View Vacancy – Life Sciences and Healthcare Officer

Main purpose of job:

The Department for International Trade (DIT) is the UK government agency that helps foster UK Exports and Inward Investment. DIT officers at overseas posts liaise with the UK headquarters and other departments across the British Government to generate commercial, policy and institutional collaborations in other markets.

The successful candidate will be supporting the implementation and development of a pipeline of commercial opportunities in Brazil for UK companies in the healthcare and life sciences areas, developing at the same time a strong brand for companies from these sectors in Brazil and supporting the delivery of market access, government relations and institutional engagement strategy.

It will be required for the candidate to work with both commercial and policy activities in order to support the growth of the UK market share in this field in Brazil, playing a leading role in visits, events, market research and marketing planning.

You will have the opportunity to participate at ministerial visits and meetings, trade shows, seminars, and internal and external events in order to develop your professional skills and experience to enhance your future career prospects.

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

–   Providing administrative support to team in Brazil and activities related to broader Latin American team;

–   Lead the preparation of market research reports, internal briefings, visiting programmes;

–   Organising events;

–   Scoping business opportunities with Brazilian companies, through research, commercial meetings and cold calls;

–   Accompanying meetings with Brazilian and UK companies, both virtually and in person;

–   Supporting the production of content for events, missions and commercial meetings about the UK offer for business;

–   Budget management

This is an exciting opportunity to work in a fast-paced role in two high profile commercial campaigns in Brazil. The São Paulo team leads commercial work in the sector in Brazil and the strategy for LatAm. The team currently covers digital health, medical technology, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, amongst other key areas.

The successful candidate will be supporting the team on the management of an existing pipeline of well identified commercial opportunities and researching and validating new opportunities as they arise. Success will primarily be measured on the value of exports you assist British companies to achieve, the partnership between UK and Brazilian companies in the field, and your support on the removal of regulatory barriers in the sector. An understanding of how the sectors you work with in Brazil will be an advantage, but the ability to learn quickly will be vital in getting up to speed.

You will be required to develop some of the segments we cover in Healthcare and Life Sciences, engaging with companies/contacts that will allow you to identify new commercial opportunities as soon as they arise. It will be required strong communication skills and a high level of emotional intelligence that will allow the candidate to pitch approaches appropriately and deliver under different circumstances.

You will also support the delivery of a number of high profile events, visits and a marketing campaign in Brazil that will be designed to showcase the best of British Healthcare and Life Sciences and show how the UK is innovative in these segments to our customers. This position will see you exposed to ministers and high profile contacts in the private sector; therefore a high level of resilience and professionalism are essential. You will also provide operational support to the Life Sciences team by maintain client relationship records, databases of contacts and other relevant data; helping ensure the smooth running of the team by performing day-to-day administrative duties, including managing expenses and dealing with suppliers, when necessary and managing one intern.

At times, you may be asked to support areas of work outside your core job. Examples could include supporting colleagues in other parts of the LATAC region, or working on a crisis response or moving temporarily to support other teams in the Consulate at times of peak activity.

This position is based at British Consulate General São Paulo.

Essential on arrival:

The successful candidate will be a university graduate, preferably in a business-related, international relations, marketing, economics and/or medical/healthcare/biotechnology areas or have working experience of at least 2 years in the area of international trade.

He/she must also be flexible, dynamic and pro-active.

Excellent command of written and spoken English and Portuguese, and excellent communication and presentation skills with both languages.

Knowledge in Microsoft Office package.