• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range: $75,000 - $85,000

Position Summary

The HR Project Associate provides discreet, confidential, and high-impact executive support to the CUIMC Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and partners closely with HR leadership. In addition to executive support, this role manages priority projects in Talent Acquisition and Employee Engagement/Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), exercising judgment, organization, and follow-through in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

Executive Support

• Manage the CHRO?s complex calendar; prioritize and coordinate meetings with senior leaders.
• Create and compile agendas, briefing materials, PowerPoint decks, and organizational charts.
• Screen documents/agreements for completeness, preliminary approvals, and policy alignment; route for signature.
• Distribute meeting agendas at least one business day in advance; record and track action items and follow-ups.
• Plan and execute logistics for the CUIMC Administrators Network (CAN) meetings.
• Arrange CHRO travel; prepare expense reports with timely, accurate reconciliations.

Employee Resource Group (ERG) Operations

• Manage ERG operational logistics (Zoom scheduling/maintenance, calendars, troubleshooting).
• Oversee ERG membership and distribution lists (onboarding/offboarding; routine audits of listservs and records).
• Serve as primary coordinator for ERG requests; triage weekly member needs and ensure timely follow-up.
• Coordinate communications (ERG event calendar, scheduling event blasts, message consistency across channels).
• Administer post-event surveys; collect and analyze feedback; prepare summary insights to inform programming.

Talent Acquisition Support

• Assist with candidate sourcing via job boards, career fairs, professional associations, social media, networking, and other strategies.
• Maintain and update candidate pipelines for active and future roles; ensure accurate data in the applicant tracking system (ATS).
• Coordinate interviews; schedule/confirm logistics; manage candidate communications to ensure a positive experience.
• Draft and post job descriptions aligned with employer branding and compliance standards; update recruiting collateral.
• Track and report key recruiting metrics (e.g., time-to-fill, source effectiveness, diversity hiring progress); prepare recurring dashboards.
• Partner with HR staff, recruiters, and hiring managers to understand role requirements and support full-cycle recruitment activities.
• Perform other projects/duties as assigned.

Role-Specific Competencies & Skills

• Confidentiality & Judgment: Handles sensitive information with discretion.
• Project Management & Follow-Through: Plans work, meets deadlines, tracks deliverables.
• Stakeholder Communication: Tailors messages; maintains professional tone with executives and staff at all levels.
• Data Literacy: Compiles basic reports/metrics; comfortable with spreadsheets and presentation tools.

Physical & Environmental Demands

• Sedentary office work with periods of computer use; may require occasional evening hours.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in education and experience, plus three years of related experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Three (3) years of progressively responsible administrative or project coordination experience supporting senior leadership.
• Experience in Talent Acquisition coordination and/or employee engagement/ERG programming.
• Experience in higher education, academic medicine, or other complex, matrixed environments.
• Familiarity with an ATS and HR systems.

Other Requirements

• Experience providing administrative/project support in a large, complex organization (e.g., higher education, healthcare, or comparable).
• Outstanding organization and ability to prioritize/handle multiple assignments under pressure; meticulous attention to detail.
• Excellent interpersonal skills; professional discretion and the ability to maintain strict confidentiality.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook; ability to learn new technologies (including AI tools).
• Strong written and verbal communication; customer-service orientation with diplomacy at all levels.
• Flexibility to work extended hours as needed.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.

About Columbia University

Columbia University is one of the world's most important centers of research and at the same time a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields. The University recognizes the importance of its location in New York City and seeks to link its research and teaching to the vast resources of a great metropolis. It seeks to attract a diverse and international faculty and student body, to support research and teaching on global issues, and to create academic relationships with many countries and regions. It expects all areas of the university to advance knowledge and learning at the highest level and to convey the products of its efforts to the world.

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