View Vacancy - JPN (Tokyo) - Visits Officer, Administrative Officer

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 (Operations and Corporate Services)
Protocol, Visits and Events

Main Purpose of Job:

To coordinate cross-network in delivering impactful visits that help us deliver on our country plan objectives, strengthen our relationships and improve perceptions of the UK – in a way that is efficient, highly collaborative and provides good value for money.

What will the Jobholder be Expected to Achieve:

This is an exciting opportunity to take on a central role in the busy Japan Network (which includes the British Embassy in Tokyo and the Consulate General in Osaka). Delivering smooth visits by VIPs, ministers and senior officials is crucial in enabling the Japan Network to deliver for UK Government priorities. The successful candidate will be based in the Political Section in Tokyo, as part of the three person Visits and Events Team, but will have the chance to work with all sections within the Network. Past visits that the Visits Officer has worked on include visits by the Prime Minister, HRH The Prince of Wales, HRH The Duke of Sussex and the Foreign Secretary, amongst others. With the relaxation of the border control measures by the Japanese government, the Visits Officer will play a crucial role in supporting visits of various levels, especially with Japan hosting the G7 Summit in May 2023.  

In the role, you will be expected to:

  • Ensure smooth visits by overseeing and delivering all logistical elements, including arrival/departure (including visa application), transport, security (where necessary), budget administration and accommodation. This involves advance planning for those visits with long lead-in times, but also delivering quickly for last-minute visits. It may also involve overseeing the work and providing advice to a logistics team for complex, high-level visits, or offering advice to others when we have multiple visitors at the same time.
  • Work closely with colleagues in the Network, particularly visit policy leads, the transport team, Corporate Services Team, Private Office and the Residence team. Help to develop visits organisation capability across the Network. Build productive relationships with key external contacts in Japan (including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, airlines, local health care centre, and hotels) and in London (including ministerial private offices) and using those relationships to deliver sometimes difficult messages.
  • Ensure that budgets for visits are managed carefully and in line with FCDO guidance, delivering value for money for the taxpayer.
  • Support wider Embassy work during periods when there are fewer visitors. Including supporting on logistics for Political Section’s events for our top Japanese interlocutors (e.g. Christmas, Hanami). Actively support the Embassy’s corporate work, including responsibility for a specific role as part of the Embassy’s crisis response team.

The successful candidate will need to be calm under pressure, able to adapt to unexpected scenarios quickly, a strong communicator (both in writing and verbally) and well organised with good attention to detail. They will also need to be prepared to work long hours and potentially at weekends close to some visits, receiving time off in lieu of extra hours worked.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure): N/A – although the successful candidate will have oversight of relevant spend for individual visits.

  • Experience of project management or logistical planning
  • IT skills, including experience with Microsoft Excel

Language Requirements:

  • Language: Japanese and English
  • Level of language required: Fluency in Japanese and Business Level English or vice versa
  • Experience of work in an Embassy or similar
  • Experience of working with Ministerial or similar private offices
  • Administrative and budget management
Changing and Improving, Making Effective Decisions, Managing a Quality Service, Delivering at Pace, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together
5 February 2023
Administrative Officer (AO)
Full-time, Permanent
37.5
Asia Pacific
Japan
Tokyo
British Embassy
1
JPY
JPY 385,022
1 March 2023
  • 1 month salary bonus equivalents payable in June and December
    (Note: Salary may be reduced due to tax status)
  • Commuting allowance of up to JPY35,000 per month (paid on an actual cost basis)
  • 25 days paid annual leave (calculated pro rata)
  • Health Insurance and Employee pension (kenko hoken/kosei nenkin)
  • Employment Insurance (koyou hoken).

Applicants must be able to secure a local work permit.

Working Patterns:

The Embassy is very supportive of a range of flexible working approaches, including working from home for up to 3 days a week, outside of visits. In the period leading up to and during visits, the successful candidate will be expected to work from the office as needed, including outside of regular hours.

The Embassy operates a time off in lieu TOIL system to compensate for additional hours worked during busy periods.

Occasional out of hours working is required to support Embassy events.

Learning and Development Opportunities (and any specific training courses to be completed):

The British Embassy offers comprehensive learning and development opportunities that will be fully available to the jobholder. We regularly run both work area specific training, as well as more general skills development in project management, finance, and leadership. Each year the job holder will be encouraged to use five development days to pursue job related and personal development goals.

All staff are required to take a role in the embassy’s crisis preparation and response. Full training will be provided for this, and regular opportunities will be available to test and develop your skills.

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.

Note: All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the online application form completely including the employment and educational details, experience, professional skills and behaviour-based questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the applications and incomplete form in any respect may not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.
 
Only shortlisted candidates for interview will be contacted. Interviewees will be assessed on the core behaviours/qualifications listed above. Unsuccessful candidates will be notified via the system in due time. Appointable candidates who were unsuccessful may be placed on a ‘reserve list’. If during the reserve period of 6 months the same or a largely similar role becomes available, that role may be offered to the second or subsequent candidate.

For inclusivity and diversity, please remove the following personal information when uploading your CV: name, address, email address, age, date of birth, gender, and nationality.

The start date mentioned in the job advert is a tentative 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.

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.