View Vacancy - SH - Senior Trade & Investment Officer, Food and Drink B3(L) (maternity cover)

China is the world’s largest economy in terms of PPP (IMF) and the second largest in terms of nominal GDP. The consumption of middle classes with an increasing disposable income brings huge commercial potential for both UK and Chinese businesses. As a result of this potential, the Department for International Trade (DIT) China has transformed and grown, and in 2015/16 supported British companies in securing business wins in China valued at over £6bn.

DIT is responsible for promoting British Trade across the world:

• Developing, coordinating, and delivering a new trade and investment policy to promote UK business across the globe;
• Developing and negotiating free trade agreements and market access deals with non-EU countries, negotiating plurilateral trade deals (focused on specific sectors or products);
• Providing operational support for exports and facilitating inward and outward investment.

The food and drink sector is one with particular potential for growth. As the UK’s largest manufacturing sector, the Government has made particularly strong commitments to increase exports, publishing a ‘Food Export Action Plan’ in late 2016. The DIT Food and Drink Team are implementing a new strategy for galvanising the industry and growing trade and investment at record levels. This means a concerted focus in 2017 on promoting what the UK has to offer and providing support to exporting companies from the UK.

This Senior Trade & Investment Officer for Food and Drink is a maternity cover role that reports directly to the Manager for Agriculture, Food and Drink. The successful candidate will be responsible for building a network of contacts in the food and drink industry in Shanghai and the East China region and cultivating relationships with some of those contacts. They will work with the rest of the DIT Food Team and a network of other advisers to support events and marketing activities and to showcase what the UK has to offer.

The successful candidate will have a keen interest in food and drink and some experience of working in a commercial environment. They will be adept at relationship building and networking. They will be energetic, resourceful, and passionate about representing the UK Government and supporting UK businesses. This temporary posting offers someone an opportunity to get a real sense of how the British Consulate operates, how Government interacts with business, and to get great experience of being involved in some exciting events and promotional work.

This position is advertised in a fixed-term, maternity cover role for five (5) months.

As Senior Trade & Investment Officer for Food and Drink, you will be responsible for:

• Managing a pipeline of business leads and providing support to British companies in developing their understanding of the China market.
• Cultivating relationships with Chinese businesses that are interested in working with the UK.
• Utilising marketing budgets to arrange events and promotional activity to support the achievement of trade and investment objectives.
• Developing relationships with a number of key partners, including the China Britain Business Council (CBBC), Visit Britain, and Outreach Officers in east China provinces.

• Good knowledge of China and UK’s food and drink sector
• Experience of working with Chinese food and drink companies, and with demonstrable sales/ business development/ account management experience
• Hard evidence of achievement against the competence areas
• A passion and focus for delivery
• Great resilience and energy
• Engaging interpersonal skills
• Fluent in English and Mandarin, both written and spoken