Staff - Union
CUPE 2950
CUPE 2950 Salaried - Administrative Support 4 (Gr7)
Administrative Coordinator
Research Services | Quantum Matter Institute | Faculty of Science
$4,594.00 - $4,827.00 CAD Monthly
July 7, 2026
Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.
Job End Date
March 31, 2028
At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.
Job Summary
The Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute (Blusson QMI) is a world-leading research centre at the University of British Columbia. Our mission is to create quantum materials by design, collaboratively within a community of creative, engaged, and highly skilled faculty, students, and staff.
The Administrative Coordinator has two primary responsibilities: 1) supporting the general administration of Blusson QMI, including in the areas of event coordination, HR Support, and communications; and 2) providing purchasing support for a sub-group of Blusson QMI Principal Investigators, which involves understanding, organizing, and executing various purchasing requirements that are being made on a daily basis.
Organizational Status
The Administrative Coordinator reports to the Project Manager, Research and Reporting. Work directions related to purchasing will be received from Blusson QMI Principal Investigators and researchers.
Work Performed
Administrative Support (50%)
- Monitors and responds to requests for information and ensures that inquiries are directed to the right person or place at the Institute or relevant UBC unit.
- Schedules and coordinates Blusson QMI meetings, including team meetings, committee meetings, and advisory panel meetings.
- Schedules meetings and appointments for the Managing Director and Scientific Director, identifying and communicating high priority requests, and coordinating with schedules of Directors/Managers of internal/external stakeholders.
- Prepares and distributes agendas; takes, transcribes, edits, and distributes Blusson QMI meeting minutes and reports.
- Assists with onboarding and offboarding of Blusson QMI members, including reviewing building access requests, assigning desks, and adding/removing personnel from the relevant directories and mailing lists.
- Coordinates phone services, including adding and cancelling phone lines, resetting voice mail, and changing display names.
- Assists in the preparation of Blusson QMI reports and other communication materials, including information gathering, organizing, collation, and distribution.
- Maintains office supplies for Blusson QMI, and orders new supplies as necessary.
- Holds a UBC credit card to make necessary purchases for the department, and reconciles the accrued expenses.
Event Coordination
- Organizes and arranges events, seminars, and workshops, including sourcing and booking venues, catering, accommodation and equipment; coordinates event logistics and ensures all event setup details are in order; prepares and distributes schedules, agendas and other materials; solves last-minute problems with room arrangements/equipment etc. Required to be present at events, occasionally outside of standard business hours.
- Makes accommodation arrangements for guests and visitors; provides them with assistance and information about Blusson QMI, UBC and Vancouver, and interprets University policies and procedures related to travel and administration.
- Coordinates visits and tours of Blusson QMI facilities, including scheduling and preparing communications materials.
- Coordinates paperwork related to travel expenses, collects all necessary forms, verifies information and ensures accuracy, and submits travel claims to Finance for reimbursement.
- Uses a spreadsheet to track Blusson QMI outreach and engagement activities.
HR Support
- Assists with human resources processes, including recruitment and appointments (e.g., Research Associates), by preparing recruitment advertisements, preparing material for search committees, scheduling interviews with candidates, and liaising with UBC Faculty Relations and/or UBC Human Resources department for information and clarification as necessary.
- Initiates multiple Business Processes (BP) in the UBC Workday system, including but not limited to staff/faculty appointments, staff/faculty reappointments, position creation, termination, costing allocations and creating job requisitions.
- Follows up with Workday BPs awaiting approval and sends reminders to the appropriate approvers as needed.
- Coordinates student appointments with the Principal Investigators, the home department, and the Institute, and maintains appropriate records.
- Assists in drafting employment offer letters for faculty, staff, and students.
- Processes information and updates various human resources files, records, and lists with attention to confidentiality.
- Responsible for confidential personnel files including file management and retention or disposal of personnel files.
Communications
- Maintains the Blusson QMI website, ensuring that information is up to date: posts events on the website, updates the directory, and may write short notices on the Institute's activities for the site.
- Coordinates changes to the organization and/or appearance of the site as requested by the Communications Manager.
Procurement / Purchasing (50%)
- Uses Workday on a daily basis for procurement and purchasing tasks.
- Uses Workday to verify that Worktags are valid and have sufficient funds.
- Works closely with UBC Supply Management and with Blusson QMI staff/faculty to prepare specifications for purchases requiring request for proposals (RFPs).
- Works closely with vendors to ensure that quotes are Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) valid when required or to be compliant with UBC, Blusson QMI, and funding agency guidelines.
- Works closely with vendors to ensure that quotes are accurate and shipping/receiving contact information has been correctly entered.
- Orders equipment for members of the department, may also order supplies and consumables.
- Processes purchase order requisitions for off-campus and on-campus suppliers.
- Ensures that all appropriate back-up documentation is provided to support purchases made and received on behalf of Blusson QMI.
- Keeps detailed records for each purchase.
- Tracks multiple invoices for orders and liaises with finance staff to ensure invoices are authorized for payment in a timely manner.
- Reconciles departmental UBC VISA credit card(s) per UBC policy and procedures.
- Liaises with finance staff to reconcile accounts and track budgets for various procurement projects.
- Performs other tasks related to purchasing as required.
Logistics
- Responsible for shipping/receiving activities, including the notification of recipients when orders are received; prepares receiving reports.
- Works with couriers, customs brokers, and other interested parties to ensure that items clear customs.
- Requests and schedules pick up of goods by courier/dispatch.
- Notifies vendors of incorrect shipments and broken/defective goods and obtains authorization for return and/ or replacement.
- Takes follow-up action with vendor to correct shortages, damaged or defective goods, shipping delays, and back orders.
- Performs other tasks related to logistics as requested.
Equipment Inventory / Facilities and Services
- Coordinates internal charge-back systems and prepares paperwork to recover costs.
- Tracks new/old equipment - keeps records of serial numbers, warranty expiration dates, warranty returns.
- Produces regular control reports as requested.
- Other tasks, as required, related to Blusson QMI equipment inventory and related facilities and services.
Other
The Administrative Coordinator provides back-up front desk support to the AMPEL Administrator during absences. This may include:
- Welcoming and greeting guests and visitors, responding to requests for information, and ensuring that inquiries are directed to the right person or place at Blusson QMI or the relevant UBC unit.
- Booking meeting rooms.
- Supporting emergent issues at the Brimacombe/AMPEL building reception.
The Administrative Coordinator performs other administrative support tasks as required.
Consequence of Error/Judgement
To retain its standing as a UBC Centre of Excellence, Blusson QMI must demonstrate its potential to move from internationally excellent to globally exceptional, both in terms of academic impact and translational impact.
Ultimately, errors in judgement that lead to the inability to complete research projects in a timely and effective manner could mean that Blusson QMI Centre of Excellence will not meet the required deliverables to secure additional funding and/or revenues.
Poor decisions or errors in judgement may also result in delays in experiments and research, experiments being postponed or cancelled.
Supervision Received
Works independently, in consultation with the Project Manager, Research and Reporting, and faculty and staff members.
Supervision Given
Not required to supervise.
Minimum Qualifications
High School graduation, plus a two year post-secondary diploma, plus four years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own
- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience using Workday HR and/or financial management systems is preferred.
- Knowledge of procurement is preferred.
- Proficient in use of MS Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
- Knowledge of university policies and procedures, as well as experience working with researchers is preferred.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively with members of staff, faculty, and senior management.
- A high level of interpersonal and cross-cultural skills. Actively listens, and probes for information to clarify complex requests from internal and external stakeholders whose first language may not be English.
- Strong oral and written communication skills.
- Ability to work both independently and within a team environment.
- Ability to gather, record, and organize information as well as ability to create and maintain records and filling systems.
- Ability to perform work with a high degree of accuracy and strong attention to detail.
