View Vacancy - BK - UKVI Country Manager, B3 (Internal Vacancy)
In June 2018 UKVI will complete its consolidation of South East Asia visa-decision-making into UKVI Sheffield and UKVI New Delhi.
Following the move of visa-decision-making to New Delhi in June 2018, UKVI will maintain a small support team in Bangkok. 5 posts will remain and they will support New Delhi colleagues by delivering:
- Visa writing (remote-printing) all SPV and PV applications made in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Burma and Cambodia.
- Document verification, enrichment and interview capacity for Thailand (and resources allowing for Cambodia, Laos and Burma and Vietnam).
- UKVI’s outreach and corporate messaging for key partners including FCO, British Council, MFA in Thailand, Laos, Burma and Cambodia to ensure UKVI’s work is fully understood by relevant partners.
- All relevant customer service expectations between UKVI in Sheffield, New Delhi and VFS-Global in Thailand, Burma, Laos and Cambodia to support UKVI and VFS.
- VAC and SELTs inspections as required.
The role of the B3L Thailand Country Manager is to manage UKVI’s activities and A2L staff based in Thailand with support from the team in New Delhi. The job holder will report to an ECM in New Delhi and will receive daily support from the ECM team there.
The job holder’s primary role will be to ensure all visa writing in Bangkok is managed, printed and dispatched to VFS within UKVI’s customer service standards. The job holder will also need to successfully balance all other competing operational demands throughout UKVI’s peak and low seasons, as well as on a day-to-day basis.
The job holder will need to be an effective line manager able to performance manage and develop 4 x A2L staff into their new roles – each of which will be a multi-functional A2L role and will need to flex with UKVI’s changing operational priorities.
Excellent communication skills will also be needed as the job holder will act as a bridge between stakeholders in South East Asia and the Decision-Making-Centres in Sheffield and New Delhi.
The job holder will be exposed to a wide range of UKVI and FCO priorities and will absorb parts of B3L roles currently within the work objectives of the Workflow, Customer, Office and Enrichment Manager functions.
Day to day contact with and support from UKVI colleagues in New Delhi and Sheffield will be the norm, as will proactive and regular contact with all key stakeholders across the region – from the most senior downwards. You will be representing UKVI and will thus be exposed to unique issues, giving the job holder excellent development opportunities as the job combines people management, operational delivery, stakeholder engagement and customer service.
This job will be based in the current British embassy compound and will move with the rest of the embassy in 2019 to the new premises in Sathorn.
The role is being offered on a permanent basis, however UKVI’s strategic direction is changing and there is a long-term goal to become digital by default, to handle more of our workload on-line, to introduce e-visas and remove the need for vignette printing. The pace of change is currently unknown but the job holder will need to be aware that changes in the future will have clear implications for this job. Please speak with Robin Humphris if you have any questions about the future of this role.
Roles and responsibilities:
- Line manage 4 x A2L staff in accordance with FCO and UKVI guidance.
- Deliver highly effective remote-printing visa writing operations in Bangkok for SPV and PV decisions made in Sheffield and New Delhi for customers based in Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, Laos and Cambodia.
- Manage enrichment activity to ensure all enrichment checks and interviews are delivered within agreed priorities and customer service-standards.
- Represent UKVI within the embassy as B3 Head of Section – acting as the bridge between UKVI and FCO Bangkok
- Promote UKVI corporate messaging in partnership with FCO Communication Team.
- Act as a gateway between VFS and UKVI to support the lead ECM to ensure that all relevant Visa Application Centres meet UKVI’s customer Service standards.
- To manage the relationship with the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote the smooth running and operational integrity of UKVI’s official expedite system for Thai diplomats and officials travelling on official business.
- To manage the relationship with the British Council to promote UKVI’s Prosperity priorities by delivering student outreach activities and acting as a gateway to UKVI for the British Council for priority enquiries.
- To manage UKVI Bangkok’s administration in accordance with UKVI office-manager guidance.
- To undertake VAC and SELT inspections according to ECM tasking.
- To proactively ensure UKVI Bangkok’s full compliance with UKVI’s Integrity guidance and tasking, working with the Regional Integrity Manager based in Chennai.
- Fluent command of English (written and spoken)
- Recent UKVI experience
- Proven background, or clear potential, to lead, performance manage and develop staff
- Excellent communication and people-friendly interpersonal skills
- The ability to work in close partnership with internal and external stakeholders
- The ability to take personal responsibility for operational delivery and flex resources, tasks and activity according to ever-changing demands
- Excellent computer skills (MS Office, accessing databases & web based applications)
- The ability to lead a small team and work under pressure to meet challenging targets
- A positive can do attitude, with attention to detail
- Fluent command of Thai (written and spoken)
The British Embassy offers a competitive remuneration package, including salary (will be abated for those not liable to tax), benefits, a leave entitlement, Health Insurance and comprehensive development programme based upon business need and individual staff requirements.
Employment offers are subject to successful clearance of pre-employment and security checks. Staff who are locally recruited by the British Embassy are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law.
No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position. You must have or be able to obtain work authorisation in Thailand in order to apply. Any costs related to obtaining or renewing permits and visas are the responsibility of the successful applicant.
This vacancy is for British Embassy Bangkok internal candidates (only UKVI staff under notice of compulsary redundancy)
All applications must be received before 23:55 on 5 February 2018.
Incomplete application forms will not be taken into consideration, so please ensure you provide the information request. 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.
Interviews for this position will commence during the week of 12 February 2018.
Reminder for existing Embassy staff who will be interested to apply:
Along with the completed online application form, candidates should upload their last two years End of Year Appraisals if applicable. If applicants have been employed for less than twelve months, they will need to provide permission from their Head of Section to apply and should attach this to their application.
Guidance on completing competency based application forms and sitting Interviews can be found on the BE Website and also on the Civil Service Learning portal, Virtual Ashridge portal and Goodpractice.net (both accessed through the CSL). Staff are strongly advised to refer to these.
We recommend all applicants to understand the Civil Service competences before applying for any role and in preparation for interviews. For more information, you can visit our website - https://www.gov.uk/government/world/organisations/british-embassy-bangkok/about/recruitment.
Please check your application centre regularly for any update on your application
This opportunity is closed to applications.
