View Vacancy - AUS (Sydney)- Regional Senior Officer, Trade and Investment, Australia and New Zealand- Invest Northern Ireland B3 (L)

Main purpose of job

Based in the British Consulate General in Sydney, the post-holder will work for Invest Northern Ireland (“Invest NI” or the “Organisation”) in the areas of business development and operational support. The post-holder will report to the Regional Manager for Australia & New Zealand (the “Regional Manager”), assist Northern Ireland businesses to export goods and services to Australia and New Zealand, promote Northern Ireland as a location for inward investment and provide operational support to the Regional Manager covering activities in the region.

The post-holder will undertake market research for Northern Ireland companies, meet with them, prepare and oversee meeting schedules, assist them in formulating their strategy to the Australia and/or New Zealand market, and help them to resolve issues. Also, the post-holder will be responsible for delivering and managing events, attending conferences/exhibitions, arranging meetings for clients, managing logistics plans (including trade missions, VIP visits, senior official visits from Northern Ireland) and working in partnerships with other stakeholders to raise Northern Ireland’s profile for commercial, education and tourism purposes.

The post- holder will work with the Regional Manager and the wider team on promotional initiatives, including wrap around marketing campaigns for in-market events and social media campaigns. They will play a key role in strategically identifying and connecting with the Northern Irish diaspora in both Australia and New Zealand.

The post-holder will work with others to gather market intelligence and insights, and communicate them to relevant stakeholders. They will also be required to further develop positive working relationships with the United Kingdom’s Department of International Trade across Australia and New Zealand, Northern Ireland officials and other business and trade organisations and chambers of commerce.

Operationally, the post- holder will support the Regional Manager, assist with procurement / purchasing work and payment related matters, complete the necessary paper work for internal purposes, expense compilation and processing, maintain data on Invest NI Customer Record Management (CRM) system. They will work closely with the Regional Operations Manager for Asia Pacific, who is based in Shanghai, China, on operations and internal reporting matters; as well as with colleagues in Invest NI Head office.

The post- holder will be required to undertake travel on a regular basis, either within Australia, New Zealand, to the UK and also to other countries. The post– holder will also support the wider Asia Pacific team as required by the team management.

Roles and responsibilities/what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?

• Working with the Regional Manager, play an active role with the delivery of specific AU/NZ in-market business sector strategies, and assist in wider APAC strategies, in trade, investment and communications to promote Northern Ireland capability which contributes to the overall goals of the organisation;
• Lead on market research, prepare sector briefings and liaise with and assist both Northern Ireland and AU/NZ companies to increase export sales and help to secure investment wins for Northern Ireland;
• Support inward and outward business events through logistics and programme arrangement;
• Identify and contact potential new business contacts across the Invest NI strategic and non-strategic sectors;
• Identify and contact potential new key Northern Irish diaspora contacts relevant to Invest NI strategic and non-strategic sectors;
• Prepare and present collaterals for Invest NI, including for the NI Connections diaspora network;
• Lead on enquiries from Northern Ireland companies and assist with stakeholder management, particularly when the Regional Manager is unavailable or away on business;
• Lead on the delivery of key marketing messages developed by Invest NI through social media;
• Liaise with other Invest NI offices, and with Department for International Trade offices across Australia and New Zealand to deliver key Invest NI objectives;
• Liaise with UK international partners and with strategic partners, including Chambers of Commerce and relevant industry associations to deliver key Invest NI objectives;
• Work effectively and in partnership with wider Invest NI teams based in Asia Pacific, Northern Ireland and other locations;
• Lead on administrative tasks and support to the Invest NI Regional Manager in Sydney, which will primarily but not exclusively include budget, expenses, procurement, events coordination and travel arrangements, together with the Invest NI APAC operations manager in Shanghai;
• Manage relevant information sources and maintain accurate records of customer and stakeholder information on Invest NI’s CRM and management systems;
• Prepare reports (including activity / performance / market reports) accurately and in a timely fashion for management and clients.

Essential on arrival:

• Educated to degree level ideally in a business or related function;
• At least 3 years’ working experience in a private or public sector organisation;
• Experience of undertaking market research, analysing market and company data, preparing reports, presenting information to client and helping client to achieve positive commercial outcomes;
• A sound commercial knowledge of Australia & New Zealand, and the business opportunities across sectors;
• Good networking skills and experience of building and maintaining effective working relationships across all levels of businesses;
• Good attention to detail, excellent organisational, IT and administrative skills;
• Ability to work at pace and independently as part of a remote team; and
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office (Outlook/Word/Excel/PowerPoint).