u/Fun-Gap168

I started as an Administrative Coordinator I at a large research university in December. I had no prior admin experience, my background is marketing consultancy and systems building. The lab has 60+ people and is actively funded by multiple NIH grants totaling tens of millions of dollars.

The onboarding situation:

The previous admin trained me for three days. She was visibly burned out, phone pinging constantly, couldn't focus, venting about the PI on day one. She left zero documentation. No SOPs. No guides. No institutional knowledge written down anywhere. Everything lived in her head and walked out with her.

I later found out she had absorbed the role of a Program Manager who left before her, without reclassification or compensation adjustment. I inherited everything she had plus whatever had grown since.

What I'm actually doing:

• Coordinating six concurrent events in June, speakers and hiring candidates simultaneously, flights, hotels, 1-1 meetings with up to 10 people per visit, dinners, itineraries, expenses. A grad student told me this level of planning has never happened in the lab's 11 year history.
• Managing four concurrent hiring pipelines across multiple position types
• Processing 26 biosketches and 12 letters of support
• Handling visa and immigration documents
• Managing a $20k international hotel payment for a London booking for a conference for him and his students
• Expense tracking across multiple NIH grant accounts
• Building all systems and SOPs from scratch because none existed

The PI dynamic:

The PI is frequently absent and traveling. He acknowledges problems when raised but doesn't change anything. When I requested a merit increase during the designated period, documented with specific contributions, he said I was being unreasonable and compared me to the previous admin who only needed 30 minutes with him per week. When I asked him directly what the standard for this role should be, he couldn't answer.

Finance recently told me I'm asking the right questions and doing better than the previous admin in that area. The lab manager has consistently said I'm doing a good job.

The workspace situation:

I was originally positioned at the front of the lab as the catch all person, fielding up to 12 interruptions a day from 60+ lab members for everything from printer troubleshooting to supply requests. I raised this with the PI who agreed I needed dedicated space for focused work. I now have a shared office with a door for half a day.

The previous admin never formally got an office despite years of service and eventually being promoted to Program Manager. The PI's framework is that you have to earn the right to an office. Getting it relatively quickly felt significant but also created some awkward social dynamics with colleagues who wondered why I got something she never did.

My questions for people who have been in research admin:

Is this level of scope and financial responsibility normal for an AC I in your first year?

How do you set limits with a PI who keeps adding to your plate while acknowledging it's too much?

And honestly, (I have no prior experience working in academia), is this just what research admin looks like or is this environment genuinely unusual?

I started as an Administrative Coordinator I at a large research university in December. I had no prior admin experience, my background is marketing consultancy and systems building. The lab has 60+ people and is actively funded by multiple NIH grants totaling tens of millions of dollars.

The onboarding situation:

The previous admin trained me for three days. She was visibly burned out, phone pinging constantly, couldn't focus, venting about the PI on day one. She left zero documentation. No SOPs. No guides. No institutional knowledge written down anywhere. Everything lived in her head and walked out with her.

I later found out she had absorbed the role of a Program Manager who left before her, without reclassification or compensation adjustment. I inherited everything she had plus whatever had grown since.

What I'm actually doing:

• Coordinating six concurrent events in June, speakers and hiring candidates simultaneously, flights, hotels, 1-1 meetings with up to 10 people per visit, dinners, itineraries, expenses. A grad student told me this level of planning has never happened in the lab's 11 year history.
• Managing four concurrent hiring pipelines across multiple position types
• Processing 26 biosketches and 12 letters of support
• Handling visa and immigration documents
• Managing a $20k international hotel payment for a London booking for a conference for him and his students
• Expense tracking across multiple NIH grant accounts
• Building all systems and SOPs from scratch because none existed

The PI dynamic:

The PI is frequently absent and traveling. He acknowledges problems when raised but doesn't change anything. When I requested a merit increase during the designated period, documented with specific contributions, he said I was being unreasonable and compared me to the previous admin who only needed 30 minutes with him per week. When I asked him directly what the standard for this role should be, he couldn't answer.

Finance recently told me I'm asking the right questions and doing better than the previous admin in that area. The lab manager has consistently said I'm doing a good job.

The workspace situation:

I was originally positioned at the front of the lab as the catch all person, fielding up to 12 interruptions a day from 60+ lab members for everything from printer troubleshooting to supply requests. I raised this with the PI who agreed I needed dedicated space for focused work. I now have a shared office with a door for half a day.

The previous admin never formally got an office despite years of service and eventually being promoted to Program Manager. The PI's framework is that you have to earn the right to an office. Getting it relatively quickly felt significant but also created some awkward social dynamics with colleagues who wondered why I got something she never did.

My questions for people who have been in research admin:

Is this level of scope and financial responsibility normal for an AC I in your first year?

How do you set limits with a PI who keeps adding to your plate while acknowledging it's too much?

And honestly, (I have no prior experience working in academia), is this just what research admin looks like or is this environment genuinely unusual?