View Vacancy - CGZ - Trade and Investment Officer (Food&Drink) - maternity cover

UK Department of International Trade is the government agency responsible for helping UK based businesses succeed globally and helping international businesses invest in the UK.  Within China, DIT is one of the busiest parts of the British Embassy’s operations and is in the final stages of restructuring to focus on strategic high value trade and investment opportunities. China is one of the highest priority countries for trade in food and drink, and has substantial support from both the British Government and industry.

This is an exciting opportunity at the forefront of the British Government’s growth agenda, to be part of a small team delivering DIT’s sector vision for food and drink, working with internal and external partners such as the Food and Drink Export Association (FDEA) and the China Britain Business Council (CBBC). 

Reporting to the Head of Food and Drink, the candidate carry out a six month project to map out and take forward key opportunities for UK exports in the south China region.

As part of this they will develop and cultivate relationships with industry and provincial Government in and around Guangzhou and across Southern China. They will identify the top priorities in the region and plan how those opportunities could be taken forward. They will develop closer links with our Hong Kong team and look for opportunities to join up work across Hong Kong and mainland China. They will also support UK companies who are aiming to take forward export opportunities in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and the rest of South China and in doing so contribute to key performance targets for the food and drink team as a whole.

The candidate will  have the opportunity to emerse themselves in an exciting period of trade work and events. They will travel to the regions with South China.  They will work closely with the food and drink and marketing teams to contribute to a range of campaigns and activities to promote the British Brand, raise the profile of DIT’s work and to shape and organise trade events. A key opportunity will be to contribute to the exciting Great Festival of Creativity taking place in March in Hong Kong.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Map leading importing Chinese companies in this sector, develop key relationships and understand opportunities and relevant barriers as well as trends to the rest of the food and drink team.  
• Manage a portfolio of business opportunities in Guangzhou and Southern China to achieve challenging commercial outcomes. Support UK clients to take up these opportunities, and maintain accurate tracking records.
• Plan, manage and follow up on high level visits and events that contribute to sector targets and address business environment and market access issues. 
• Develop and manage a relationship with the China Britain Business Council to ensure a two way flow of information and opportunities, ensuring that the Food and Drink Team and CBBC are able to achieve respective targets. 

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 as well as cultivating 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

Knowledge of internet research, Microsoft Office, Word, Excel and Powerpoint is necessary