View Vacancy - BK - Prosperity Fund Programme Manager: Economic Reform/Low Carbon, C4 (Internal Vacancy)

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)
Economic and Prosperity

The UK Government’s £1.2bn Prosperity Fund aims to promote economic growth in developing countries. The Prosperity Fund’s two flagship South East Asia programmes – Low Carbon Energy and Economic Reform – are now moving from design into implementation and delivery. Working across the six biggest SE Asian countries until 2021, these official development assistance (ODA) programmes aim to reduce poverty in the region and create opportunities for international business, including for UK companies. The Low Carbon Energy Programme will focus on green finance and energy efficiency. The Economic Reform Programme will work on the overarching business environment (e.g. regulatory reform, transparency) and finance.

We are recruiting a Programme Officer in each country - in this case Thailand -  to oversee and assess whether the Low Carbon Energy and Economic Reform programmes are achieving their intended impacts, continue to offer value for money and are well managed. Strong oversight is important as delivery of much of the programmes’ delivery will be undertaken by external suppliers who may in turn sub-contract particular elements. The contracts are likely to be of significant value and complexity.

The successful candidate will build relationships and work closely with delivery partners, the Government of Thailand, businesses, beneficiary agencies, NGOs and other external stakeholders to ensure successful delivery of the programme. S/he will work to the Head of Prosperity at the British Embassy in Bangkok and will coordinate with the regional Prosperity Fund Programme Office in the British High Commission in Singapore, other Posts in the region and government colleagues in the UK to achieve UK policy objectives and to ensure that programmes comply with OECD rules for ODA. S/he will also draw expertise from policy officers and communications officers in the Embassy, and the Climate and Energy/Economic and Trade Heads of Network based at the British High Commission in Singapore. An important aspect of the job will be working with Department of International Trade colleagues in [BE Manila] and in London to unlock the opportunities created by the Programmes’ interventions for increased inward trade and investment, particularly for UK companies.

The post will be based in the British Embassy in Bangkok, a vibrant, international organisation, committed to diversity and staff development.

This is a challenging and exciting  opportunity to play an influential role in a high-profile and strategic development initiative in South East Asia, which aims to have a positive impact on economic development and trade, as well as strengthening the relationship between the UK and Thailand.

We are looking for a pro-active, engaged individual with a passion for delivering development impacts. The job holder will have three main responsibilities: oversight of programme delivery, stakeholder engagement and co-ordination, liaison with DIT colleagues at post and in London.


Oversight of Programme Delivery

  • Engage with delivery partners, proactively seeking opportunities to oversee in-country delivery of the programme’s components by delivery partners. Utilise strong insight into the impact of the programmes beyond delivery of activity and report this to the Head of Prosperity Fund in Bangkok and colleagues in London.
  • Deploy excellent programme management skills to drive forward delivery of the programmes in-country, including: inputting into and critically assessing monitoring, reporting, evaluation and learning; inputting into procurement processes, providing local insight; overseeing delivery including resolution of issues and mitigating risk; managing local benefits realisation; and managing relationships with implementing partners.
  • Co-ordinate with other programme officers in the Prosperity Fund to drive consistency, deliver efficiencies and increase impact through realisation of synergies.
  • Reach out to colleagues to understand UK policy aims in this space and work with policy leads at post and in the region to ensure programme activities remain aligned to these aims.

Stakeholder Engagement and Co-ordination

  • Build and maintain relationships with The Thai Government interlocutors responsible for programme priority areas to enable and enhance the implementation of the programmes and ensure continued buy-in – in collaboration with FCO policy leads.
  • Work with and influence national and international partners at a senior level (e.g. other donors) to promote UK objectives (e.g. on the Rules Based International System (RUBIES) or implementation of the Paris Agreement) and improve our understanding of partners’ priorities.
  • Work with all stakeholders to drive through lasting change on the back of programme activity, for example by promoting the programme’s work to relevant beneficiaries.
  • Liaise with the regional networks (e.g. Climate Change and Energy, Economics and Trade) and communications colleagues to deliver effective communications activities.

Liaison with DIT and Prosperity Colleagues

  • Support the secondary prosperity benefits of the programme by identifying and promoting commercial opportunities in the low carbon energy and financial services spheres (e.g. FinTech) to expand that market for international (including UK) trade and investment. Work closely with the Thailand Prosperity Network in the Embassy to ensure these programmes are fully coordinated with the other parts of the programme and relevant to Embassy work.
  • Collaborate with Department of International Trade colleagues in the region and in London to unlock opportunities for increased inward trade and investment, particularly for UK firms, and track UK response to the opportunities.
  • Seek opportunities and carry out activities to use the programmes to add value to the wider prosperity objectives of the Embassy and relevant regional networks – this could include presenting the programmes at national conferences, preparing briefing for colleagues to use in their work.
  • Graduate with a university degree relevant to the job and/or at least 5 years of experience in a relevant field.
  • At least 5 years experience in programme management ideally in a development context.
  • Experience of delivering complex programmes
  • Experience of managing delivery partners
  • Understanding of ODA/International development
  • Strong people skills
  • A flexible and creative problem-solver, able to come up with innovative solutions to complex challenges.
  • Excellent communication and influencing skills including in giving presentations to external audiences. 
  • Fluent in written and spoken English language 
  • Team player driven by values.
  • Additional technical qualifications relating to Low Carbon energy, Economic Reform or programme management
  • Regional knowledge and network with relevant stakeholders
  • Experience of dealing with governments
  • Experience of working with international delivery partners and governments
  • Experience/knowledge of UK ODA programmes
  • Knowledge of economic reforms policy and practice/climate change
  • Team management and/or leadership experience is preferred given the job holder will be responsible for ensuring strategic direction of the programme as a whole which will involve leading and negotiating with others
  • Thai language skills
4 March 2018
Higher Executive Officer (HEO)
Fixed Term
36
12 months
Asia Pacific
Thailand
Bangkok
British Embassy
1
THB
100,695
9 April 2018

The British Embassy offers a competitive remuneration package, including salary (will be abated for those not liable to tax), benefits, a leave entitlement, Health Insurance and comprehensive development programme based upon business need and individual staff requirements. 

Employment offers are subject to successful clearance of pre-employment and security checks. Staff who are locally recruited by the British Embassy are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law.

No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position. You must have or be able to obtain work authorisation in Thailand in order to apply. Any costs related to obtaining or renewing permits and visas are the responsibility of the successful applicant.

This vacancy is for British Embassy Bangkok internal candidates including temporary, agency staff and spouses/partners of UKB.

All applications must be received before 23:55 on 4 March 2018.

Incomplete application forms will not be taken into consideration, so please ensure you provide the information requested. We regret to advise that we will only be contacting short-listed candidates. Applicants called for an interview will be assessed on the core competencies listed above.

Reminder for existing Embassy staff who will be interested to apply:

Along with the completed online application form, candidates should upload their last two years End of Year Appraisals if applicable. If applicants have been employed for less than twelve months, they will need to provide permission from their Head of Section to apply and should attach this to their application. 

Guidance on completing competency based application forms and sitting Interviews can be found on the BE Website and also on the Civil Service Learning portal, Virtual Ashridge portal and Goodpractice.net (both accessed through the CSL). Staff are strongly advised to refer to these. 

We recommend all applicants to understand the Civil Service competences before applying for any role and in preparation for interviews. For more information, you can visit our website - https://www.gov.uk/government/world/organisations/british-embassy-bangkok/about/recruitment. 

Please check your application centre regularly for any update on your application 

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.