Head of Business and Trade, Grade

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities)

**Main Purpose**:
The UK Department for Business and Trade aims to strengthen the bilateral trade relationship between the UK and the Maldives. Based at the British High Commission, the Head of Business and Trade will work to increase UK exports to the Maldives and support British investments in the country.

The job holder will also lead on UK export promotion to the Maldives, with support from the wider Department for Business and Trade and Maldives High Commission team. They will be responsible for leading and effectively delivering events, strategies and activities based in the Maldives. They will also be responsible for establishing and maintaining relations with companies and trade associations. They will bring knowledge of doing business in the Maldives and support a strategy based on this knowledge to turn the long-term potential of the sector into a pipeline of opportunities for UK business.

They will work closely with DBT colleagues in the region and with DBT HQ to ensure strong information-sharing and maximising commercial opportunities across the South Asia region.
- We reserve the right to review, revise or amend the roles and responsibilities from time to time reflecting the changing needs of business._

**Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?**
- Support negotiations for a UK-Maldives goods only Free Trade Agreement
- Provide insights on the Maldives government, politics, economy and business environment to UK negotiators, and deploy these insights to advise on negotiation strategy.
- Work with Bilateral Trade Relations team at DBT HQ and the South Asia Trade Policy Team on market access barriers including Identifying and lobbying to resolve Market Access Barriers that directly and indirectly affect UK Businesses, including trade and investment in the Maldives.
- Developing longer term Trade and Investment strategy that covers all aspects of other trade policy activities and supports the goals of the country plan and the Regional Trade Plan.
- Proactively build market intelligence and a network of business contacts in the Maldives in order to support UK companies in market.
- Identify and chase export opportunities in the priority sectors and support UK companies to secure these.
- Supporting UK exports to Maldives across sectors; providing advice and assistance to UK companies looking to invest and operate in Maldives; identifying commercial partnership opportunities for UK companies in Maldives
- Lead current and future scoping of export opportunities for UK business, including public tenders, if any, at every stage from facilitating introductions of organisations through to the winning of contracts/closing of deals and identifying trade policy and market access issues and leading on discussions to overcome these.
- Representational work as and when required, as well as supporting senior engagements and visits.
- Contribute to the High Commission’s wider activities and priorities.

**Resources managed** (staff and expenditure):
**Staff**: This Post does not have line management responsibility, but this might change in the future.
**Expenditure**: There will be a modest travel budget to manage

**Language requirements**:
Language: English & Dhivehi

Level of language required: Fluent in both, accurate in grammar and writing.

**Learning and development opportunities **(and any specific training courses to be completed)**:
This role offers significant opportunities for “on the job” learning, in addition to formal opportunities for learning and development, including access to a large range of online training opportunities and in-person learning in the region and/or London.

**Working patterns**:
DBT South Asia is an inclusive employer. We encourage staff to work flexibly and provide all staff with IT that supports flexible and remote working**. **A minimum requirement to work for 36 hours a week.

Essential qualifications, skills and experience

**Essential on arrival**:
The job is a fantastic opportunity to make a real impact on the UK’s trade links with the Maldives. We will give you the freedom and space to build your networks and build a trade strategy, and we will support you to get the right learning and development. You will need to be collaborative and flexible too to fit in with the network’s ethos; and, importantly, focussed on delivering results and contributing to the wider corporate agenda.
- You will need to have **minimum 2 years** of relevant work experience.
- Experience of working in trade/export promotion
- You will need to be a self-starter with track record of delivery and worked in an international environment.
- You will need to be **strategically aware** to identify emerging opportunities in the Maldives and match it to UK’s strategic priorities.
- You will have **excellent interpersonal skills and be a credible and strong team **player.**:

- You will need to have **exper