Construction Administrative Assistant

Dewberry is currently seeking a Construction Administrative Assistant (CAA) in our Fairfax, VA office. This position will enable an individual to become an invaluable asset in support of a fast-paced, multi-disciplined group of design and construction professionals. The Administrative Assistant must be a team player, excellent communicator, the desire to learn new skills, client focused and savvy with technology.  This position will provide the opportunity for experience and advancement to perform Project Management Deputy (PMD) duties conditional upon completing Dewberry PMD certification program.

Dewberry is a leading, market-facing professional services firm with more than 50 locations and 2,000 professionals nationwide. What sets us apart from our competitors are our people. At Dewberry, we seek out exceptional talent and strive to deliver the highest quality of services to our clients. Whether you’re an experienced professional or a new graduate, you’ll have the chance to collaborate with the best and brightest and work on innovative and complex projects at the forefront of the industry. Our commitment to excellence stems from our personal integrity and from other defining attributes, which we call “Dewberry at Work,” that have inspired our employees to be successful for more than a half-century.

• Communicate and working at a high level with a diverse group of engineers, project managers, senior leadership and construction professionals.
• Responsible for organizing and managing construction administration documentation (submittals, RFI’s, contractor pay applications, change orders, contracts, drawings and drawing revisions). Previous experience with web-based project construction applications (e.g., Procore) is a plus.
• Helping project managers manage permitting and state contract drawing reviews and final approvals.
• Managing the completion of design documents between multi-disciplines to sign and seal electronically
• Responsible for being the one point of contact receiving emails and documents on a variety of projects from our external design and construction partners. Sending the correspondence or documents to the correct Dewberry person for review and response. Managing correspondence timeline responsibilities and reminding our team of the commitments.
• Creating and organizing weekly financial documents to be distributed internally for managers to review (previous Microsoft excel skills a plus).
• Assisting leadership and project managers with reviewing and processing contracts.
• This office has a diverse group of professionals that are constantly learning, so continuing education and trainings are a weekly occurrence. These groups will need help organizing these trainings, managing catered food (if needed) and verifying that the group cleaned up and the room is setup for the next meeting.
• Assist with on boarding of new staff and welcoming them to this high performing team.
• Handle sensitive project and contract information with complete discretion.
• Set up and organize in-person and online meetings including with various equipment manufacturer representatives.
• 8+ years of administrative or office manager experience or in a related area required.
• Architect, Engineering, Construction experience is a plus.
• Willingness to learn and utilize a variety of software to organize and manage construction documents and design documents.
• Must have a strong work ethic, detail oriented and excellent time management skills.
• Strong interpersonal and written and oral communication skills.
• Must be flexible and able to adapt quickly to various tasks and changing demands.
• Ability to work independently while following instructions and pre-established guidelines to perform the functions of the job.

After completing the Dewberry PMD certification program PMD duties will include the following:

The PMD will coordinate with the Project Accountant (PA), Business Unit Manager (BUM) and project managers (PM) to ensure accurate and timely reporting of all financial and accounting related matters for the projects (jobs) within their assigned business unit (BU) or PM. The PMD will not be the PM but will assist the PM with accounting and financial matters as they relate to accounting. The PM will be held accountable for their job and its financial performance.

As requested by the BUM or PM and within the Dewberry accounting standard, the PMD will assist with the day-to-day financial management of their assigned projects.  This may include job/contract set up, P2P subcontractor requisition preparation, contract verification, invoicing, initiation of adjustments to invoices, sub consultant management, accounts receivable tracking, collections, job close out and any other job specific financial matters. The PMD will be expected to maintain open lines of communication with their primary PA to ensure efficient, timely and quality results. The PMD will be expected to handle sensitive project and contract information with complete discretion.

As trained by Corporate Accounting the PMD will be responsible for assisting with ensuring compliance by their assigned BU with established Dewberry business policy for time entry, expense reporting, travel and all other business processes as necessary or requested by accounting.

After gaining Dewberry experience as the CAA and assisting the PMs with project financial tasks, at a time designated by the BUM, the PMD will be expected to fully participate and complete Dewberry's PMD certification program.  The certification program will establish clear guidelines as to the PMD responsibility and provide necessary training and support to perform the expected duties. This will also require maintaining the certification by participation in all required training offered through a monthly brown bag series or as scheduled by need.

Don’t meet every single requirement? At Dewberry we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace for our employee’s. So if you’re excited about this role, but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the position description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may just be the right candidate for this or other opportunities.

*At this time, Dewberry will not sponsor a new applicant for work authorization.

*Dewberry is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, gender identity or sexual orientation.

*Only recipients of an offer of employment from Dewberry, will be required to submit to a background screening which may include, but is not limited to, employment verification, educational and other credential verification, driving record check, criminal background check, and an investigative consumer report. These screenings will be conducted by Dewberry’s background vendor of choice and will be conducted in compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local law.

Notice to Third Party Recruiters:  Dewberry only compensates job placement recruiters that have a valid Dewberry-approved written agreement in place for recruiting services. Dewberry does not compensate third party recruiters for unsolicited job placement candidate information.