View Vacancy - JPN - Visits Officer A2(L)
Main purpose of job:
To lead on the logistical elements of UK VIP, ministerial and senior official visits to Japan, ensuring that visits run smoothly and allow the Japan Network to make progress against UK objectives.
Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?:
This is an exciting opportunity to take on a central role in the busy Japan Network (which includes the British Embassy in Tokyo and the Consulate General in Osaka). Delivering smooth visits by VIPs, ministers and senior officials is crucial in enabling the Japan Network to deliver for UK Government priorities. The successful candidate will be based in the Political Section in Tokyo, but will have the chance to work with all sections within the Network, including in support of visitors for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. During the course of 2019, the incumbent supported visits by the Prime Minister, HRH The Prince of Wales, HRH The Duke of Sussex and the Foreign Secretary, amongst others.
In the role, you will be expected to:
- Ensure smooth visits for visitors by overseeing and delivering all logistical elements, including arrival/departure, transport, security (where necessary) and accommodation. This involves advance planning for those visits with long lead-in times, but also delivering quickly for last-minute visits. It may also involve overseeing the work and providing advice to a logistics team for complex, high-level visits, or offering advice to others when we have multiple visitors at the same time.
- Work closely with colleagues in the Network, particularly visit policy leads, the transport team, Private Office and the Residence team. Help to develop visits organisation capacity across the Network. Build productive relationships with key external contacts in Japan (including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and airlines) and in London (including ministerial private offices), and using those relationships to deliver sometimes difficult messages.
- Ensure that budgets for visits are managed carefully and in line with FCO guidance, delivering value for money for the taxpayer.
- Support wider Embassy work during periods when there are fewer visitors. Actively support the Embassy’s corporate work, including responsibility for a specific role as part of the Embassy’s crisis response team.
The successful candidate will need to be calm under pressure, able to adapt to unexpected scenarios quickly, a strong communicator (both in writing and verbally) and well organised. They will also need to be prepared to work long hours and potentially at weekends close to some visits, receiving time off in lieu for extra hours worked.
The Embassy is very supportive of a range of flexible working approaches. However, any successful candidate would need to be willing to flex to work for longer hours and potentially at weekends in the run up to a visit. The Embassy operates a TOIL system to compensate for additional hours worked during busy periods.
- Fluency in Japanese and business level English
- Experience of delivering logistics for visits
- IT skills, including experience with Microsoft Excel
- Experience of work in an Embassy or similar
- Experience of working with ministerial or similar private offices
- Administrative and budget management
- 1 month salary bonus equivalents payable in June and December
- (Note: Salary may be reduced due to tax status)
- Commuting allowance of up to JPY35,000 per month (paid on an actual cost basis)
- 24 days paid annual leave (calculated pro rata)
- Health Insurance and Employee pension (kenko hoken/kosei nenkin)
- Employment Insurance (koyou hoken)
- Alongside a number of Embassy-specific courses that will need to be completed on arrival, the Embassy is supportive of learning and development. We offer five development days per year, and regular opportunities for learning and development delivered both within the mission and regionally in Asia. We also focus on using coaching and a buddying system to support new arrivals.
Learning and development opportunities (and any specific training courses to be completed):
The British Embassy offers comprehensive learning and development opportunities that will be fully available to the jobholder. We regularly run both work area specific training, as well as more general skills development in project management, finance, and leadership. Each year the job holder will be encouraged to use five development days to pursue job related and personal development goals.
All staff are required to take a role in the embassy’s crisis preparation and response. Full training will be provided for this and regular opportunities will be available to test and develop your skills.
The applicant must have work authorisation for Japan however if a foreign national, the British Embassy/Consulate General will support a visa application if required.
Please note that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”.
We advise you to allow enough time to complete and submit your full application, since only applications completed and submitted before the deadline will be considered.
Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.
The start date mentioned in the job advert is a tentative start date and the successful candidate will be required to undergo security vetting procedures. Any offer of employment will be subject to the candidate achieving suitable clearances.
This opportunity is closed to applications.
