1. Overview
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the worldwide organization of professional astronomers, with 13000 individual and 83 national members. Its mission is to promote and safeguard astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation. It contains 9 Scientific Divisions, 39 Commissions and 43 Working Groups and, with international partners, it supports four IAU Offices and two Centres. The IAU is known to the wider public for its authority to assign official astronomical names and standards. Its staff meet and communicate with individuals from across the globe.
The IAU seeks a full-time Administrative Assistant and Data Manager, joining the Head of Administration (HoA) in a very small team in the Secretariat at IAU Headquarters in Paris. The incumbent is expected to reside in the Paris area, and the position is full time and office based. Some flexibility for a less-than-full-time position or with a small fraction of time working from home might be negotiable.
The IAU has recently migrated its membership directory, webpages and forms, to commercial digital platforms. The work of the incumbent will primarily be organizational of data within the Secretariat, and much will involve entering and checking data that interface with those digital platforms and others. The successful applicant will participate in the annual week-long meeting of the IAU Executive Committee, normally held outside Paris in April or May, and the two-week triennial General Assembly (GA) held in August (2027 in Italy, 2030 in Chile).
2. Responsibilities and Duties
The IAU Administrative Assistant and Data Manager responsibilities and duties include:
- To act as the primary digital point of contact for the IAU through the e-mail address [email protected], responding to and distributing communications as appropriate.
- To maintain a calendar of the IAU’s administrative deadlines and events, and organize and maintain the digital archive of the Secretariat administrative documents.
- To maintain and update the database of members, including individual and national members, and the positions of responsibility of individuals within the IAU, both from ongoing requests and following major changes such as annually or those connected with the triennial General Assembly (GA).
- To act as the reference contact for the IAU Divisions, Commissions and Working Groups, and to maintain and update their memberships.
- To update forms and instructions for IAU events such as the calls for proposals for scientific symposia, Ph.D. and other prizes, and new members, ensuring that the forms and instructions are available via the IAU website at appropriate times and are made available for subsequent review.
- To update the text of the IAU website pages as requested, including posting new documents and reports.
- To monitor and report on website analytics and membership statistics.
- To coordinate the submission of articles resulting from the IAU’s regular program of scientific meetings, beginning at the stage of editing on the platform of the external publisher (currently ScholarOne), including checking content and chasing what is missing.
- To organize the triennial elections for the leadership of the IAU Divisions and Commissions, and various other Committees (currently using the Mi-Voice platform).
- To organize votes on Resolutions and other matters at the triennial General Assemblies.To maintain e-mail address listings of the entire membership and subsets of members connected to a digital tool (currently using Constant Contact), and to send e-mails to the entire membership or to subsets of members as requested by the IAU Officers and Division Presidents.
- To coordinate and send news announcements to the IAU membership, place press releases on the website, and collect materials in an appropriate format for an Annual Report and for social media.
- To support the HoA in preparing and administrating the annual Paris meeting of the IAU Officers in addition to the annual week-long meeting of the Executive Committee which is normally held outside Paris in April or May, and to which the incumbent will report on membership statistics and related information.
- To assist the HoA with other tasks which might be requested from time to time, such as helping with the logistics for participants in the International Schools for Young Astronomers, and communication with local suppliers in France.
- To support the HoA in preparations in the months preceding, and carry out duties during, the two-week-long triennial General Assembly, normally held outside Paris in August.
3. Qualifications
The successful applicant will have:
An advantage will be a background that demonstrates an interest in being part of an international organization with a focus on astronomy.
4. Employment
- Salary will be competitive and negotiable, taking into account the successful candidate’s qualifications and experience.
- The appointment will have an initial probationary period of 6 months.
- The position will become permanent after the probationary period, by mutual agreement between the incumbent and the IAU General Secretary (GS).
5. Reporting
The incumbent is expected to organize their time efficiently and devise their own monthly plans so that the duties, some of which are ongoing and some of which are clumped, can be covered. Plans will be agreed every two months by the GS in consultation with the HoA, and activities will be agreed on a more frequent basis by the HoA who will also confirm the hours worked.
6. Location
The position will be located at the IAU Headquarters,
IAU–UAI Secretariat
98-bis Blvd Arago
F–75014 Paris, France
The IAU is located on the 2nd floor, offices n°270, 271 and 283. An access map in PDF format can be downloaded here.
7. Applying
Applications should comprise (a) a statement addressing suitability for the position (no more than two pages), (b) a CV (no more than four pages), (c) full contact details, with indication of when likely available to begin the position in Paris, and (d) the names and contact details of two people who may be approached for a reference. The application should be sent to the IAU General Secretary at [email protected] . Review of the applications will begin on August 1st, 2025, but applications will be accepted beyond that date until the position is filled.
Further information may be obtained by writing to the IAU General Secretary at [email protected] or the Head of Administration at [email protected].
Videoconference interviews for short-listed candidates will be arranged.