Trade Officer – Market Access and Policy C4 (L) 03/20 ADD – Africa Uplift  

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, 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.

Job Category:  Department for International Trade roles (DIT)

Job Subcategory:   Department for International Trade (DIT)

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities)  

Main purpose of job:

Business environment – policy impact analysis and minimising market access barriers

• The Department for International Trade (DIT) is the Trade Promotion and Negotiation organisation for the UK. We promote UK businesses overseas and attract foreign investment to our shores. We have 3,000 staff across the globe in over 100 countries. Our aspiration is to address some of the challenges facing the UK, by helping British businesses to internationalise and grow overseas and  as well as helping African businesses better engage with the UK and the world.
• DIT Africa is one of the nine DIT global networks and is led by Emma Wade-Smith, HM Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for Africa.The Africa Region is exciting and energising and UK firms have a strong presence here, making the UK the the second largest investor on the continent. With some of the strongest growing economies in the world and booming population growth there are numerous more opportunities for UK firms; from tech start-ups in the West to infrastructure in the East. The Network’s role is to promote these opportunities and position the UK as the continent’s number one trading partner and investor.
• This is a great opportunity to work in an exciting and challenging environment on a high-profile agenda within DIT Africa. Overcoming Ethiopia’s economic growth barriers, imposed on the market, due to policy and regulatory inefficiencies, is a top priority in support of the UK government prosperity agenda. As is enabling the growth and strengthening of trade and investment through the private sector support There are significant investment and export market opportunities to pursue to the mutual prosperity of both UK and Ethiopia; minimising market access barriers in Ethiopia will have a positive regional impact on the economies across Horn of Africa. 
• The purpose of the role is to minimise market access issues by horizon scanning proposed, and understanding the current, policy and regulatory framework, with the aim of supporting successful business investment and trade access between the UK and Ethiopia and internationally.  
• This is an outward facing, relationship management role, the success of which will be in developing key relationships with Ethiopian government officials, regulatory and trade agencies, business stakeholders and the wider embassy prosperity team. The job holder will build and utilise a significant support network in Africa and the UK, across both government and trade bodies, as well as international trade and development organisations.

Roles and responsibilities:

• Market access analysis and horizon scanning; identifying policy and regulatory trade barriers (cross-cutting and sector specific) that are/likely to impact UK-Ethiopia business investment and international trade growth, including monitoring and analysing changes in the Ethiopian Investment Law.
• Ongoing assessment of the impact of macroeconomic, microeconomic and fiscal policy changes on trade and investment in consultation with the capacity building organisations and Ethiopian Government Agencies. (DFID/WB/AfDB/IFC/Trade Mark East Africa/EIC).
• Policy risk communication; prioritising market access issues, developing briefings for the UK Government officials, existing and incoming business stakeholders, cross-embassy teams and updating the information on the wider investment portal. Ensuring that the priority issues are incorporated into the UK government bilateral development and trade and investment strategy.
• The job holder will support delivery of business development projects. This will include providing solutions to the market access issues in order to facilitate international trade with one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
• Understanding sector opportunities and priorities,
• Liaising with companies seeking commercial success, systematically recording and analysing market access issues, in order to minimise business risks.
• Finding effective solutions to the market access issues and working closely with the key stakeholders in order to be able to improve ease of investment in Ethiopia and enable long term partnerships.
• Identifying major opportunities by keeping pace with the policy reform and sector opening to the foreign investment. It requires tenacity to support companies achieve success in Ethiopia, as well as the ability to look across the Ethiopian economy and provide advice on where potential strategic opportunities lie.
• The role will require strong interpersonal and organisational skills, with the ability to influence and build relationships; the confidence to negotiate between senior internal and external government stakeholders will be of particular benefit. It will require close team work, supporting UK Embassy prosperity strategy.  
• The job holder will be a confident self-starter, a team player with excellent communication skills, and the ability to network with a wide range of contacts at a senior levels in Government, international agencies and the private sector. In addition, s/he will be expected to provide high quality analysis and advice on sector-specific developments.

Job Requirements

Essential qualifications, skills and experience      

• Degree in business, economics, management, finance or related field
• At least 5 years’ experience in investment or government services and/or supporting private sector companies/organisations in doing business
• Current knowledge of Ethiopia’s Economy and Business Environment
• Great communication and presentation skills and ability to work in a virtual team
• A understanding of, or keen interest in, sustainable development (additional training in this area will be provided)
• Proficient English and Amharic

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience  

• Knowledge of the UK economic and business environment

Required competencies  

Seeing the Big Picture, Leading and Communicating, Collaborating and Partnering, Building Capability for All

Application deadline:  10 February 2020

Grade:  C4 (L)

Type of Position:  Fixed term, with possibility of renewal

Working hours per week:  36

Region:  Africa

Country/Territory:  Ethiopia

Location (City):  Addis Ababa

Type of Post:  British Embassy

Number of vacancies:  1

Starting monthly salary:   ETB 43,026.73

Start Date:  1 April 2020

Other benefits and conditions of employment  

Learning and development opportunities:

• Access to DIT L&D centre and various central and regional courses.

Additional information  

Annual Leave and Public Holidays:

Locally engaged staff of all grades will be entitled to paid annual leave as follows:
Up to 2 years 22 days
After 2 years services 25 days
After 5 years services 30 days

In addition to annual leave, the British Embassy observes up to a maximum number of 14 Ethiopian, British and Religious public holidays each year. A list of such Embassy holidays will be published each year. Office Staff required to work on these holidays will be granted time off in lieu or overtime where circumstances permit.

How to Apply

• Please complete the application form in full as the information provided is used during screening.
• Please check your application carefully before you submit, as no changes can be made once submitted.
• The British Embassy will never request any payment or fees to apply for a position.
• Employees recruited locally by the British Embassy in Addis Ababa are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law in Ethiopia.
• All candidates must be legally able to work and reside in the country of the vacancy with the correct visa/work permit status or demonstrate eligibility to obtain the relevant permit. The responsibility lies on the successful candidate to;

• Obtain the relevant permit
• Pay the fees for the permit
• Make arrangements to relocate
• Meet the costs to relocation

• Employees who are not eligible to pay local income tax: e.g. certain third-country nationals and spouses/partners of UK diplomats will have their salaries abated by an equivalent amount.
• Information about the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Competency Framework can be found on this link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-competency-framework Please note:  Job grade AA=A1, AO=A2, EO=B3, HEO=C4, SEO=C5
• Reference checking and security clearances will be conducted on successful candidates.
• Please log into your profile on the application system on a regular basis to review the status of your application.

Interested and qualified applicants are encouraged to click on the below link and apply through our recruitment platform only. 

Trade Officer – Market Access and Policy C4 (L) 03/20 ADD – Africa Uplift

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