View Vacancy - Marketing and Business Development Specialist B3, Milan (ITA473)

The British Consulate General Milan is part of a world-wide network, representing British political, economic and consular interests overseas. The Department for International Trade (DIT) works with UK-based businesses to ensure their success in international markets, and encourage the best overseas companies to look to the UK as their global partner of choice.

The Milan-based Department for International Trade Team is seeking an experienced Marketing and Business Development Specialist with existing expertise, great connections and a proven track record.

This is a Fixed Term position for 18 months, with a possibility to extend – the successful candidate will need to hit the ground running. The senior responsible officer for the position is the Deputy Consul General.

The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in leveraging marketing opportunities in Italy on a cross-team basis linked to the UK Government’s global campaign “Britain is GREAT” and DIT’s high-value export and FDI campaigns. Marketing is delivered together with a colleague specialising in digital / social media activity and is aligned to a DIT regional marketing hub based in Brussels. The jobholder will manage the Italy team member responsible for Digital Media and other activity, and an intern.

He/she will also lead on DIT in-market business development in establishing and extending business networks driving collaboration with, for example, trade associations, employers’ federations and chambers of commerce to identify new leads and opportunities. The work will require a high level of key account management skills and, significantly, considerable interpersonal flair. We are seeking an enterprising and engaging individual.

Connected with the main functions, the jobholder will also undertake a co-ordinating responsibility for strategy on corporate sponsorship approaches in support of British Government event initiatives in Italy, working with project leads, DIT sector leads and the wider Government network at the Embassy in Rome.

Additionally, he/she will provide support to the Consul General in relation to his function as Regional Director for DIT’s Mediterranean Group consisting of six markets. The tasking overseen by the Deputy Consul General will include data collection and analysis to help drive performance, with particular emphasis on DIT Italy metrics.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Managing DIT Italy marketing planning and activity.
• Maintaining contacts with DIT Marketing Hub Europe and Marketing HQ and local authorities and regional Government offices.
• Planning and overseeing business development around new initiatives.
• Develop partnerships with Italian organisations, agencies and companies locally to help reach DIT Italy business objectives and measured by DIT target matrix and to help raise the profile of DIT’s services in-country.
• Researching organisations and individuals online (especially on social media) to identify new leads and potential new markets.
• Following up new business opportunities and setting up meetings. Writing reports and providing regular feedback in support of DIT strategy.
• Planning and preparing presentations. Attending conferences, meetings and industry events.
• Communicating new campaign developments overseeing the development of business/commercial documentation.
• Management of small team and budget control working closely with the digital marketing events lead.
• Assist on regional DIT responsibility, including data collation / analysis and liaison with five other DIT country directors.
• Government network co-ordinating role on corporate sponsorship approaches. Creation and maintenance of database.

• Consolidated experience in marketing and business development (at least 3 years). Proven record of specialisation in field.

• Fluency (Oral and Written) in both English and Italian (C1 level or above under the CEFRL or equivalent). Strong communication skills.

• Project Management experience (at least 3 years)
• Good IT skills, especially MS Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
• University degree.
• Excellent interpersonal and networking skills demonstrating flair, enterprising nature and an ability to engage representationally.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Excellent ability to research and analyse complex information.
• Self-starter – ability to work well on own initiative.
• Confident user of social media for professional purposes.
• Skill in prioritising and ranking obligations.