View Vacancy - TW - Asia Pacific Regional Lead - Offshore Wind, C4 (L)
An opportunity to join the high-performing Department for International Trade (DIT) team at the British Office in Taipei as the Asia-Pacific regional sector lead for Offshore Wind. DIT supports UK based businesses to export globally, and encourages overseas investment in the UK. The British Office supports UK interests and priorities in Taiwan, with a particular focus on commerce, trade and science and innovation.
Building deep sector and supply chain expertise and strong relationships with companies and your regional colleagues will be a vital part of this role. You will also work closely with DIT’s London-based Offshore Wind Sector Team and Industry Specialists and with DIT colleagues in UK Export Finance (UKEF) and in European markets to ensure we are working collaboratively to maximise opportunities for the UK Offshore Wind industry across Asia-Pacific.
This is a new position based at the British Office in Taipei reflecting the current developments in offshore wind in Taiwan. It will also focus on emerging opportunities in Japan, South Korea and Vietnam, while keeping an overview of developments across the rest of the region. You will be responsible for the development and delivery of a seamless cross-team strategy that will streamline our customer engagement, ensure we are effectively sharing regional knowledge and best practice and advise the senior leadership team on the deployment of resources dedicated to Offshore Wind-related activity.
What the role holder is expected to deliver:
DIT Asia-Pacific supports regional working to maximise the expertise within, and impact of, its workforce by creating networks to enable the sharing of best practice and new ideas, peer-to-peer support and advice, and multi-country campaigns and initiatives. The successful candidate will:
- Develop strong, trust-based relationships with internal stakeholders in the region and in the UK to create a high-performing and delivery-focussed UK Offshore Wind virtual team (VT) for Asia-Pacific.
- Collaborating with the VT, lead on the development and implementation of a detailed regional strategy to ensure that DIT is maximising business opportunities across Asia-Pacific for the UK Offshore Wind industry.
- Work closely alongside existing individual country teams to manage, develop and deliver a successful pipeline of regional Offshore Wind export opportunities for the UK, and provide added-value support that helps UK companies win business from it.
- Develop strategic, cross-region relationships with key external stakeholders, including UK Offshore Wind developers, supply chain companies and industry associations, non-UK developers and EPCI contractors, and governments, authorities, regulators etc.
- Identify the most cost effective and high impact ways to promote the UK Offshore Wind industry in the region through promotional events, trade missions, marketing campaigns and social and mainstream media etc.
- Lead the design and delivery of high quality Offshore Wind elements for frequent ministerial and senior official visits to the region, developing activities to drive lead generation and deepen key relationships while meeting UK government policy objectives.
- Identify and address barriers that are preventing UK industry accessing the market in Asia Pacific.
- Create and chair of a virtual network of DIT colleagues across Asia-Pacific working on Offshore Wind to share intelligence and best practice through monthly teleconferences and, where necessary, regional conferences.
- Act as a coordination point, collating feedback and bringing together views to agree input into the regional Energy Plan, individual Market Trade Plans and DIT’s global Energy & Infrastructure strategy.
- Offer mentoring to colleagues within the virtual network and empower them to deliver.
- Provide operational updates to the Asia-Pacific Board and advise on sectoral resourcing for the region.
How the role holder is expected to deliver:
The role will require you to develop technical expertise, excellent collaboration and networking skills across all of the areas of focus. The successful candidate will:
- Develop or maintain expertise on Offshore Wind, ranging from the technical detail of the companies we work with to the political and economic factors affecting the sector in Asia-Pacific.
- Actively build on DIT’s strong network of companies, buyers and multipliers in Asia-Pacific - particularly those with a regional presence - establishing new relationships and cultivating and maintaining existing ones.
- Maintain a watching brief on all business environment issues across the region that could affect the sector, and take or support action where necessary.
The successful candidate will also be expected to play an active role to support the wider corporate objectives of the British Office in Taipei and of DIT Asia-Pacific.
A successful track record with significant experience in international trade and investment or business development, including a proven record of engaging customers, stakeholders and partners
Experience of managing physical and/or virtual teams, as well as strong team work and collaboration skills, including confidence in suggesting new ideas and challenging senior stakeholders
Excellent communication and influencing skills and the ability to work collaboratively with business contacts and colleagues from different cultures
A proactive, can-do approach, combined with high standards for delivery and meeting deadlines
Ability to work independently at pace, and to prioritise, managing an often heavy workload
Good judgement and political awareness
Excellent organisational, IT and administrative skills
The ability to communicate fluently in English, both written and orally, is essential
Offshore wind sector & technical experience, knowledge and/or qualifications
Experience of managing a regional team spread across different markets
Experience working with the UK Government
Experience in a sales environment
There are no specific requirements for other languages, although a knowledge of Mandarin, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese would be an advantage
The position will require regular travel within Asia-Pacific and occasionally to Europe.
The British Office offers a competitive remuneration package, benefits, leave entitlement and training package. The British Office Taipei has a strong commitment to developing staff and supports staff who wish to pro-actively develop their talents and abilities. With a dedicated Learning and Development Committee and opportunities to undertake training including self-study, in-house online training programmes as well as classroom-based training; the British Office is a great place to work for those committed to self-development.
Learning and development opportunities (and any specific training courses to be completed):
Jobholder is entitled to access all learning and development opportunities which includes FCO Diplomatic Academy as well as competence-based trainings at post.
- Gain experience working on international issues;
- Strengthen strategic and project management skills;
- Develop regular contact with senior figures in UK and Taiwanese business and government;
- A modern, environmentally aware working environment in the centre of Taipei;
- Opportunities for official travel within Taiwan, the Asia-Pacific region and the UK;
- Core and job-related training and development;
- A senior management team committed to achieving a healthy work-life balance for its employees.
Employment offers are subject to successful clearance of pre-employment checks. Staff recruited locally by the British Office are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local Taiwan employment law.
No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position. You must have or be able to obtain correct permit to work or work authorisation in Taiwan in order to apply. Any costs related to obtaining or renewing permits and visas are the responsibility of the successful applicant.
Your application must be submitted before 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”
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.
Advertised start date is provisional and subject to completion of reference and security checks.
Kindly check your application centre or email regularly for any update on the status of your application.
This opportunity is closed to applications.
