View Vacancy - Country Director and Head of Trade Policy and Investment C5 (06/20 DAR)

Main purpose of job:

To lead the Department for International Trade team in Tanzania, building the commercial relationship between the two countries, driving UK exports to Tanzania through supporting UK companies to win contracts, and supporting the cross-government Prosperity agenda to foster a better business environment in Tanzania.

Roles and responsibilities:

The Department for International Trade (DIT)

DIT supports the development of strong, prosperous and peaceful African nations, through modern, dynamic and long-term partnerships that deliver mutual benefit for the UK and Africa. The UK is making a new and distinctive offer to work alongside, invest in, and partner with African nations. By supporting African-led ambitions with British expertise, we want to create more opportunities, more jobs and greater stability – both in the UK and for our African partners. The UK can unlock economic growth and job creation by unblocking flagship investor issues and bringing private sector investment to Africa.

The Role

This is an exciting, challenging and high profile opportunity at the British High Commission in Tanzania. This role will lead the DIT team in Tanzania and oversee the missions overall trade and investment activity, including working on trade promotion, investment, trade policy, market access and business environment issues. With DIT increasing focus on market access and trade policy issues this role will have a particular focus in this area.  With the promotion of prosperity lying at the heart of the British Government’s policy in Tanzania, this is a critical role. To do this successfully you will need to ensure that DIT is an active and integrated member of the mission’s prosperity team, working closely with DfID and FCO colleagues to deliver our ambitions. 

This is an outward facing, relationship management role, the success of which will be in developing key relationships with Tanzanian government officials, regulatory and trade agencies, business stakeholders and the wider embassy prosperity team. The job holder will build and utilise a significant support network in Africa and the UK, across both government and trade bodies, as well as international trade and development organisations with the aim of supporting successful business investment and trade access between the UK and Ethiopia and internationally.  

Main Duties

Lead the teams work on Trade Policy and Market Access, working in close collaboration with DfID and FCO colleagues to drive forward the Prosperity agenda. The role will focus on overcoming the market access and business environment barriers holding back UK investment. The role will work closely with the Bilateral Trade Relations Team in London to deepen our understanding of the Market Access issues impact business in Tanzania and develop a clear approach to addressing these issues. The job holder will play a key role on the transition of the East African Communities EPA, working closely with the FCO Prosperity Officer and the EAC Trade lead for East Africa. The role will also lead on programmes and marketing campaigns to support the uptake of the trade preferences grated to Tanzania through the Generalizes Preferences Scheme. 

Deliver export and outward investment wins for British businesses in Tanzania in line with our campaign priorities of oil and gas, infrastructure and renewable energy. The role entails direct leadership of the oil and gas sector in Tanzania. It also includes oversight of the sector leads for infrastructure and renewables. Together, these three sectors comprise our priorities in Tanzania as well as East Africa. Each sector has a monetary objective attached to it reflecting the amount of trade wins we are expected to support. This role requires strategic awareness, significant engagement with business, and good team and line management to get right. The post holder will need to be able to build and maintain an extensive network of contacts both in the private sector and the Tanzanian Government, and to advise UK companies effectively on the nature of opportunities across the range of sectors.  

Lead and manage the DIT team in Tanzania, while reporting to the head of DIT East Africa (based in Dar es Salaam) and also to the British Deputy High Commissioner. Responsibility for the DIT budget. The team currently comprises three staff, including the head of trade. An important element here is to build the team’s capability to achieve its objectives, and develop team resilience.

Required Competencies and Skills

The successful candidate will be a competent and dynamic manager, able to deliver through others to exceed a challenging set of targets for business wins and delivering services to UK companies, making use of project management skills and developing a systematic approach to maintain focus and momentum and achieve results. They will have the proven ability to work autonomously to deliver a wide range of responsibilities while remaining engaged with a wider team of colleagues across HMG. And they will need to be self-sufficient and proactive, and possess the ability to drive their team forward without direct oversight.

An important aspect of the team’s work is to contribute to the British Government’s broader economic and development agenda, by working alongside Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development colleagues in particular by taking a leadership role on the Mission’s Prosperity agenda. The successful candidate will need to be able to see the bigger picture of how their team’s work fits into a broader whole, and to collaborate closely with colleagues in other government departments.  And in prioritising effectively, they will ensure that the DIT office contributes corporately to the rest of the Mission’s work.

The successful candidate will have experience of international / regional / Tanzanian trade and investment issues and possess demonstrable commercial expertise, with a track record of fostering business relationships in order to deliver a high standard to their customers. Ideally the candidate will have experience working on trade policy, market access and regulatory / business environment issues. These will be backed up by excellent networking abilities, particularly in DIT’s priority sectors (oil and gas, infrastructure, renewable energy), and the ability to be a credible representative of the UK Government to senior representatives in both the public and private. They will have excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate with impact, including to senior figures in Post in a high-profile Mission.

Travel requirements 

The role will require occasional regional and international travel.

• Degree in business, economics, management, finance or related field
• At least 5 years’ experience in investment or government services and/or supporting private sector companies/organisations in doing business
• Strong understanding of Tanzanian market
• Experience in international/Tanzanian/East African trade and investment issues
• Management experience particularly delivering through others
• Fluency in both spoken and written English