View Vacancy - SH - Visits and Support Officer, AO

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)
Policy

Main purpose of job:

Pre-pandemic, the China Network experienced a high number of visits throughout the year from UK Ministers and Government Officials, as well as the Royal Family.

As Covid-related restrictions begin to ease, the China Network expects an increasing number of senior visitors to Shanghai and the East China region. The Visits and Support Officer will be directly responsible for the planning and coordination of all aspects of senior level visits to Shanghai and the East China region.

Outside of visits, the officer will offer wider support to the Political Team in which they sit. They will contribute to the delivery of high quality analysis, with English language outputs. They will need to be attuned to current affairs, have some knowledge of UK and Chinese politics, and good interpersonal skills. They must be able to deliver at pace and make effective decisions whilst taking on the responsibility for planning and coordinating a broad spectrum of visits and events. Lastly, and by no means least, they must be completely comfortable drafting high quality documents and communicating with internal and external senior stakeholders in English. 

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

  1. Supporting the organisation and implementation of senior/VIP official visits including all aspects relating to visit planning, logistics, and programmes. During down time, identify and refresh visit resources including marker hotels, restaurants, and other key suppliers.
  2. Supporting the preparation and implementation of all logistics and protocol arrangements, including pre-arrival planning meetings; visa invitations; car plans; flight bookings;  VIP airport arrangements; accreditation for events/summits; hotel and venue bookings; interpreters; liaison with venue/Residence/restaurant staff; coordination of event briefings; budgets and charging instructions; 
  3. Supporting liaisons with the Foreign Affairs Office and other government departments such as the Public Security Bureau to secure host invitation letters; set up meetings; and agree protocol and security arrangements;
  4. Supporting wider priorities of the Political Team by undertaking specific research tasks to either produce stand alone pieces of work or build into the work of the rest of the team. The officer is expected to stay abreast of current affairs in both the UK and China, join relevant calls, and develop specific policy knowledge on relevant areas.
  5. Supporting ad-hoc projects which could be short, mini projects or extended over several months. Tasks include being responsible for creating event adverts, collating RSVPs, liaising with external stakeholders, making venue and F&B bookings, and overseeing event logistics. 
  6. The officer may also be deployed as a Project Task Force to support other ongoing projects and events within the Network and help cover gaps during exceptionally busy periods.
  7. Participation in a wider corporate role within the British Consulate, contributing to the development of the social and professional environment.
  • Proven international experience, ideally in the Chinese context
  • Strong organisational skills, managing competing priorities and tight deadlines
  • Strong IT skills, including Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook and database management.
  • Excellent English language skills 
  • Excellent Chinese language skills 
  • A university degree
  • Project management experience
  • Translation
Seeing the Big Picture, Making Effective Decisions, Delivering at Pace, Working Together
13 February 2023
Administrative Officer (AO)
Full-time, Fixed term, with possibility of renewal
35
Asia Pacific
China
Shanghai
British Consulate General
1
CNY
Chinese: CNY 11,272 British: CNY 15,789
19 April 2023

This position is being advertised as a 12 months fixed term position with possibility of renewal in Shanghai.

We offer a competitive package which includes –

  • Gross monthly salary (before all deductions) of CNY 11,272 for Chinese Nationals paid in 13 month instalments and an abated monthly salary of CNY 15,789 per month for British Nationals and spouses/partners (all nationalities) of diplomats who are ‘W’ (diplomatic) visa holders and meet passport criteria;
  • Insurance plans such as social and housing fund (Chinese Nationals), commercial insurance package including accidental, life, medical and business travel insurance
  • Full-time staff: 22 days annual leave entitlement in pro-rata which increases by 0.5 per full calendar year worked up to maximum of 25 days.
  • We offer different types of compulsory leave in accordance to Chinese law, e.g. Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave, Marriage Leave, Parental leave, etc.
  • In addition to the above compulsory leave, we also offer other types of leaves with pay e.g. Study Leave, Volunteering Leave to support staff who undertakes volunteering activities, Special Paid Leave to deal with emergencies involving a close family member, and more.
  • Employee Assistance Programme which is a confidential service providing help, support and information to staff to resolve and manage situations causing concern whether at work or personal nature is available to staff 24/7

There is plenty of opportunity to develop on and off the job and establish expertise and build capability. We are strongly supportive of the job holder continuing to develop their professional skills. The Mission encourages a blended learning culture based on the 70/20/10 model which includes e-learning, mentoring, coaching, other development activities and role-specific required trainings. For this role, the learning and development opportunities would be Community Liaison Officer training course, plus opportunity for job-shadowing a counterpart in China. FCDO also provides good learning and development opportunities for staff.

Conditioned working hours is 35 hours per week from Monday to Friday and flexible working can be arranged upon personal needs. 

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 Chinese employment law. 

No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position. All candidates must be legally able to work and reside in the country of the vacancy with the correct visa/work permit status or demonstrate eligibility to obtain the relevant permit. Any costs related to obtaining or renewing permits and visas are the responsibility of the successful applicant. 

Please note that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”.

Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen. 

Incomplete application forms will not be taken into consideration, so please ensure you provide the information requested. 

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.

REMINDER: 

Applicants are required to fill out the online application form completely including the employment and educational details, motivational segment and the competency based questions. Forms that are incomplete in any respect will not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage so please ensure you provide information requested. Only shortlisted candidates for interview will be contacted. Interviewees will be assessed on the core competencies listed above. Unsuccessful candidates will be notified via the system in due time.

Indicated start date is provisional and subject to successful completion of reference and security checks.

To those applicants not short-listed, we extend our appreciation for considering the British Government as a potential employer.

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.