View Vacancy - JPN - Asia Pacific Sector Lead for Life Sciences and Healthcare (Tokyo/Osaka) C4(L)

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer.  We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.
Department for International Trade roles (DIT)
DIT

Main purpose of job:

This is an opportunity to join the Department for International Trade (DIT) in the British Embassy Tokyo as the Asia Pacific sector lead for Life Sciences and Healthcare, with a particular focus on NE Asia. DIT supports UK based businesses to export globally, and encourages overseas investment in the UK.  

Building deep sector and supply chain expertise and strong relationships with companies, as well as with your regional colleagues, is a vital part of this role. You will also work closely with DIT’s UK-based Life Sciences and Healthcare Business Specialists and Sector Team, and with colleagues across the region. The nature of Life Sciences and Healthcare also means that there are links to other key sectors for DIT such as Technology, and to key areas of UK Government activity in the region such as the ‘UK in Japan 2019/20’ activities to coincide with the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and other promotional activities. 

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?:

What the role holder is expected to deliver: 

In this role you will lead a high performing team across the Asia Pacific to deliver the UK Government’s objectives in the Regional Trade Plan for Asia Pacific, increasing exports and attracting foreign direct investment into the UK.

The successful candidate will:

Exports

  • Manage, develop and deliver a successful pipeline of Life Sciences and Healthcare exports to from the UK to the Asia Pacific region, from identifying a realistic and high quality UK export opportunity pipeline to providing added value support that helps UK companies win business from it, and seeking to exceed the team’s DIT-set UK Export Win targets. Develop a tailored approach for each sub sector across Life Sciences and Healthcare and ensure continuous improvement, from finding the best way to deliver more big export wins, to taking a strategic approach to identify and engage with major buyers and stakeholders.
  • Horizon scanning to develop a clear strategy for Asia Pacific exports.
  • Identify and address barriers preventing the UK supply chain from accessing the market in Asia Pacific. 

Inward Investment

For APAC

  • Lead the Life Sciences Investment team across the region, building a strong pipeline of investment projects and delivering these in line with the Regional Trade Plan.
  • Set clear short- and long-term strategies for driving life sciences inward investment into the UK from the APAC region.
  • Identify and build relationships with the newest and most influential life sciences organisations in the UK which have a strong offer for APAC companies.
  • Work in close collaboration with other sector teams in the APAC network, exploiting synergies to generate investment wins 

For Japan

  • Account manage several of the largest Japanese life sciences companies investing in the UK. Devise and execute an engagement strategy for each company which demonstrates best-in-class account management, and leads to Foreign Direct Investment into the UK
  • Lead on business planning for the Japan market.
  • Generate new leads for FDI projects and R&D collaborations in Japan.

Promoting the UK Life Science sector across Asia Pacific

  • Identify the most cost effective and high impact ways to promote the UK’s Life Sciences and Healthcare sector through events, marketing, trade press, social and other media, and relationships.
  • Lead the design and delivery of high quality Life Sciences and Healthcare elements for frequent ministerial and senior official visits, creating activities to drive lead generation and deepen key relationships while meeting policy objectives.

DIT APAC supports regional working to maximise the expertise within and impact of its workforce by creating networks to enable the sharing of best practice and new ideas, peer-to-peer support and advice, and multi-country campaigns and initiatives. The successful candidate will also: 

  • Create and lead a virtual network of DIT colleagues across APAC working on Life Sciences and Healthcare to share intelligence and best practice.
  • Act as a coordination point, collating feedback and bringing together relevant posts to agree the regional strategy and develop an APAC Life Sciences and Healthcare sector plan (which links with relevant Country Trade Plans).
  • Act as representative for the network to the regional Learning & Development Committee.
  • Offer mentoring to staff within the virtual network, empowering people to deliver their work and develop themselves.
  • Provide operational updates to the APAC Board and advise on sectoral resourcing for the region.

How the role holder is expected to deliver

The role will require both deep expertise and excellent collaboration and networking skills across all of the areas of focus. The successful candidate will:

  • Develop and maintain deep expertise on Life Sciences and Healthcare and aligned sectors, covering everything from the technical detail of the companies we work with to the political and economic factors affecting the sector in APAC.
  • Actively build on DIT’s strong network of companies, buyers and multipliers in APAC - particularly those with a regional presence - establishing new relationships and cultivating and maintaining existing ones. Deliver key account management of major investors for the region.
  • Maintain a watching brief on all business environment issues across the region which could affect the sector, and take or support action where necessary.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):


2x B3(L) staff

Working patterns:

If the job is suitable for flexible working patterns, please provide details:

The British Embassy, Tokyo supports and promotes flexible working as a crucial part of our inclusive offering. This particular role allows for flexibility in start and end times, working compressed hours, working remotely for one day a week, and the possibility of a job share arrangement, subject to agreement with management. 

  • Fluent in either English or Japanese and Business level in the other language.
  • Relevant and appropriate experience, knowledge and/or qualifications in Life Sciences or Healthcare, or related areas including a proven record of engaging customers, stakeholders and partners
  • A successful track record with significant experience in international trade and investment or business development (including market research, analysing market data and business support)
  • Experience of managing teams, as well as strong team work and collaboration skills, including confidence in suggesting new ideas and challenging senior stakeholders
  • Excellent communication and influencing skills and the ability to work collaboratively with business contacts and colleagues in Japan, the UK and across APAC
  • A proactive, can-do approach, combined with high standards for delivery and meeting deadlines
  • Ability to work independently at pace, and to prioritise, managing an often heavy workload
  • Experience working with the UK or other Government
  • Experience in a sales environment
  • Business level Japanese (JLPT N2 or equivalent)
2 May 2021
Higher Executive Officer (HEO)
Full-time, Permanent
37.5
Asia Pacific
Japan
Tokyo
British Embassy
1
JPY
682,613
28 June 2021
  • 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)
  • 25 days paid annual leave (calculated pro rata)
  • Health Insurance and Employee pension (kenko hoken/kosei nenkin)
  • Employment Insurance (koyou hoken)
  • 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 5 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.

Employees who are not liable to pay local income tax on their Mission salary may have their salaries reduced by the equivalent local income tax amount.

Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.

This opportunity is closed to applications.