Personal Assistant rector

Executive Board

Wageningen University & Research is led by a three-member Executive Board. The members of the Executive Board each have their own secretarial support. The three personal assistants are jointly responsible for a well-functioning Executive Board secretariat and also ensure mutual replacement. You will join a team with a good working atmosphere and a lot of collegiality. 

As Rector Magnificus, Carolien Kroeze is part of and vice-chair of our Executive Board. Her current personal assistant is retiring and to support Carolien Kroeze, we are therefore looking for an enthusiastic and experienced personal assistant who is used to operating in a dynamic, managerial environment with many international contacts. 

The position

It is a solid secretarial job in which you provide maximum support and unburden to Carolien Kroeze. In addition, you are the (secretarial) link between her and colleagues within WUR and external contacts. You have a strong connecting, supporting and informing role. You have an antenna for the relevance of information and agreements and act accordingly. You will work closely with the other personal assistants of the Executive Board. You ensure that the secretariat of the Executive Board is sufficiently occupied and easily accessible on all working days. You also ensure good contacts with colleagues within the Corporate Staff and the other parts of WUR. 

A selection of the activities:

• Complex calendar management: you schedule appointments and ensure that the calendar is up-to-date and correct.
• Mail and e-mail traffic: You handle or submit incoming documents, follow up on and monitor agreements made, you collect information, if necessary you take care of correspondence, manage your files and you have the liaison function to the archive department.
• Telephone traffic: you answer questions, provide information and refer if necessary.
• Organising: you plan and organize meetings, gatherings (including academic ceremonies) and (foreign) trips and arrange matters such as locations, catering, reservations, invoicing, etc.
• Information provision: in coordination with the other personal assistants, you contribute to the information provision of the board of directors.
• Other support: you take care of the financial matters (orders, bookings), various HR matters (illness registration, leave and contacts with HR), facility matters (booking rooms, ordering catering, ordering equipment). 

For this position, we are looking for a personal assistant who has experience in properly supporting and 'unburdening' an internationally operating director/manager. The dynamics of the organization and the complexity of the internal and external work environment require flexibility, decisiveness and excellent communication skills. You are stress-resistant, proactive, goal-oriented, honest, sensitive to interests, relationships and administrative processes, accurate and solution-oriented and can handle confidential information. You also feel at home in a dynamic and complex environment, you can keep a cool head when there is a lot going on and you have a sense of humor. 

You also have:

• A completed relevant (secretary) education at at least MBO-4 level with HBO working and thinking level;
• a good command of the Dutch and English language, both written and oral;
• extensive relevant work experience;
• a very good proficiency in MS-Office;

In our international working environment, communication is increasingly in English. For this position, it concerns language level C1 If you do not yet have this level, we will of course help you and you can contact our language center Wageningen in'to Language

You can see that there are plenty of challenges for you. These challenges can also be seen as development opportunities. So if you do not yet have the track record required in the vacancy, but do have solid work experience, we would also like to invite you to apply.

Collective Labour Agreement WR 
When it comes to terms of employment,  Wageningen University & Research is the right place for you. Highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement are: 

• working hours that can be determined in consultation, so that an optimal work-life balance is possible;
• sabbatical leave, study leave and partly paid parental leave;
• There is a lot of attention for vitality and you can use the sports facilities on campus at an attractive rate;
• a structural end-of-year bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme through ABP.

Of course, these excellent fringe benefits also include an appropriate salary. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive salary of a minimum of € 3,231 to a maximum of € 4,374 for a full working week of 36 hours in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Wageningen Research (scale 8). It is a full-time position (36 hours), but 32 hours a week is negotiable. 

When it comes to your contract, we offer a one-year contract, with the intention of extending it afterwards. If you are an internal candidate, your current contract is the starting point. Of course we are happy to talk to you if you have any questions about this.

Wageningen University & Research offers plenty of opportunities for growth and development with a strong internal recruitment policy and excellent training opportunities. 

You will work on the greenest and most innovative campus in the Netherlands, in an international and open working atmosphere. 

For more information about the position, please contact Micheline Horstman, Head of HR Corporate Staff, on 0317 - 480 050 or e-mail: micheline.horstman@wur.nl.

Questions about the procedure? Please contact Edvard Jongschaap, corporate recruiter, via edvard.jongschaap@wur.nl.

Apply? 
Click on the application button for the vacancy on our website. Only applications via our website will be processed.

You can respond until Monday 27 April 2026. We will negotiate the first talks as soon as possible.

Procedure
Within our selection procedure, an assessment may be included as part of the process.

Welcome, safe and appreciated
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) attaches great importance to diversity and inclusion. This is because we believe that different insights lead to innovative solutions. We therefore create a working environment where everyone feels welcome, safe and valued, regardless of background, identity or experience. Together, we are building a culture in which everyone's unique contribution contributes to the success of our organization.

​The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With its roughly 30 branches, 7,600 employees (6,700 fte) and 13,100 students and over 150,000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.

Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch the video below to get an idea of our green campus!

We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.

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