View Vacancy - ROK - Senior Political Advisor, EO

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.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Policy & Political roles)
Political

MAIN PURPOSE OF THE JOB:

The Senior Political Officer is responsible for helping the British Embassy and Her Majesty’s Government to understand and influence Korean politics in support of British policies and values. This will entail devising engagement plans and helping to facilitate British officials’ interaction with Korean government officials, members of the National Assembly, local government, political parties, and informed/influential observers in academia and the media. They will play a central role in explaining the ROK political system and how it works to the wider Embassy and UK government.  

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Strategic Relationship Management

  • Devise and lead the Embassy’s political engagement strategy and its broader engagement with important figures across the spectrum of ROK politics: national government, local government, the National Assembly, political parties, social movements, NGOs, think tanks, opinion leaders, etc.
  • Advise on how best to deploy senior Embassy staff (Ambassador, Deputy Ambassador, Political Counsellor) and VIP visitors from the UK to secure beneficial engagement with high priority stakeholders.
  • Build up their own network of contacts in order to inform the above strategy and to open doors. It will also entail briefing the Ambassador and other officials on how to approach and follow up on meetings. This will ensure the Ambassador and Embassy leadership are well connected with, and can influence, key politicians in support of British policy.
  • Provide informal interpretation in meetings, and provide records of meetings conducted in Korean.

2. Domestic political analysis 

  • Ensure that the Ambassador, rest of the Embassy and visiting officials understand the political landscape in South Korea and political developments. This will entail following the news closely, using contacts to get privileged insights into what is happening behind the scenes and using that information to brief colleagues.
  • Understand the background and possible career trajectories of key political figures, including relationship (if any) with the UK, and brief senior Embassy staff and visiting officials on this in order to prioritise meetings and maximise their impact.
  • Write analysis of political developments and records of meetings/conversations.

3. Campaigns, Projects & Events

  •  Devise and deliver campaigns, projects and events to maximise UK influence in the Korean policy making process, embed UK core values in the Korean system and effectively achieve Embassy objectives.

4.  Knowledge Sharing

  • Guide other sections in how to engage with the ROK Parliament, central and local government to achieve their objectives.
  • Lead in-house L&D sessions to increase Embassy staff knowledge on the Korean political system and development enabling them to work more effectively.
  • Identify wider opportunities to increase awareness of the Korean political system and share understanding of differences and similarities between UK and ROK values and systems, including by securing external speakers.

5.  Wider Corporate Responsibilities

  • Contribute to wider embassy work, possibly including representing the political section in Embassy Committees.
  • Play an active role in a team according to the Embassy crisis management plan.

RESOURCES MANAGED (staff and expenditure):

  • Programme funding for projects up to £10,000, flexible depending on budget allocations.

LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS:

  • Language: English and Korean
  • Level of language required: Fluent in spoken and written English and Korean

OTHER SKILLS / EXPERIENCE / QUALIFICATIONS: 

  • Minimum 2 years’ experience of working in an office-based environment;
  • Ability to engage with senior colleagues and high level external stakeholders with credibility;
  • Project management and presentation skills;
  • Excellent organisational skills and the ability to multi-task;
  • A self-starter, able to work independently with limited supervision;
  • In depth understanding of Korean politics.  
  • Previous experience of working in politics.

Seeing the Big Picture, Making Effective Decisions, Delivering at Pace, Communicating and Influencing
12 July 2022
Executive Officer (EO)
Fixed term, with possibility of renewal
36
Asia Pacific
South Korea
Seoul
British Embassy
1
KRW
KRW 4,002,275
15 August 2022

LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES:

The British Embassy is committed to investing in L&D for its staff, and provides a range of L&D opportunities, from learning sets to speaker events, group learning to job shadowing opportunities, as well as an extensive suite of online learning materials. Where job-specific training is identified the British Embassy will provide access to appropriate courses.

WORKING PATTERNS:

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, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law.

While some evening work and travel overseas (which might include weekends) and within Korea is required, we promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.

If the job is suitable for flexible working patterns, please provide details: Hiring manager is open to discussion around flexible working. This role is for 12 months with the possibility of extension.


Kindly note that your application must be submitted before 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”.

Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.

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.  Applicants called for an interview will be assessed on the core behaviours listed above.

Note : All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the online application form completely including the employment and educational details, experience, professional skills and behaviour based questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the applications and incomplete form in any respect may not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.

For inclusivity and diversity, please remove the following personal information when uploading your CV: name, address, email address, age, date of birth, gender, and nationality.

The start date mentioned in the job advert is a tentative start date. Any offer of employment will be subject to the candidate achieving suitable clearances.

British Embassy Seoul is committed to diversity and inclusion, and we encourage enquiries and applications from under-represented groups. If you would like to speak to someone at the Embassy who is not directly involved in the recruitment process about diversity and inclusion, please inquire.   

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.