View Vacancy - CPK - Head of Programme Delivery: Health and Life Sciences, D6(L)

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)
Economic and Prosperity

This is a great opportunity to deliver a key component of the £1.2bn cross-government Prosperity Fund. New and innovative, the Fund represents a step change in HMG’s approach to promoting economic development and prosperity overseas.

The £20m China Health and Life Sciences Programme sits within the Prosperity Fund’s China portfolio and is designed to transform UK – China collaboration in health and life sciences.  The programme will focus on China’s healthcare priorities and the UK’s policy and commercial expertise in both primary care and the registration and assessment of medicines and medical devices. Its strategic aim is to deliver a better functioning healthcare system in China, which will improve health outcomes and expand patient access to medicines, enabling people to live better quality, longer and more economically productive lives. This will in turn open up market opportunities for UK companies.

The jobholder will lead the strategic direction and delivery of a £20m programme over four years. You will establish the strategic objectives of the programme and ensure the team effectively designs and delivers activity, through procurement and strategic contract management.  You will work closely with the Senior Responsible Officer (Head of the Health and Life Science Team) in support of UK engagement on health and life science issues.  You will be responsible for building close collaboration with, and providing strategic input to, the health policy and trade teams. You will be responsible for maximising your and the programme’s impact and influence with Ministers, senior officials and external stakeholders.  You will be expect to engage authoritatively with both UK and Chinese audiences at senior levels in the private sector, Chinese government, think tanks and academics. You will leverage your network to deliver high quality events, reports, policy recommendations and pilot projects.

You will have experience of working in the health and/or life science sector(s) with in-depth knowledge across different market sectors. You will have experience of developing and leading on project and programme work with multiple stakeholders. You will have strong management and leadership skills coupled with proven strategic and analytical capabilities. As such, you will need to be able to demonstrate strong communicating, collaborating and influencing skills, particularly with external stakeholders, and ideally in an international context.  As priorities evolve, you will need to respond flexibly to deliver with and through others.

As a senior member of locally engaged staff you will have a strong corporate profile and play and lead an interest group to support wellbeing, cross team working and even better ways of working. Act as a gender champion in your leadership role.  Ensure Gender Equality Act (2014) compliance and support implementation of gender policy and guidance so that, at the least, no harm is done and gender inequality is not worsened. Actively support PF ambitions on women’s economic opportunities, inclusive growth and poverty reduction through your department / team.

Delivery, Procurement and Oversight: 60%

  • Lead design of a top-quality 3 year, £20m programme on health and life sciences.
  • Lead team to ensure quality procurement, delivery, monitoring and evaluation. Provide leadership and effective management of C4 and B3 team members. Take full responsibility for team outputs. Grow team capacity through blended approach to development through on the job training, coaching and monitoring. Identify relevant training and development opportunities as required. Ensure excellent management of external implementers to deliver high impact outcomes in support of the policy agenda.
  • Generate, drive forward and embed a seamless and mutually supportive working relationship with the DIT and policy team to provide leadership and resilience for all teams during periods of peak activity.

Strategy: 30%

  • Lead the strategic direction, design and implementation of the new Prosperity Fund programme to ensure the projects funded are contributing to the goal of both poverty reduction and economic growth in China.
  • Lead relations with UK government, multilateral organisations, academics and consultants to test suitability of the programme design and optimise strategic alignment with UK priorities.
  • Lead relations with DG level Chinese government officials and experts in primary care and life sciences to align programme design with China’s needs.
  • Make significant and strategic policy contributions to the wider ‘One HMG Health Network’, including DIT, Health & Social Care Policy, SIN and UKRI. You will actively support the development and delivery of network strategic goals, including the UK – China Flagship Challenge on Healthy Ageing.
  • Make a significant contribution to UK prosperity by opening up business opportunities for UK companies and mainstreaming trade policy and market access into the programme. You will present UK health and trade policy and findings to opinion formers, policy makers and business audiences. You will work with DIT to ensure UK companies have full understanding of an open tender process.
  • Design policy contributions in primary care and life sciences within the programme and beyond, identifying where and how programme influence can be leveraged to respond to more difficult or sensitive areas of the UK-China relationship in health.
  • Develop and leverage relationships with DG level external contacts that will inform, test and support robust programme design in the areas of primary care and access to medicines. These relationships will be key to delivery of a successful programme which will in turn, play a key role in the UK-China health relationship in

This will require close co-ordination with a range of policy and commercial leads across the Embassy and wider China network as well as a strong working relationship with Whitehall Departments to ensure that the programme is harmonised with other work streams and leveraging as much as possible from other areas of the embassy.

Stakeholder Engagement 10%

  • Develop external relationships within the Chinese government and international donor community to ensure effective delivery of the programme.  This will include building and managing relationships of DG level or higher to ensure that the programme has influence within the Chinese system. In order to do this the jobholder must demonstrate expert knowledge in the UK health system, UK government policy, global health issues and development programming.
  • Lead and influence external engagement with a wide network of Chinese academics, key opinion leaders and business for the benefit of optimising HMG policy and programme outcomes.
  • Design and drive forward an approach to enhance cross sector collaboration in the China network to strengthen the UK – China relationship in health and life sciences. Champion and optimise outcomes of the health programme. Create and develop synergies in health related work from other sectors, including financial services, skills and smart cities.
  • Create and deliver a high impact communication plan for the health programme, that addresses both Chinese and UK audiences and recognise potential sensitivities.
  • Maintain a strong senior network within Beijing’s donor and diplomatic community to build awareness of the UK’s programming in China post Brexit and influence alignment of their programming with UK objectives. 
  • Professional health qualifications e.g. M.A. in Public Health or MBBS
  • Experience of operating in China
  • Recognised project management qualification (e.g.: PRINCE2, APM or equivalent)
  • Experience working with external stakeholders in both health and government institutions;
  • Sound working knowledge of basic IT packages, including PowerPoint, Word and Excel
  • Strong leadership and representational skills.
  • Strong interpersonal skills and confidence dealing with senior stakeholders
  • Experience of UK and Chinese government systems
  • Experience of health programming
  • Excellent Mandarin (reading, written and oral skills)
22 November 2019
Grade 7 (G7)
Fixed Term, Full-time
35
24 months
Asia Pacific
China
Beijing
British Embassy
1
CNY
38,554
6 January 2020

This is a fixed-term role for 24 months.

We place a strong emphasis on learning and development.  You will be encouraged to undertake developmental training and get involved in corporate activities.  This role provides an excellent opportunity to build up programme knowledge and expertise and gain exposure to working across governmentYou will have access to existing and new Project & Programme Management L&D as well as wider job-relevant L&D and support for your own personal development.

You will have the opportunity to build professional network with senior health contacts in both China and the UK. Training in advanced programme management and MREL. 

You will have access to FCO Diplomatic Academy Training on modern diplomacy and the UK Civil Service Competency Framework. 

The UK in China Network has an active portfolio of continuous professional development through leadership programmes, TED-style talks, mentoring programmes, interest groups and formal training.

We offer a competitive package, which includes basic salary, good leave entitlement, and insurance plan, etc. The gross starting salary (before all deductions) for this  position is CNY 38,554 / month for Chinese Nationals and an abated monthly salary of CNY 48,645 / month for British Nationals and spouses/ partners (all nationalities) of diplomats who are ‘W’ (diplomatic) visa holders and meet passport criteria.

We also offer excellent development opportunities and a 22-day annual leave entitlement in pro rata.  For more details on our Total Rewards Package, please visit our website http://www.gov.uk/government/world/china.

Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy Beijing is subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local Chinese employment law.

All applications must be received before 11:55PM (China Standard Time) on 22 November 2019.


You are also required to submit a response to the below question to APAC.Recruitment@fco.gov.uk on or before 23:55 on 22 November 2019:

Can you summarise how UK expertise in (primary) healthcare can be used to support China through its health related challenges? Who are the experts and what can they bring? What are the main risks and how can we mitigate against them?


Indicate on the subject line the job title, grade and your name.


Example:


Head of Programme Delivery: Health and Life Sciencess - D6-  First Name Last Name


Incomplete application forms will not be taken into consideration, so please ensure you provide the information requested. We regret to advise that we will only be contacting short-listed candidates. Applicants called for an interview will be assessed on the core competencies listed above.

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

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This opportunity is closed to applications.