or catering contracts.
- Ability to work with sensitive information and classified matter.
- Ability to interact effectively with all levels of internal and external personnel, including the ability to build effective virtual working relationships.
- Strong background in project and/or meeting management.
- Ability to think outside the box and develop streamlined processes and procedures.
- Ability to organize, prioritize, and follow through to completion on multiple tasks, within tight timeframes and with changing priorities.
- Effective and demonstrated negotiation skills.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills and customer service skills.
- Strong team player with the ability to work with diverse personalities.
- Active DOE Q-Level clearance or equivalent clearance.
About Our Team:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), headquartered in Albuquerque NM, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center for the Department of Energy's (DoE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
Our Washington, DC, Office (WDCO) includes classified and unclassified conference and videoconference spaces as well as classified and unclassified computing. The WDCO hosts frequent meetings (roughly 150 meetings for 1,200 participants annually) for SNL executives, SNL Board members, senior NNSA, DoE, and DOD officials, and executives from other national laboratories. The four-person staff of this site provide administrative, logistic, security, liaison, and limited technical services to visiting Sandians as well as support to National Capitol Area customers.
Posting Duration:
This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of seven (7) calendar days, including the ‘posting date’. Sandia reserves the right to extend the posting date at any time.
Security Clearance:
Sandia is required by DOE to conduct a pre-employment drug test and background review that includes checks of personal references, credit, law enforcement records, and employment/education verifications. Applicants for employment need to be able to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship. If you hold more than one citizenship (i.e., of the U.S. and another country), your ability to obtain a security clearance may be impacted.
Applicants offered employment with Sandia are subject to a federal background investigation to meet the requirements for access to classified information or matter if the duties of the position require a DOE security clearance. Substance abuse or illegal drug use, falsification of information, criminal activity, serious misconduct or other indicators of untrustworthiness can cause a clearance to be denied or terminated by DOE, resulting in the inability to perform the duties assigned and subsequent termination of employment.
EEO:
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status and any other protected class under state or federal law.
NNSA Requirements for MedPEDs:
If you have a Medical Portable Electronic Device (MedPED), such as a pacemaker, defibrillator, drug-releasing pump, hearing aids, or diagnostic equipment and other equipment for measuring, monitoring, and recording body functions such as heartbeat and brain waves, if employed by Sandia National Laboratories you may be required to comply with NNSA security requirements for MedPEDs.
If you have a MedPED and you are selected for an on-site interview at Sandia National Laboratories, there may be additional steps necessary to ensure compliance with NNSA security requirements prior to the interview date.
Job ID: 695588
Job Family: BU
Regular/Temporary Position: R
Full/Part-Time Status: F
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.