View Vacancy - Political Officer A2, Helsinki (FIN18.170)

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)
Political

The British Embassy in Helsinki is part of a world-wide network representing British political, economic and consular interests overseas and is now looking for a Political Officer.

The Political Officer works in the Political and Press team to deliver British government objectives in the following areas: international security policy, counter-terrorism and justice and home affairs (JHA) e.g. migration, policing and countering violent extremism. Also, to a lesser extent, agriculture and education.

To deliver the job successfully, the Political Officer needs to have a solid grasp of their policy areas and the ability to develop and make good use of an effective network of contacts in politics, government, academia and civil society. This includes lobbying in support of UK positions, often with senior contacts.

Flexibility and ability to work under pressure are key to dealing with tasking (including on new and unfamiliar issues) that may arise unexpectedly, at short notice and against tight deadlines. The Political Officer works closely with colleagues across the Embassy and the British government’s Nordic Baltic Network, and includes working on VIP visits and delivering public diplomacy events and outreach.

The Political Officer provides absence cover for the Embassy Communication Officer. This involves producing a daily press summary and digital/social media tasks.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

  • Encourage Finnish support for UK international security policy priorities; deliver Country Business Plan targets under the security strand in cooperation with the Head of Team and Defence Section. Respond to international security policy tasking from British government customers, provide political analysis and reporting, and lobby as tasked.
  • Maintain excellent cooperation between the UK and Finnish authorities on Justice and Home Affairs matters and ensure a positive and constructive engagement on UK priorities, including migration and CVE, following the referendum.
  • Respond to tasking on agriculture and education, encouraging links between UK and Finnish policy leads as well as between institutions. Ahead of Councils attend government briefings to understand Finnish priorities and report back to UK equivalents.
  • Give resilience to the Team by providing absence cover for the Communication Officer; produce a daily summary of the Finnish media landscape by 10:30; update Embassy social and digital and media channels; provide reporting to London customers on topical issues.
  • Support wider Embassy and Foreign Ministry corporate objectives, e.g. crisis management preparedness, well-being of staff, and whole of Embassy outreach and public diplomacy activities, including visits and diplomatic hospitality.
  • Strong communication skills, both in written and oral, in Finnish and English.
  • Confidence to proactively build and engage a useful network of contacts.
  • Attention to detail, strong organisational and time management skills, including the ability to prioritise.
  • Flexible, resilient under pressure and decisive, with the ability to deliver quickly and to a high standard.
  • Strong IT skills, knowledge and experience of using social media and digital skills (including Facebook and Twitter).
  • A collaborative approach to meeting your team’s objectives.
  • Educational knowledge/prior experience of international affairs/diplomacy.
  • Understanding of current affairs/political environment/foreign policy.
  • Education: Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in a related field.
  • Experience of working in an international context and/or relevant experience in a political role.
  • Swedish language, oral and written
  • Good knowledge of Finnish political affairs and the landscape.
  • An understanding of UK culture and a desire and interest in learning more about UK politics including security policy and justice and home affairs.
  • Knowledge of creating social media and website content.
25 April 2018
Administrative Officer (AO)
Full-time, Permanent
36.25
Europe, Eastern Europe & Central Asia
Finland
Helsinki
British Embassy
EUR
3017.39
29 June 2018

This is a full-time permanent contract of 36.25 hours per week. Working hours are Monday – Friday (9.00- 16.45).

The annual leave entitlement is 20 days, increasing to 25 days after one year’s service. Leave for temporary, contract or hourly-paid staff is also calculated on a pro-rata basis. The Embassy pays an annual holiday bonus. Embassy employees are entitled to a private medical scheme for basic healthcare services and to use the Embassy’s recreational facilities.

The appointment is subject to security clearance and the successful completion of a probationary period.

All applicants should have the right to live and work in Finland. The British Embassy does not sponsor for work permits.

Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy in Finland are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local Finnish employment law and FCO guidance for Local Staff.

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.

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.