View Vacancy - DIT - Senior Trade and Investment Officer (Sports Industry), B3 (L) - (open in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou)

China has set its sights on being the next global sports powerhouse. This is reinforced with President Xi’s football development program, the Beijing Winter Olympics and Hangzhou Asian Games in 2022. The sports industry in China has experienced rapid growth in past years and the China State Council predicted that the China sports industry will reach around £600bn by 2025.

UK is the home of many modern sports and boasts a host of world leading sports brands and organisations such as the Premier League, World Snooker, Wimbledon, Formula One and Clipper Race. Opportunities exist for British companies in sports infrastructure, training, consulting, IP rights and technology. The UK also has unparalleled expertise in the planning, execution and legacy of major events and are keen to share this with Chinese colleagues.

The main purpose of this job holder is to work alongside the Head of Sports to bring value to the UK economy by identifying potential projects, delivering matchmaking events and providing consulting and market knowledge for UK companies.

This is a hugely exciting space to work in, there is huge public interest in sport and its soft power ability means that you will be involved in activities right across the British Embassy and China network of Consulates.

The Department for International Trade (DIT) was established by the Prime Minister in July 2016 to integrate and elevate the Trade agenda; help secure a better deal for the UK as it negotiates a successful exit from the EU; and, establish new relationships with other countries around the globe. DIT promotes British trade across the world and ensures the UK takes advantage of the huge opportunities open to us, securing and improving the economic well-being and stability of the UK, and helping to create tens of thousands of jobs every year.

Led by Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for China and Hong Kong we are one of nine global regions and part of an overseas network that operates in 108 countries. The largest DIT overseas network in the world, with 200 staff across six posts - the British Embassy in Beijing, plus Consulates in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing and Wuhan – DIT, as part of the One HMG network in China and Hong Kong, offers a fast-paced place to work at the heart of UK: China Government relations.

Roles and responsibilities: 

The jobholder will play a supporting role in contributing to sector targets in current uncertain business environments. The role will cover trade, market access and soft power. The jobholder will feed into, interpret, and implement the strategy set by the Director and senior managers, and contribute to the broader project level, assisting in business planning and campaign strategy.  The role will include building a network of influential relationships in China and the UK which support the sector strategy, and the jobholder will be expected to represent UK interests with senior contacts, officials and businessmen. Specific tasks will include:

• Delivering export wins, overseas direct investment, market access and soft power targets. Supporting the sports strategy and business planning development and implementation by identifying the market trends, policy change, the challenge and opportunity in China sports industry. Analyzing the UK’s strength and advantage in sports exports market by comparing with China and other countries. Helping UK Sports industries enter into China market, mitigate the market access issues. Promote UK soft power through sports.
• Sports stakeholder’s management and pipelines building. Building strong relationships with key government officials, industry leaders and business clients through Minister Visits, sports missions and business receptions. Identifing and linking Chinese opportunities with UK capability and strategic needs. Providing professional consulting and advice for UK companies on the opportunities and risks in market. Matchmaking UK’s expertise and services with China stakeholders.
• Managing campaigns, events and visits. Project management for events like sports forum, reception, missions and government visiting. Contribution to the Embassy campaigns and events like Well Being Week and Embassy Open Day. Supporting UK companies to deliver their campaigns and events in China.
• Partnership and cooperation. Work in collaboration with sports partners across government, rights holders, federations, and private businesses to overcome barriers to trade and market access issues. Teamwork by partnership with the wider Embassy and Consulates network. Working closely with British Council, CBBC, London & Partner and other partners.

Excellent spoken and written English and Chinese

Graduate degree or equivalent professional experience/qualification

The candidate must be able to demonstrate:

• Good commercial awareness and be able to identify commercial opportunities.
• An ability to work well in a team and cultivate external relationships
• Good communication skills and an ability to engage with contacts from different environments and backgrounds
• The ability to be creative, flexible and resourceful in developing ideas and solving problems
• Self – motivated and deligent