Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Corporate Support Specialist

🎯 Role Definition

The Corporate Support Specialist is a highly organized, customer-oriented professional who provides proactive operational and administrative support across corporate functions. This role centralizes coordination for executive schedules, internal and external stakeholder communications, travel and expense administration, office and facilities management, vendor relationships, onboarding and HR-adjacent tasks, and routine finance or procurement activities. The ideal Corporate Support Specialist streamlines processes, enforces compliance with corporate policies, and produces accurate reports and documentation to support decision-making by senior leaders and functional teams.

This position is ideal for candidates comfortable managing competing priorities, responding to ad-hoc requests, and working with cross-functional teams in fast-paced corporate environments. Strong attention to detail, confidentiality, problem solving, and the ability to use enterprise systems (CRM, ERP, expense, HRIS) are essential.

SEO and LLM keywords used: corporate support specialist, corporate support, administrative support, executive assistance, travel and expense management, vendor management, facilities coordination, CRM, onboarding, compliance, reporting, process improvement.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Administrative Assistant / Executive Assistant
Office Coordinator / Office Administrator
Customer Service Representative

Advancement To:

Corporate Support Manager / Team Lead
Office Manager / Operations Manager
Senior Executive Assistant or EA to C-level executives
HR Generalist or HR Operations Specialist

Lateral Moves:

Project Coordinator / Project Administrator
Client Services Manager / Account Coordinator
Procurement Specialist / Vendor Manager
Facilities Coordinator / Facilities Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Serve as the primary point of contact for internal stakeholders and external vendors for day-to-day corporate support requests, ensuring timely, professional responses and escalation to leadership when required.
Coordinate executive calendars, schedule complex meetings across global time zones, prepare agendas, compile pre-read materials, and ensure follow-up action items are recorded and tracked to completion.
Manage corporate travel programs including policy compliance, complex travel booking (air, rail, lodging, ground transportation), itinerary consolidation, visa and documentation assistance, and resolution of travel disruptions.
Oversee travel and expense administration: audit and process expense reports in Concur/Chrome River, ensure receipt compliance, reconcile credit card transactions, and support month-end close procedures with finance.
Maintain and update CRM and internal tracking systems (Salesforce, HubSpot, or equivalent) with accurate contact data, contract status, and stakeholder interactions to enable reliable reporting and pipeline management.
Support onboarding and offboarding processes: coordinate orientation schedules, procure equipment, activate accounts in HRIS systems (Workday, BambooHR), manage access and badges, and collect/return company assets.
Facilitate procurement and purchasing activities by creating purchase requisitions, obtaining competitive quotes, coordinating POs with Procurement, and ensuring timely vendor delivery and invoice validation.
Act as liaison with facilities and office services to ensure workspace readiness, manage office supplies and inventory, coordinate moves and space allocations, and liaise with building management on security and access.
Prepare, proofread, and distribute board materials, investor packets, and executive presentations, formatting slides, compiling supporting documents, and ensuring confidentiality and version control.
Build and maintain vendor relationships: negotiate service-level agreements, monitor vendor performance, conduct periodic reviews, and manage contract renewals and escalations.
Support HR and payroll functions by collecting and verifying timecards, coordinating benefits communications, scheduling interviews, and maintaining confidential employee records in compliance with policy.
Develop and maintain operational SOPs, checklists, and knowledge bases to standardize repeatable processes and reduce onboarding time for new hires or temporary support staff.
Execute office event planning and logistics for corporate meetings, town halls, trainings, and employee engagement events, including venue booking, A/V coordination, catering, attendee communication, and post-event reporting.
Collect, analyze, and deliver routine and ad-hoc operational reports and dashboards (MS Excel, Google Sheets, Power BI/Tableau support) on KPIs such as spend, headcount, vendor performance, and facility utilization.
Manage confidential and sensitive information with discretion, ensuring compliance with data privacy policies and retention schedules for HR, finance, and legal documents.
Coordinate compliance and audit preparation activities, gather required documentation, support internal controls testing, and implement corrective actions as directed by compliance owners.
Provide first-line support for workplace technology requests and common IT issues: liaise with IT service desk, track ticket progress, and follow up until resolution to minimize operational downtime.
Assist with basic finance activities including invoice matching, coding and routing invoices for approval, expense accruals, and support during month-end or year-end reconciliations.
Serve as project coordinator on cross-functional initiatives by tracking deliverables, managing project timelines in tools like Asana or Jira, facilitating status meetings, and communicating dependencies to stakeholders.
Maintain up-to-date contact directories, organizational charts, and internal communication channels; draft and distribute company-wide announcements and procedural updates.
Conduct periodic vendor and facility risk assessments, track insurance certificates, ensure contractor compliance, and coordinate background checks or site access processes as required.
Coach and mentor junior administrative staff, temporary contractors, or interns, delegating tasks appropriately and ensuring quality and consistency of deliverables.
Implement continuous improvement initiatives by identifying process bottlenecks, recommending automation opportunities (templates, macros, low-code flows), and collaborating with IT and operations teams for deployment.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word) including pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, and presentation design.
Experience with expense and travel systems such as Concur, Chrome River, or Expensify; ability to audit reports and ensure policy compliance.
Familiarity with CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot), HRIS (Workday, BambooHR), and basic ERP/finance systems (NetSuite, SAP, QuickBooks) for transactional support.
Strong calendar and meeting management skills including use of scheduling tools (Calendly, Microsoft Bookings) and multi-timezone coordination.
Competence with document and version control systems (SharePoint, Google Drive) and ability to manage secure distribution of sensitive materials.
Experience using project management and collaboration platforms (Asana, Trello, Jira, Microsoft Teams, Slack) to coordinate workstreams and communicate status.
Basic data analysis and reporting skills in Excel, Google Sheets, and familiarity with business intelligence tools (Power BI, Tableau) for KPI reporting.
Knowledge of procurement processes and purchase order lifecycles, vendor onboarding, and contract administrative practices.
Working understanding of compliance and data privacy principles (GDPR, internal policies) when handling confidential employee or corporate information.
Practical experience coordinating corporate events and meetings including vendor selection, logistic planning, and post-event reconciliation.
Familiarity with basic IT troubleshooting, ticketing systems, and asset management tools to coordinate support with IT teams.
Ability to use e-signature platforms and contract management tools (DocuSign, Adobe Sign) to execute and track agreements.

Soft Skills

Exceptional written and verbal communication skills tailored to executives, internal teams, and external vendors.
Strong organization, prioritization, and time-management skills with the ability to handle multiple competing requests and deadlines.
High degree of discretion, integrity, and professionalism when handling confidential information.
Customer-service orientation with a proactive, solutions-focused mindset and the ability to remain calm under pressure.
Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to build trust across functional teams and with external partners.
Detail-oriented with a focus on accuracy in documentation, reporting, and expense reconciliation.
Problem-solving and critical thinking skills to identify root causes and propose pragmatic process improvements.
Adaptability and resilience in fast-changing corporate environments, including ability to manage ambiguity.
Collaboration and teamwork — able to coordinate cross-functional efforts and drive projects to completion.
Initiative and continuous learning mindset — seeks efficiencies and embraces new tools and automation opportunities.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

High school diploma or equivalent; Associates degree in Business, Administration, or related field preferred.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Human Resources, Finance, Communications, or related discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration
Human Resources Management
Finance / Accounting
Communications / Corporate Communications
Information Systems / Operations Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

2–5 years of progressive administrative, operations, or corporate support experience in a corporate or fast-paced professional services environment.

Preferred:

3–7 years experience supporting senior leadership or cross-functional teams, with demonstrable experience in travel and expense management, vendor coordination, CRM usage, and event logistics. Prior experience in regulated industries or public companies (compliance/audit exposure) is a plus.