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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Corporate Operations Assistant

💰 $ - $

OperationsCorporateAdministration

🎯 Role Definition

The Corporate Operations Assistant provides critical day-to-day support to corporate operations and business services teams by managing vendor relationships, coordinating cross-functional projects, administering contracts and invoices, maintaining operational records, and ensuring efficient office and facilities processes. This role is focused on improving operational workflows, supporting executive and departmental teams, ensuring compliance with corporate policies, and delivering reliable administrative and project coordination tasks that enable business continuity and growth.


📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Administrative Assistant / Executive Assistant supporting corporate teams
  • Operations Coordinator or Office Manager in a small-to-medium business
  • Procurement or Accounts Payable Clerk with corporate exposure

Advancement To:

  • Corporate Operations Coordinator / Senior Operations Assistant
  • Operations Manager / Business Operations Manager
  • Program Manager or Project Manager (cross-functional operational programs)
  • Head of Office Services / Director of Corporate Operations

Lateral Moves:

  • Procurement Specialist
  • Contract Administrator
  • Facilities Coordinator
  • HR Operations Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Provide day-to-day administrative and operational support to the corporate operations team, including scheduling, calendar management, meeting coordination, and preparation of meeting materials and minutes for executive stakeholders.
  • Coordinate and manage vendor relationships, including onboarding, performance monitoring, service-level agreement tracking, and acting as the primary point of contact for vendor escalations and renewals.
  • Prepare, review, and process purchase orders, invoices, expense reports, and vendor payments in accordance with corporate procurement and accounts payable policies, ensuring timely reconciliation and accurate coding.
  • Maintain and administer the corporate contracts repository by tracking contract lifecycles, renewal dates, approvals, and required signatures; facilitate contract execution and support legal or procurement reviews as needed.
  • Support budget tracking and basic forecasting for corporate operations budgets, including monthly expense reporting, variance analysis, and providing supporting documentation for finance and leadership reviews.
  • Lead small cross-functional process improvement initiatives to document standard operating procedures (SOPs), streamline workflows, reduce cycle times, and implement operational best practices across corporate functions.
  • Coordinate facilities and office services tasks such as workspace allocation, office moves, vendor coordination for maintenance and repairs, security access provisioning, and management of office supply inventory.
  • Assist with onboarding and offboarding logistics for employees and contractors (IT accounts, building access, equipment ordering, welcome kits), ensuring compliance with internal policies and a positive employee experience.
  • Compile and maintain operational dashboards, metrics, and weekly/monthly reports that measure KPIs (vendor SLAs, invoice processing times, contract status, facilities uptime) to support data-driven decision making.
  • Act as a centralized point of contact for cross-departmental operational requests, triaging issues, assigning follow-up, and escalating when necessary to meet SLAs and internal customer expectations.
  • Support procurement activities including sourcing basic vendor quotes, preparing comparison sheets, facilitating procurement approvals, and coordinating with purchasing or finance to complete orders.
  • Manage confidential corporate records and sensitive documentation (contracts, insurance certificates, compliance documents), ensuring appropriate access controls and retention schedules are followed.
  • Assist in the administration and renewal of corporate insurance, licenses, permits, and other compliance-related filings; prepare documentation required for audits and internal compliance reviews.
  • Facilitate internal audit and compliance requests by collecting documentation, preparing supporting schedules, and coordinating with stakeholders to meet audit timelines.
  • Prepare polished executive presentations, memos, and status updates summarizing operational issues, project milestones, and recommended actions for senior leadership review.
  • Support the rollout and adoption of new operational systems and technologies (ERP, vendor portals, collaboration tools) by coordinating user communications, training sessions, and basic troubleshooting.
  • Monitor and manage corporate inventory (IT assets, office equipment, branded materials), maintain asset registers, support repair/replacement workflows, and assist with disposal in accordance with policy.
  • Coordinate travel, logistics, and expense management for operations leaders and cross-functional teams for on-site vendor meetings, audits, and corporate events.
  • Facilitate planning and logistics for corporate-wide events, training sessions, and town halls, including vendor sourcing, catering, room logistics, registration tracking, and post-event reporting.
  • Serve as a business partner to HR, Finance, Legal, IT, and Facilities by routing requests, aligning on process requirements, and helping to operationalize cross-functional initiatives at the corporate level.
  • Conduct recurring process reviews and post-implementation assessments to identify gaps, document lessons learned, and propose corrective actions or optimization opportunities.
  • Maintain and update internal knowledge bases, SOPs, and how-to guides to ensure seamless handoffs and continuity of operations across corporate teams.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc operational data requests and prepare exploratory data analysis summaries for leadership reviews.
  • Contribute to the organization's operational strategy and continuous improvement roadmap by suggesting efficiency gains and risk mitigations.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate operational needs into actionable requirements and support implementation plans.
  • Participate in project planning activities, progress tracking, and agile ceremonies for cross-functional operations projects when required.
  • Assist with special projects such as office openings/closings, system migrations, and vendor transition activities.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office suite (Excel pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, PowerPoint slide decks, Word document formatting).
  • Experience with Google Workspace (Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets) and collaboration tools (Slack, Microsoft Teams).
  • Familiarity with procurement systems, purchase order workflows, and accounts payable processes.
  • Experience using ERP or accounting systems (e.g., NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, QuickBooks) for transactional processing and reporting.
  • Contract administration skills: tracking renewals, preparing simple contracts, and maintaining contract databases or CLM tools.
  • Vendor management and vendor performance reporting (SLAs, KPIs, scorecards).
  • Basic data analysis and reporting skills, comfortable with Excel-based dashboards; experience with BI tools (Tableau, Power BI) is a plus.
  • Expense management tools knowledge (Concur, Expensify) and travel booking tools.
  • Records management and compliance basics (document retention, confidentiality handling).
  • Project coordination and basic project management (Asana, Jira, Trello, Smartsheet).

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional verbal and written communication skills for interacting with executives, vendors, and cross-functional stakeholders.
  • Strong organizational skills with proven ability to prioritize competing tasks and manage calendars and deadlines.
  • High attention to detail and commitment to accuracy in financial and contract-related work.
  • Proactive problem-solving with a service-oriented mindset and confidence in escalating issues appropriately.
  • Effective stakeholder management and the ability to build rapport across internal teams and external partners.
  • Discretion and professionalism when handling confidential company and employee information.
  • Adaptability and comfort working in a fast-paced corporate environment with changing priorities.
  • Strong time management and multitasking capabilities.
  • Collaborative team player with the ability to drive results independently when necessary.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Associate degree in Business Administration, Office Management, or related field; or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Operations Management, Finance, or related discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Operations Management
  • Finance / Accounting
  • Supply Chain / Procurement
  • Project Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 2–5 years of combined administrative, operations, procurement, or vendor management experience in a corporate environment.

Preferred:

  • 3+ years supporting corporate operations, procurement, or finance teams with demonstrated experience in contract administration, vendor management, invoice processing, and cross-functional project coordination. Experience in an enterprise ERP environment and familiarity with corporate compliance and audit processes preferred.