Administrative Staff Assistant

About Seattle Center:

About Seattle Center — The Cultural Heart of the Pacific Northwest

Seattle Center is a 74-acre civic, arts, and cultural gathering place in the heart of Seattle and home to more than 30 partner organizations, including Climate Pledge Arena, KEXP, Museum of Pop Culture (MOPOP), Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Opera, Pacific Science Center, SIFF, and many others. Anchored by world-class attractions, historic venues, public art, and a dynamic calendar of free and affordable events centered around the iconic International Fountain, Seattle Center brings together arts, culture, sports, and community year-round.

As a department of the City of Seattle and anchor of the Uptown Arts and Cultural District, Seattle Center serves residents from across the Puget Sound region alongside visitors from around the world.

In partnership with Friends of Waterfront Park, Seattle Center provides operations, maintenance, and public safety services for Waterfront Park, while Friends leads park experience, programming, and stewardship along Seattle’s downtown waterfront.

About this position:

The Waterfront Team is seeking a detail-oriented Administrative Staff Assistant for an 6-8 month temporary opportunity. This temporary role is critical to maintaining the continuity of our daily operations and provides excellent growth potential for someone looking to expand their analytical and coordination skills.

Acting as a central pillar for the team, this position provides comprehensive administrative and operational support for Waterfront Operations. Key responsibilities include ensuring our day-to-day business functions run seamlessly, budget coordination, partnership communication, as well as other tasks.

Here is more of what you will be doing:

Administrative Support

• Coordinate and lead complex scheduling across City Departments, as well as various partners/stakeholders to the waterfront.
• Coordinating with City Clerk’s Office on Boards & Commissions appointment process; prepare appointment packets, send to City Clerk’s Office, etc. and Provide recordkeeping (track training completion, complete cross-validation reports, maintain member rosters, update SharePoint records, ensure completion of necessary forms).
• Data input and management of Waterfront SharePoint, work order system, and communications system. 
• Lead on coordination with the waterfront operations management team and HR to develop hiring timelines and administer hiring processes, as well as track and oversee other human resource processes and needs, including training. 
• Lead scheduling, communications, meetings, and materials (including web updates) for the Central Waterfront Oversight Committee. 
• Coordinate across city executives’ offices for mayoral priorities, legislation, briefings and coordination. 
• Oversee utilization of automated office equipment; develop complex word processing applications; troubleshoot equipment and software problems and other technology.
•  Oversee the technology infrastructure of the waterfront team in coordination with Seattle Center staff, which includes software, hardware, and devices.

Budget & Finance

• Responsible for ongoing Waterfront budget coordination and preparation, revisions and invoices. 
• Responsible for day-to-day purchasing of supplies and equipment and assisting in tracking budget expenditures. 

• Responsible for day-to-day purchasing for administration, maintenance, landscaping and Emergency Services Unit (ESU). 

Partnership and Communication 

• Prepare, coordinate and organize data for the Waterfront Park Performance Standard, including overseeing the quarterly park survey inspection process.
• Prepare high level briefings and help develop and produce annual reporting to Executives, Mayor, and Council on waterfront operations. 
• Develop and review high level presentation materials for Waterfront management to brief partners/stakeholders/Executives.

• Delegate action, draft responses, and track communications. Manage feedback and close out process with customers internally and externally, and other duties as assigned. 
• Oversee and manage the Waterfront Operations Center, which will be the hub for the maintenance and public safety teams for the waterfront.        This will include coordination on shared space usage and management with partner organizations co-located within the building. Act as the main lead on any issues related to the facility, and administrative needs for streamlined operations. 

You will be successful in this role if you have:

• A belief in delivering a positive park user experience with high quality customer service. 
• Ability to juggle multiple tasks effectively and adapt to changing priorities to meet deadlines in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment.
• Competency with database applications, Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Acrobat, and desire to learn basic accounting concepts and principles.
• Experience with financial processing (accounts payable & receivable) and budget processes.
• Experience working in a fast-changing event atmosphere. 
• Operates with a strong equity lens in decision making.

Minimum Qualifications: 

In addition to the qualifications and abilities to perform the tasks described above, you will need to possess the below required qualifications:

• One year of experience in administrative analysis, budget administration or preparation, office management, personnel administration, program administration, as staff assistant, or in a closely related field. 

AND

• Bachelor's degree in business or public administration, or another closely related field,

OR 

• A combination of education, training, and/or experience that provides an equivalent background required to perform the work.

You will be successful in this role if you have:

• A belief in delivering a positive park user experience with high quality customer service. 
• Ability to juggle multiple tasks effectively and adapt to changing priorities to meet deadlines in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment.
• Competency with database applications, Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Acrobat, and desire to learn basic accounting concepts and principles.
• Experience with financial processing (accounts payable & receivable) and budget processes.
• Experience working in a fast-changing event atmosphere. 
• Operates with a strong equity lens in decision making.

You will be ready to take on this role if you have: 

• Experience working in public spaces. 

• Strong project management skills, including detail orientation, organization, short-term and long-term planning, and budgeting.

• The ability to be flexible and adapt as park operations continue to develop and change. 
• The ability to work independently to meet deadlines while also supporting other coworkers.
• The ability to adapt communication styles to effectively develop relationships with others. 

Work Environment/Physical Demands: 

• This position offers flexibility of a hybrid work schedule.

The full salary range for this position is $41.44 - $48.31 per hour. Temporary employees begin at step 1, which is $41.44 hourly. Intermittent employees do not get salary step increases. You'll also get premium pay that increases the more hours you work. (Starts at an additional 5% on top of your base rate, up to 25%!)

How to Apply:

Applications will be accepted for this position until 4:00 pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, August 18, 2026. To be considered for this position, in addition to completing your application fully, please attach:

• A PDF of your current resume
• Cover Letter

Your application may be rejected as incomplete if you do not include the relevant information in the application. Cover letters and/or resumes are not accepted in lieu of a completed application. Applications and/or Supplemental Questionnaires that state "see my resume" or "see my personnel file" are considered incomplete and will not be accepted.

IMPORTANT NOTE: To align with our commitment to equity and the City of Seattle's Race and Social Justice Initiative, Seattle Center is collecting cover letters and resumes without personal identifiers to achieve a blind screening process. 

Why work at the City?

The City of Seattle recognizes every City employee must play a role in ending institutional and structural racism. Our culture is the result of our behavior, our personal commitments, and the ways that we courageously share our perspectives and encourage others to do the same. To cultivate an antiracist culture, we seek employees who will engage in dismantling racist policies and procedures, unlearn the way things have always been done, and create and provide equitable processes and services. Seattle Office of Civil Rights)

For helpful tips on the application process and recruitment process: Working at the City - Human Resources | seattle.gov. Application, Resume, and Interviewing Tips

More about Seattle Center:

Seattle Center welcomes nearly 12 million visits annually, generating nearly $3.3 billion in total economic activity, supporting 19,400 jobs, and producing more than $37 million in local tax revenue for the City of Seattle.

With the support of our Official Partners — Alaska Airlines, The Climate Pledge, Coors Light, Pepsi, Symetra, T-Mobile, and WaFd Bank — Seattle Center is the #1 most-visited arts and cultural destination in the Pacific Northwest.