View Vacancy - Bilateral Programmes Officer, The Hague (NLD18.415)
The British Embassy in The Hague is part of a world-wide network, representing British political, economic and consular interests overseas and is looking for a Bilateral Programmes Officer.
This is a newly created role within the Embassy. This exciting and fast-moving job will be at the heart of Embassy’s work to build better relationships between, and improve perceptions of, the UK across all areas of Dutch society as the UK leaves the EU. The successful applicant will be responsible for delivering an ambitious programme of events and engagements, both independently and in coordination with other parts of the Embassy, to help achieve our bilateral and wider business objectives. This role is focused around project and events management, but with some time reserved for carrying out direct engagement and lobbying of Dutch stakeholders on Bilateral and Foreign Policy Issues, as part of the Security Cluster within the Policy Team.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
Project Management (40%):
- Create and deliver a fully loaded engagement programme drawn from the Embassy’s Bilateral Strategy and Country Business Plan.
- Develop a full understanding of the whole range of work carried out by the Embassy and ensure the events, visits (including by Ministers) and other work deliver by the wider Mission complement our Bilateral Strategy Objectives.
- Take over responsibility as the Embassy lead for the main UK-NL bilateral event series, the Apeldoorn Conferences, as they turn from a biannual Conference series to a more government-to-government focused engagement programme.
Event Design and Management (25%):
- Ensure the events and other engagements in the engagement programme will have the desired impact by securing the right levels of attendance, ensuring the proposed event is relevant to our wider objectives and fitting the style and substance of the event to its subject.
- Work with the incoming Events Assistant and the Residence Manager to ensure all aspects of the events (financial, logistical, etc) are properly planned out and executed.
Policy Engagement/Lobbying (25%):
- Lobby the Dutch Government in response to requests from London for the Dutch position on various foreign policy/bilateral issues and report back to London on the outcome of those meetings, providing further analysis as necessary.
- Attend and report on briefings by the Dutch Foreign Ministry (and other organisations) on matters of interest, such as the Dutch approach to the EU Foreign Affairs Council or UN General Assembly meetings.
- Represent the British Embassy at external events, including public outreach events, on an ad-hoc basis.
- (NB: this part of the role may include leading on specific Foreign/Bilateral policy issues. Specific lobbying requests may also be assigned to the jobholder by the Line Manager.)
Corporate (10%):
- Frequent opportunities exist for all staff to contribute to the wider mission by volunteering for a variety of corporate roles.
NB: The above breakdown of responsibilities is subject to changes in priorities, and may evolve over time and in response to changing circumstances. The role exists as part of a team and all staff are expected to be flexible in supporting colleagues, particularly at busy times.
Experience of creative event work and delivering events
Excellent English language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening)*
- Advanced level of Dutch language skills (at least B2 level, full fluency desirable)*
* Please note Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment indicates Level C2 as Mastery or proficiency Level which comprehends that a person can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read; can summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation; can express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations. For more information please click on the following link CEFR. Please bear in mind in case you are invited for an interview your languages skills are going to be assessed.
- Finance and budgeting skills and experience, including use of Financial Management tools like Hyperion
- Project management skills
- Public speaking and networking skills
The successful candidate will initially be offered a full-time, 1 year fixed term employment contract at B3 level. The base salary for this position is €3,478 gross per month, based on a working week of 36 hours. In addition, an 8% annual holiday allowance and a monthly travel allowance are payable. The Embassy currently applies a performance based bonus pay model for local staff.
Applicants must be legally entitled to work in the Netherlands. Please note that the Embassy is not a tax withholding employer. Consequently staff members are responsible for paying their own income tax and social security on the gross salary received.
The successful candidate will undergo a professional background check; any job offer is also provisional to a successful security clearance check.
The Embassy encourages a culture of continuous learning. All employees have access to the Civil Service Learning platform which gives access to training to improve job specific skills. Employees are entitled to a minimum number of annual training days.
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.
Please be advised that the British Diplomatic Missions will not be able to meet the travel costs incurred when travelling to the interview, nor the costs connected with relocation if offered a job.
This opportunity is closed to applications.
