Operations Lead

Who we are:

The American Physical Society (APS) is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents more than 50,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world.

Position Summary:

The American Physical Society, Programs Department is seeking an Operations Lead strategic leader. This leadership position will guide the department’s operations for the successful implementation of the department’s and APS's strategic plan. The position is designed to help support the implementation of the department’s activities.

This position will develop operational methods to strengthen the department’s performance . This APS’s Strategic Plan. Successful performance in this position requires excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to apply a system thinking approach. Is this you? Keep reading.

The APS has a “remote first” concept that promotes equal treatment and equal access, independent of physical work location, with a majority of staff working primarily from remote work locations. APS values diversity and welcomes candidates from a variety of backgrounds. APS offers a dynamic work environment with an outstanding total compensation package including salary, outstanding benefits, and excellent paid time off.

A Typical Week May Look Like This:

• Learns about the work of Program staff in order to proactively identify opportunities to improve operations and propose effective solutions.
• Facilitates hiring and onboarding processes for new staff, interns and contractors, and supports supervisors in implementation of effective practices.
• Organizes professional development for staff, including implementing a management academy and arranging for training in other identified areas of opportunity.
• Ensures business continuity, including planning for and managing staff transitions
• Develops department procedures to support organizational excellence, and leads training and compliance efforts for organizational and departmental policies
• Maintains effective relationships with service departments through high-level information sharing, problem solving, planning and coordination
• Develops and manages department budgets
• Provide expertise, guidance, and support to APS Program leadership, managers and team members in navigating complex issues, challenges, and problems for the center –and identify opportunities and problem-solving approaches to address them.
• Manages executive assistance to the Director

Is This You:

Education: Bachelor’s degree required, with Master’s degree preferred. Preferred areas of study include business administration and related fields.

Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Minimum seven years of work experience in management and administration.
• Supervisory experience required. Must be able to clearly communicate expectations, monitor and assess performance, and hold staff accountable.
• Ability to lead collaboratively and engage stakeholders through a win-win approach.
• Exceptional problem-solving skills. Ability to work with people to elicit concerns, propose solutions, win acceptance, assess effectiveness and make adjustments as needed.
• Demonstrable skills in project management and budgetary management.
• Familiarity with IT products, including Google Suite, Adobe products, Zoom, Salesforce, Asana, Pardot, SurveyMonkey, or experience with similar types of software.
• Flexible, proactive, able to handle several complex projects simultaneously.
• Customer service orientation, including ability to resolve conflicts constructively.
• Effective in managing up and identifying and bringing forward issues that require the attention of the director.
• Strong organization, documentation, and prioritization skills.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, including abilities to engage and influence.
• Must be able to travel a few times per year.

Travel: Position may require up to 10% business travel annually to attend meetings and events.

Our Mission:

To advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics for the benefit of humanity, promote physics, and serve the broader physics community, we:

• Provide a welcoming and supportive professional home for an active, engaged, and diverse membership
• Advance scientific discovery and research dissemination
• Advocate for physics and physicists, and amplify the voice for science
• Share the excitement of physics and communicate the essential role physics plays in the modern world
• Promote effective physics education for all

Our Core Values:

• The Scientific Method
• Truth and Integrity
• Diversity, Inclusion, and Respect
• Partnering, Cooperation, and Open Collaboration
• Speaking Out
• Education and Learning

The American Physical Society is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. It is the policy of American Physical Society not to discriminate or allow the harassment of employees or applicants on the basis of race, religious creed, alienage or citizenship, religion, color, ethnicity, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, familial status, protected veteran status, protected military status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, predisposing genetic characteristics, ancestry, domestic violence victim status or any other characteristic protected by law with regard to any employment practices, including recruitment, advertising, job application procedures, hiring, upgrading, training, promotion, transfer, compensation, job assignments, benefits and/or other terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, provided the individual is qualified, with or without reasonable accommodations, to perform the essential functions of the job. This policy applies to all jobs at APS. The American Physical Society is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To request reasonable accommodation, please contact APS Human Resources.

The American Physical Society requires all employees to be fully COVID-19 vaccinated and show proof of completed vaccination status at time of hire. If selected for employment, you will provide proof of your full vaccination status via our secured vaccination information portal, defined as vaccinated two weeks after receiving the requisite number of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine approved or authorized for emergency use by the FDA.

The APS has a “remote first” concept that promotes equal treatment and equal access, independent of physical work location, with a majority of staff working primarily from remote work locations. We welcome you to apply today!