ISO Office Manager
(This goes to craigslist tomorrow, but I'd rather end up with a referral from a friend than with a total stranger)
ABOUT US
We're a small software company located in Somerville, Mass. Our primary product is RT (Request Tracker), an open-source issue tracking system. It's used by thousands of organizations around the world. We also make a distributed version control system called SVK and a web-based todo list system called Hiveminder (http://hiveminder.com) We make software and sell support, training, consulting and custom development.
We've been around since fall of 2001 and are entirely bootstrap funded. Things just keep getting busier.
ABOUT THE JOB
Our beloved office manager is leaving us this spring to pursue a career in massage therapy. We're looking for a bright, talented individual to help keep us organized. It's very important that you be able to keep on top of both long-term projects and day-to-day details without someone looking over your shoulder. On the other hand, you need to know when to ask for help or direction.
You'll report directly to the corporate boss-type-person. As his assistant, you'll be responsible for making sure that things get dealt with - everything from making sure the office stays clean and well stocked with copy-paper and free snacks to doing payroll.
Day-to-day, you'll be dealing with staff (not all of whom are local or even in the country), vendors and customers. You need excellent written and verbal communications skills (for dealing with customers) even if most of the time you're slumming with the rest of us who aren't so hot with our capitalization and punctuation.
We're a small company and the boss is typically overextended. He travels a fair bit and when he's not traveling, he can be pretty busy. You should be comfortable working independently, prioritizing tasks on your own, and juggling tasks & projects. We know that we're not going to find an office manager who reads minds, but if you can fake it well enough to make sure that things get done before they become crises, we'll be thrilled (that means you should be proactive).
You need to be comfortable using a computer running Mac OS X or some variant of Unix. You should know how to use an email client, a web browser, a spreadsheet, a word processor and Quickbooks. We do just about everything online and on the phone. You should be comfortable using email and instant messaging systems to collaborate and get work done.
You shouldn't be frustrated by computers or computer geeks. Just about everyone here is a computer geek (though we all have other interests). You don't need to know how to program in Perl or have a shelf full of O'Reilly books, but it's helpful if you already know that Perl is a programming language and that O'Reilly books are the ones with animals on the cover.
Most of the time, you'll be working from our office in lovely Davis Sq, Somerville, though you'll end up swinging by the boss's house in Porter once or twice a week to deal with bills and other minor home-office arcana.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Below, you'll find a rough breakdown of what the job entails. This breakdown is over the course of the year, not what you'll have to do every week. Being a small company, things do shift around and new things will come up, but this should be a pretty good snapshot.
Financial Management - about a third of your time
* Accounts Payable - pay vendor bills
* Accounts Receivable - invoice customers; process incoming payments
* Payroll – submit payroll to specialists & pay independent contractors
* Bank account reconciliation
* Maintenance of records
* Tax preparation for accountant
Office Management - maybe a third of your time
* Pick up mail from post office box in Davis Sq.
* Open and organize mail
* Correspondence - email, fax, and letters
* Mail/ship correspondence & packages
* Order office/computer supplies
* Keep Office and Bathroom Clean
* Stock Office with drinks, snacks and necessities
* Oversee all non-sales contracts
Special Projects - a small bit
* Research
* Setting up new employees
* Assist the Sales Team
Event Planning - less than a quarter of your time
* Research and select hotels for training sessions around the world
* Coordinate with hotels
* Communicate with attendees
* Invoice attendees, track payments, issue receipts
* Order books
Household Management - little bits here and there
* Open and organize mail
* Pay bills
* Collect rent
Other - as needed
* Arrange travel for the boss-type person
* Manage relationships with independent contractors
* Deal with things that need dealing with
BENEFITS AND COMPENSATION
The position is full-time.
Salary: $30,000 - $35,000 per year, depending on experience
Health, dental from day 1.
Fairly liberal vacation policy.
MacBook. Work cellphone.
Flexible hours & a little bit of telecommuting.
Relaxed office atmosphere - No dress code.
HOW TO APPLY FOR THE JOB
Please send a cover letter and resume to: resumes@bestpractical.com
Real people will read your cover letter. We'd love to know a bit about who you are, where you went to college, where you've worked and what sorts of things you're interested in, rather than just that you've seen our job posting and are sure that you'd be a fine match for the position. If you have a website or blog you'd like to share with us, please send a link.
While we can probably read any resume format you can throw at us, we'd appreciate it a lot if you can send it as plain text or HTML. If you can't do that, PDF. If you can't generate a PDF, Word is okay.
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