Program Manager Executive Assistant Jobs in Durham, NC

Raleigh, NC, US

ARCO Design/Build is one of the nation's leading design-build engineering and construction firms, and our Advanced Manufacturing & Life Sciences Line of Business is at the center of the country's reindustrialization story. We build the facilities that make things: pharmaceutical plants, semiconductor fabs, precision manufacturing campuses, food and beverage production, and the advanced industrial infrastructure powering the next generation of American competitiveness.

We move fast. We think big. We hold ourselves to an exceptionally high standard, and we expect the same from everyone around us. Our culture is high-energy, high-trust, and deeply results-oriented. If you're looking for a slow-moving corporate environment with a well-worn playbook, this isn't it. If you want to be in the room where it happens and be the reason things actually happen, keep reading.

This is not a support role. This is a force multiplier role.

The Office Manager & Executive Assistant to the COO and CCO of our Advanced Manufacturing & Life Sciences Line of Business is one of the most consequential hires we make. You will operate at the center of a fast-moving, nationally focused business unit, managing the calendars, travel, communications, office environment, and day-to-day operational infrastructure that allows our leadership team to perform at their absolute best.

You will be the first face clients, partners, and prospects see when they walk into our office. You will be the person our team looks to when the day goes sideways. You will hold the culture, own the chaos, and make it look effortless.

This role is for someone who is a proven operator. Someone for whom this is not a stepping stone but a craft. You have done this at a high level, you know it, and you're looking for an organization worthy of what you bring.

• Own the calendars of the COO and CCO. Not just manage them, but architect them. You understand their priorities so thoroughly that you can make scheduling decisions exactly as they would.
• Anticipate conflicts, protect focused work time, and build in buffers before high-stakes engagements so they walk in prepared, not frantic.
• Prepare daily and weekly briefings that distill what matters into the essentials: priorities, context, and decisions required. No noise.
• Gate-keep with grace. Every request for time is triaged, assessed, and handled with professionalism and discretion, whether the answer is yes, not now, or someone else entirely.

• Manage complex, multi-city travel with the precision of an air traffic controller and the foresight of a meteorologist.
• You don't just book the flight. You check the weather. You confirm the hotel has reliable Wi-Fi for the client meeting happening 45 minutes after check-in. You have Plan B ready before the original plan has a chance to fail.
• Own expense management for the COO and CCO with rigor and accuracy: timely submission, policy compliance, and clean documentation. You have done this before at volume and you do it without reminders.

• Coordinate the interview process for open roles across the LoB, including scheduling, logistics, candidate communications, and itinerary management for on-site visits.
• Ensure every candidate who interacts with our office leaves with a strong impression of ARCO, regardless of outcome. You are often their first and most sustained point of contact, and that matters.
• Partner with hiring managers and HR to keep the process moving without friction.

• Serve as the day-to-day point of contact for our operations truck fleet, working in close alignment with ARCO's Enterprise-wide Fleet Director and their team. You execute at the local level; they set the enterprise standard.
• Own the office environment at our LoB headquarters, from appearance and supplies to vendor relationships, service contracts, and lease coordination.
• Ensure that when a client walks through our door, they walk into an environment that communicates exactly who ARCO is: sharp, professional, and built to deliver.
• Review vendor contracts and office expenses not as bills to be approved, but as costs to be optimized. You have a bias toward ROI.

• Plan and execute team events, client receptions, leadership offsites, and milestone celebrations that reinforce our culture and leave people energized.
• Be the team's unofficial culture officer: the person who notices when morale needs a lift and acts on it before it becomes a problem.
• Coordinate with marketing, leadership, and operations to bring ARCO's brand to life internally and externally through every touchpoint that flows through this office.

• Handle correspondence, client-facing interactions, and internal messaging on behalf of the office with professionalism, accuracy, and consistent tone.
• Represent ARCO in every interaction, whether email, phone, or in person, as someone who embodies what this company stands for.

• Build systems, not band-aids. When something breaks, your instinct is to design a process that prevents it from breaking again, not just to fix it this once.
• Leverage Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, and internal platforms to streamline information flow, automate the mundane, and keep the leadership team's time protected.
• Stay ahead of the curve. You are continuously scanning for new tools, platforms, and workflows that could meaningfully enhance how this team operates, and you bring those ideas forward with enough context to act on them.
• Manage onboarding logistics, team communications coordination, and project tracking support as needed in partnership with leadership.

Necessary Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or higher required.
• 7+ years of experience in a senior executive assistant or office management role. This is a career discipline for you, not a transitional position, and your track record reflects it.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex multi-executive calendars and high-volume travel logistics at a senior level.
• Hands-on experience managing executive expense reporting at volume: timely, accurate, and policy-compliant without hand-holding.
• Experience supporting hiring and interview coordination, including candidate-facing logistics and scheduling.
• Experience managing office operations, facilities vendors, and fleet coordination.
• High proficiency in Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Excel); familiarity with CRM platforms such as Dynamics 365 is a strong plus.
• A genuine curiosity about tools and systems. You follow what's emerging, you test what's promising, and you bring ideas that make the team better.
• Experience coordinating corporate events, leadership meetings, and client-facing functions.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills: clear, professional, and on-brand in every interaction.
• An instinct for prioritization. You've had to make judgment calls under pressure and made the right ones.
• A track record of protecting sensitive information and navigating organizational complexity with maturity and poise.
• Radically Proactive. You operate three steps ahead. Waiting to be told what to do is not your default mode. Anticipating what's needed is. You move with urgency, not anxiety, because you've already thought through the variables.
• Unflappable. When a deal is closing and three things go wrong at once, you are the calmest person in the building. You don't broadcast stress; you solve problems. Chaos is a context, not a condition.
• Discreet and Trusted. You handle personnel matters, financial information, strategic initiatives, and leadership dynamics with ironclad confidentiality. You understand that discretion is not just a skill. It's a professional identity.
• Emotionally Intelligent. You read the room. You know when the CCO is running on fumes and needs a schedule adjustment, not another 30-minute add-on. You understand that your role touches the human dynamics of leadership, not just the logistics.
• Precise. Your work is not approximately right. It is exactly right. Details matter to you. You would rather take five more minutes to get it right than move fast