View Vacancy - CPK - Policy Officer, Health and Social Care, A2(L)

The successful candidate will be joining a high performing, vibrant team in the Embassy which focuses on deepening our policy collaboration with China on health and social care issues.  China has ambitious plans to reform its health and social care systems and the UK, with its extensive experience in this sector, is keen to work with China as it goes through the reform process – both in terms of policy collaboration and supporting commercial opportunities for the UK.  China is also a vital partner in the fight against twenty-first century global health challenges, such as drug resistant disease and dementia – key priorities for the UK government.  Engaging with China on these issues is a key part of the team’s work.  The team has an evolving remit and other issues may be added to its portfolio over time.

This is an interesting job, requiring a self-starter who is willing to take responsibility and work as part of a team.  As a Chinese speaker you will follow the Chinese debate on healthcare reform and be able to produce accurate and in-depth analysis on these topics as well as daily news reports.  You will be in charge of the Chevening scholarship and fellowship scheme that the team runs, provide strong administrative support to the team and be involved in project work when needed.

The successful candidate will need to have excellent communication skills and an ability to build strong working relationships with a variety of stakeholders and colleagues both internally and externally.  They will need to be flexible and have a can-do attitude, in addition to good administrative skills.  This is an exciting opportunity to work in an area that is of increasing importance in the UK-China bilateral relationship, with a supportive line manager who is keen to develop your talents.

• Systematic, in-depth, research and reporting on China’s healthcare policies and the commercial opportunities they present: You will follow the Chinese language debate on China’s healthcare policies with the aim of identifying commercial opportunities and overcoming market access barriers.  To do this you will need to operate in Chinese and English.  You will produce accurate reports in English based on contacts with Chinese organisations, as well as desk research.  You will also feed into analysis and reporting produced by your team members and other Embassy colleagues.  
• Efficiently manage high level bilateral relations on healthcare: You will be the main Chinese-speaking liaison point for the Health and Social Care team with the Chinese government.  This will involve liaising on the logistics and protocol arrangements of ministerial meetings such as the annual People to People dialogue and Health Dialogue. You will run the Chevening scholarship and fellowship scheme that the team has with Oxford University and the Chinese Health Ministry. 
• Coordination of visits and events: You will lead on logistics for UK ministerial or official level visits under the team’s remit as well as any events that the team puts on.  You will co-ordinate meetings between all relevant in-country HMG and UK public sector actors; set up meetings with key external stakeholders on behalf of team members; and maintain a database of key contacts for the Health team.
• General support and administrative duty: You will provide strong administrative support for the team.  You will need to translate short letters and information for correspondence with Chinese government departments.  You will be required to help with oral translation for non-mandarin speaking colleagues in situations when a professional interpreter is unavailable.

This is a fixed-term employment for 1 year.

• Excellent IT skills
• Good communication and coordination skills
• Good administrative skills and expertise
• Good literacy, numeracy and attention to detail
• Fluent in both Mandarin and English.