View Vacancy - SRJ - UKEF Business Development Officer C4(L)

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Department for International Trade roles (DIT)
Department for International Trade (DIT)

The British Consulate General Jeddah has a vacancy for a Business Development Officer for UK Export Finance (UKEF) under the Department for International Trade (DIT) for a fixed-term contract for one (1) year.

The jobholder will be responsible for engaging with local buyers, project sponsors, and associated stakeholder networks to develop export growth through the provision of trade finance and credit insurance available from UKEF.

This includes identifying opportunities to develop the procurement of high value goods and services from the UK whilst developing understanding and creating impact around UKEF’s financial products and services.


Duties and responsibilities:

The UKEF Business Development Officer will be part of a regional UKEF team helping to grow UK exports into Saudi. They will work under the overall direction of UKEF Regional Unit in Dubai and be the eyes and ears of the UKEF Business Group supporting the objectives of the DIT Saudi Network and the UKEF International Business Development (IBD) team grow UKEF supported export wins by focussing on five key areas of activity:

1. Build awareness of UKEF support capabilities

  • Deliver UKEF marketing plans, ensuring that messages are appropriate to the audience. Remove complexity and build understanding. Develop a localised message where possible.
  • Working with KSA DIT managers, lead local campaigns to raise the profile of UKEF internationally through engagement with the business community, government bodies, and other stakeholder organisations.
  • Develop and implement PR activities that educate the business community on UKEF products.
  • Develop UKEF knowledge base within local DIT team.

2. Build and share market knowledge

  • Develop detailed knowledge and insight of public and private sector organisations, including their strategic business planning and development objectives through collaborating with stakeholders including DIT team and external partners. Recommend findings into UKEF strategic plans.
  • Understand and interpret host government trade policy, priority sectors, and projects.
  • Ensure timely export intelligence and insight for IBD, enabling opportunities for UKEF.
  • Act as the lead source of UKEF advice to local DIT teams, including integration of UKEF objectives into High Value Campaigns (HVCs).
  • Identify the competitive framework (Export Credit Agencies and Supply Chain), articulate the difference of the UKEF offer. Seek collaboration where appropriate.
  • Gather intelligence of local commercial banking sectorial focus and appetite for risk.

3. Stakeholder relationships - UKEF primary stakeholders are buyers, UK exporters, project sponsors, host government departments, etc. This role will be required to:

  • Identify key buyers and sponsors in the target markets.
  • Oversee the development of mechanisms to record and coordinate business outreach activities.
  • Maintain and develop regular contacts with local senior sponsors, banks, public sector organisations, government bodies, and UK businesses to identify export opportunities that could benefit from UKEF support.

4. Strategic planning

  • Support DIT Managers in country strategic planning aligned to UKEF organisational objectives, supporting HVCs where ‘leading with finance’ could be an important driver.
  • Embed UKEF offer into DIT HVC execution plans.

5. Progress business development opportunities

  • Working with local DIT teams to lead the local coordination of UKEF local campaign activities.
  • Engage the UK Export Finance Manager (EFM) Network to ensure seamless coordination between the UK supply chain and local sponsor.
  • Develop local relationships with providers of trade finance and risk mitigation products (e.g. banks, credit insurers, brokers, and others) and to introduce customers/ sponsors who require their services.
  • Coordinate and support visits from UKEF Business Group management.

This list is not exhaustive; the UK Export Finance Business Development Officer may be required to carry out additional duties according to business needs.


Key competencies required:

  • Seeing the Big Picture - Having an in-depth understanding and knowledge of how your role fits with and supports organisational objectives and the wider public needs. Focusing your contribution on the activities which will meet the organisation's goals and deliver the greatest value.
  • Changing and Improving - Being open to change, suggesting ideas for improvements to the way things are done, and working in ‘smarter’, more focused ways. Creating and contributing to a culture of innovation and allowing people to consider and take managed risks.
  • Leading and Communicating - Leading from the front and communicating with clarity, conviction, and enthusiasm, and managing and engaging with people with honesty and integrity. Establishing a strong direction and a persuasive future vision; managing and engaging with people with honesty and integrity, and upholding the reputation of the organisation.
  • Achieving Commercial Outcomes - Having a commercial, financial and sustainable mind-set to ensure all activities and services are delivering added value. Identifying economic, market, and customer issues and using these to promote innovative business models, commercial partnerships and agreements to deliver greatest value; and ensuring tight commercial controls of finances, resources and contracts to meet strategic priorities.

This role would suit a self-starter who has experience of working in a financial services background and/ or in credit finance. Trade background in a similar or business development role and knowledge of Export Credit Agency instruments and experience of trade finance are essential.

Understanding of local capital markets and experience of navigating emerging/ growth markets with the ability to support complex financial service projects are also required for this role.

The jobholder should also be fluent in English, both written and spoken.

Knowledge of the UK investment landscape and export priorities as well as Arabic language skills are desirable but not essential for this role.
30 December 2018
Higher Executive Officer (HEO)
Fixed Term, Full-time
35
12 months
Middle East & North Africa
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah
British Consulate General
1
SAR
17,039.80
10 February 2019
9 February 2020

The Embassy aims to offer an attractive working environment and remuneration package for this role.

Salary details:

  • Base Salary including Eid bonus - SAR 13,311.90
  • Housing Allowance - SAR 3,327.90 (subject to eligibility)*
  • Travel Allowance - SAR 400 (subject to eligibility)*

*Allowances are not payable to staff who receive official provision for such expenditure in some other form.


No accommodation and relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position.

Normal working hours for the Embassy are 08:00 to 15:00 Sunday to Thursday. This position is full-time, based on 35 hours per week. 

The position will cover the entire Saudi network and will involve significant amount of domestic and some regional travel. Given the nature of the role, the jobholder will also be required to work some irregular hours attending business receptions and other networking events outside of office hours.

The successful candidate will be subject to a 90-day probationary period.

Eligibility:

The position is available to Saudi nationals and holders of Saudi residence permits or transferable Iqamas. Successful candidates will be required to transfer their sponsorship to the British Embassy.


How to apply:

Interested candidates must attach the following documents along with their online application form:

  1. A covering letter.
  2. An updated Curriculum Vitae (CV).

Your application must also include examples of when you have demonstrated the competencies outlined above in the cover letter or in the Motivation section of the application form. Applications that do not include this information will not be considered.


Closing date for applications is at 23:55 (KSA local time) on 30 December 2018.

Applications received after the stated deadline will not be considered.

Due to the large amount of applications we receive, only those shortlisted for the next stage of the recruitment process will be contacted.

 

The start date mentioned in the advert is an assumed start date and the successful candidate will be required to undergo security vetting procedures. Any offer of employment will be subject to the candidate achieving suitable clearances, medical clearance and reference checks.


The British Consulate General Jeddah is an equal opportunities employer, dedicated to inclusivity, a diverse workforce and valuing difference. Staff recruited locally by the British Consulate General is subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local Saudi Arabian employment law.

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.