View Vacancy - MNL - Economic Adviser, C4 (L)

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer.  We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Policy & Political roles)
Economic and Prosperity

The British Embassy Manila is a large diplomatic mission (around 250 staff) delivering a dynamic and rapidly expanding programme of activity in support of the UK’s objectives on prosperity, security and consular matters. The Embassy is a modern, diverse and inclusive employer where everyone contributes to the Embassy’s CORE Values of Collaboration, Opportunity, Respect and Excellence.

Main purpose of job:

The British Embassy Manila is part of a world-wide network of 230 Posts, representing British interests around the world. This is an exciting time to work at the British Embassy as the UK seeks to establish deeper economic links with SE Asia. In addition, the UK’s economic development programme (the Prosperity Fund) provides unique opportunities to collaborate with the Philippines on a wide range of economic issues.

We are looking for a highly self-motivated, proactive and ambitious individual to lead the UK’s engagement with the Philippines on a range of fascinating and high-profile economic policy issues. The job holder will be the lead economic expert in the UK Embassy in Manila, working closely with a range of teams, as well as with UK Government ministries in London to deliver on our ambitious economic objectives, and with the Department for International Trade (DIT) on trade policy.

Strong interpersonal, networking and leadership skills are key skills for the post. The job holder will need to build and utilise an extensive network of local contacts in government, academia and business and use these networks to help deepen collaboration between the UK and the Philippines. They will also use their economic analytical skills to deepen economic ties between the UK and the Philippines. Strong oral and written communication skills will be important to communicate concisely and effectively to a range of stakeholders and colleagues.

In addition to being a core part of the British Embassy team, the job holder will also be a important member of the SE Asia Economic and Trade Policy team and will work to the head of the network (based in Singapore). They will join an existing team of seven economic and trade policy advisers based throughout SE Asia, providing the opportunity to contribute to wider economic and trade policy work in the region.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?:

Lead on economic advice on the Philippines economy, ensuring the economic work of the Embassy delivers UK government prosperity objectives in the Philippines (30%)

  • Provide regular high-quality economic and political economy analysis and reporting on economic developments in the Philippines to the Embassy and UK ministries, including the economic impacts of COVID-19.
  • Lead UK-Philippines economic and financial sector policy collaboration, including on issues relating to business environment, transparency, financial services and infrastructure along with other emerging issues as they develop.
  • Assist in key Ministerial (and other) senior visits from the UK to help deliver on economic objectives.
  • Advise senior members of the Embassy, high-level UK Government visitors, and UK businesses on the implications of economic developments in the Philippines and providing policy expertise and input to bilateral economic engagement.
  • Build and maintain an extensive network of contacts in government, academia, and the private sector to help inform economic reporting, develop deeper partnerships and promote UK policy objectives.
  • Provide expert advice to other sections in the British Embassy, especially working closely on political economy issues and reporting.
  • Engage with the Philippines to support international and multilateral economic objectives.

Deepen UK-Philippines economic policy cooperation (30%)

  • Lead on the annual UK-Philippines Economic Dialogue and use economic expertise to identify new areas and opportunities for deepening UK-Philippines economic collaboration.
  • Ensure high-quality analytical and economic policy leadership for the UK’s economic development fund, the Prosperity Fund, where it is delivering in the Philippines, including on the direction of future programmes (including on business environment, financial services, transparency, trade) working closely with the Prosperity Fund programme management team.
  • Lead on emerging economic initiatives and economic diplomacy priorities at post including creating new areas of collaboration and facilitating knowledge sharing across posts.

Play an active role in the SE Asia Economic and Trade Policy network to provide analysis and expertise (20%)

  • Working with network of peers across the region on regional economic issues and leading on regional economic analyses and project work relating to hot topics.
  • Supporting the head of the economic and trade policy network (based in Singapore and line manager) in deepening UK’s economic relationship with the Philippines and ASEAN.
  • Understanding the Philippines’s engagement and priorities within ASEAN and deepening contacts with key government agencies on these issues.
  • Support UK-ASEAN economic objectives through engagement with the Philippines.

Provide economic advice in support of the trade policy leads in the Embassy, ensuring the UK can deepen its relationship with the Philippines. (20%)

  • Keep up-to-date on the Philippines's engagements on the Free Trade Agreements, such as RCEP and bilateral agreements.
  • Understanding key trade policy issues and challenges facing the UK. Assess the trade relationship between the Philippines and the UK to understand priorities, cross-cutting issues and areas for opportunity.
  • Providing input into efforts by the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) trade promotion team in the Embassy to increase UK-Philippines trade and investment, for example by working with DIT on market access issues; briefing British businesses.
  • Degree in economics, or a degree with a strong economics component (at least 50%).
  • Good knowledge of the Philippines economic, business and political environment and track record of economic work on the the Philippines economy.
  • A good network of relevant existing contacts in government and the private sector.
  • Experience of programme and project work.
29 November 2020
Higher Executive Officer (HEO)
Full-time, Permanent
36
Asia Pacific
Philippines
Manila
British Embassy
1
PHP
87,140
25 January 2021

The British Embassy offers a competitive compensation package, 36-hour work week, guaranteed 13th and 14th month pay, 20 days paid annual leave (calculated on Pro-rata basis if joined after 1 January), extensive medical insurance, life insurance and access to a guaranteed 5 days of learning opportunities a year. 

Learning and development opportunities: The British Embassy has an active L&D Committee which works hard to provide a comprehensive L&D offer. There are a wide range of options available for personal development including training courses, coaching and mentoring, job-shadowing, presentations and learning sets. Staff have access to a wide variety of online resources through the Diplomatic Academy and Civil Service Learning. Staff are strongly encouraged to take advantage of all the available opportunities. The job-holder will be required to take some specific training courses related to their role. All new staff undertake a workplace induction and there are a number of mandatory e-learning courses covering areas such as diversity, health and safety, and information management. There is a global and regional network of economic advisers that share expertise and provide specific specialist training. In addition, there are opportunities to visit the UK on work visits and to attend the biennial economic officers conference in London.

No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position. You must have work authorisation for the Philippines in order to apply.

Employment offers are subject to successful clearance of pre-employment checks. Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy Manila is subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local Philippine employment law.

Candidates are expected to have a valid NBI Clearance.

All applications must be received before 23:55 (Philippine Standard Time) on the specified 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.

The indicated start date is provisional and would depend on the successful clearance of pre-employment and security checks.

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.