View Vacancy - Senior Trade Adviser - Midlands (38/20 JHB)

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Department for International Trade roles (DIT)
DIT

Main purpose of job:

This is an exciting time to join the Department for International Trade (DIT). Our aim is to promote British trade and investment across the world which is vital for the prosperity of the UK. DIT brings together policy, promotion, and financial expertise to break down barriers to trade and investment in markets across the world to help businesses succeed. This is a great opportunity to be part of an international team that contributes to the success of the UK's trade and investment goals. The role is for a new regional specialist champion for the Midlands Engine region* with a focus on key priority sectors for the region in Education, Life Sciences, Food & Drink, and infrastructure. It has been created as part of the UK Government’s ‘Levelling Up’ agenda, which includes increasing trade and investment support for key UK regions. 

Your job will be to lead for the Midlands Engine region here in Africa and you will need to be mobile across the region to respond where we see strong business opportunities in priority sectors for the UK. You will be primarily responsible for helping Midlands Engine companies to win business. You will work closely with DIT Midlands Trade team, relevant DIT Midlands Specialist ITAs (eg a, education, Food & Drink and Healthcare & Life Sciences), local regional trade partners, and the East and West Midlands International ITA Trade Teams to achieve this.

The Midlands has a working population of over 4m, over 500,000 of whom are involved in manufacturing and engineering. The region provides 20% of the manufacturing output of the UK. It is home to the largest cluster of rail manufacturers in Europe and the world’s second largest jet engine manufacturer (Rolls-Royce), with 400 companies involved in the aerospace supply chain. Every major car manufacturer is represented in the Midlands, including Toyota and Jaguar Land Rover, with strong component supply capability. Alongside global brands such as JCB, Bombardier and Walgreen Boots, hundreds of companies specialise in sectors ranging from rail, mechanical engineering to battery technology, food & drink, and medical devices.

Roles and responsibilities:

The role provides opportunities to work at strategic and delivery levels. This is a challenging and rewarding job and we are looking for an experienced professional with a generalist knowledge of a range sectors across the Africa region. Ideally you will have a well-established range of high-level contacts in a range of sectors which will allow you to rapidly acquire a sophisticated knowledge of the opportunities and challenges for Midlands Engine companies in the market.

You will need strong business development skills and acumen, and be energetic and creative, with good judgment to prioritise and keep focused on the delivery of your objectives. Importantly, you must have strong communication and influencing skills to be credible with business and to expand your network to support your goals. The following sets out more detail on the duties and responsibilities of this new role:

1. Export campaign development and delivery aimed at increasing the demand for Midlands Engine sector specific goods and services in market (65%)

You will use your knowledge, connections, and analysis to develop and deliver targeted campaigns in the sector to increase Midlands Engine exports to the Africa region. A key feature of the role will be to promote Africa and to develop a campaign for Midlands Engine exporters to present the market as one of the most open, accessible, and easiest regions for business.

 An important part of this will be to facilitate Midlands Engine trade missions, webinars, and events, and by connecting visitors with senior stakeholders in market. While the focus will be on key sectors outlined above, the postholder will be required to support other priority sectors or wider Midlands strategic priorities (for example the 2022 Commonwealth Games), as necessary This will include ensuring that Midlands Engine sector propositions are fed into HMTC for Africa trade campaigns.

For incoming missions, you will provide strong on the ground support by working in collaboration with colleagues in the DIT Africa teams and external partners like the British Chambers, Banks etc.  This will include plotting out mission programmes, organising seminars/workshops and securing possible buyers and speakers. You will work alongside the East and West Midlands ITA International Trade teams to o build a credible pipeline of business opportunities and potential suppliers.

You will also support the planning of inward market roadshows to the Midlands Engine region and ‘Meet the Buyer’ events, helping to raise awareness of opportunities and recruiting businesses to join. This will include using your enhanced knowledge of regional sector strengths to target substantial buyers to bring to the UK. 

2. Building awareness of Midlands Engine capability (30%)

You will need to gain a good understanding of Midlands Engine capability in the sector and use this to build capacity and awareness in the Africa DIT teams to support your objectives to win more export business for Midlands Engine companies. The postholder will also utilise newly developed Midlands Engine Trade Sector propositions to actively market the region to perspective buyers and African business networks. 

3. Reporting (5%)

You can expect to provide a range of reporting and analysis to the DIT Midlands regional team and local partners, including contributing to briefing. In addition, you will need to produce a monthly progress report on your activities for DIT Midlands, as well as input to a quarterly steering group looking at the overseas champions programme as a whole. The postholder will also input into DataHub for the appropriate activities.

The postholder will support dedicated DIT Africa quarterly review meetings with the DIT Midlands Head of Trade to ensure continued alignment of shared objectives.

Good computer skills and the ability to use data management systems.

Excellent communication skills in English, both verbal and spoken. 

Excellent communication skills in local languages, both written and spoken.

Ability to draft succinct reports and provide briefing for generalist and specialist audiences, often to very tight deadlines. 

Excellent interpersonal skills and a strong team player who can work on their own initiative and across virtual teams.

Willing to travel.

Experience of working in trade/export promotion.

Account management experience.

Knowledge of key sector capabilities in the Midlands region.

Previous experience of working with the UK Government

An understanding of Midlands Engine political landscape and/or experience of working with Midlands Engine local partners.

7 October 2020
Senior Executive Officer (SEO)
Fixed Term
24 months
Africa
South Africa
Johannesburg
British High Commission
R56,385.43
1 December 2020

Learning and development opportunities:

You will be required to travel within the Africa region and internationally, including up to one month’s training in the UK. You may need to travel to the UK every two to three months for short (1 week) trips. 


The British High Commission pays in full for the Key Care Plus option on Discovery Health for staff including spouses/partners and dependants.


  • Once you have successfully completed your probation the British High Commission will contribute 9% of your monthly salary to a Provident Fund.
  • Annual leave entitlement of 25 days
  • Working hours per week of 36.5

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  • Meet the costs to relocation 
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This opportunity is closed to applications.