Are you passionate about business, climate and sustainability? Are you a dynamic individual interested in a career where international trade meets the low-carbon economy? Where you help British companies develop business partnerships in Malaysia, as part of a fast-moving and high profile team?  

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is the UK Government’s department for economic growth. We support businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the UK. The global low carbon transition is one of the key economic opportunities of the 21st century and offers long term business opportunities to UK companies.We are looking for a Senior Trade Manager (Clean Energy) to join the DBT Malaysia team at the British High Commission (BHC) in Kuala Lumpur to help shape the trade relationship between Malaysia and the UK, boosting business opportunities in clean energy and, additionally, infrastructure sectors in Malaysia.  The aim is to increase the value and volume of UK-Malaysia trade while encouraging green growth opportunities that deliver for both countries. 

The job holder will work as part of the friendly and supportive DBT Malaysia team, with some opportunities to travel within Malaysia, Asia Pacific and beyond. We provide a modern and flexible working environment with the opportunity to work part of the week remotely. 

The work will be varied and often fast paced. This role suits a flexible self-starter with lots of initiative and the ability to juggle priorities. We are looking for someone creative, with great people skills. A background in energy/infrastructure/business is an advantage but just as important is a proactive mindset and strong strategic and influencing skills. The role offers excellent scope for personal and professional development. The job holder will deliver our Clean Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure export campaigns for Malaysia (with flexibility to adapt to evolving team and sectoral priorities) with the aim of delivering export wins for UK companies against agreed targets.  

The successful candidate will collaborate closely with DBT teams in the UK, FCDO Policy Teams at the High Commission, as well as with colleagues across our Asia Pacific network. 

• Develop and implement the UK government’s clean energy and infrastructure export strategies for Malaysia closely aligned with the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy and Trade Strategy.
• Develop and maintain an in-depth knowledge of the clean energy and infrastructure sectors in Malaysia, building strong and productive relationships with local stakeholders in public procurement and the private sector. 
• Develop and manage a strong pipeline of high potential business opportunities in Malaysia, with an outcome-driven approach to creating the best conditions for exporter success.
• Provide strategic advice and support to UK companies around their business development activities in Malaysia, with a focus on high value/high impact deals.
• Manage relationships with key industry bodies and scan trends and regulatory/strategic developments, identifying business opportunities and devising strategies to tackle barriers to trade.  
• Lead on delivery of sectoral events, missions and VIP visits that help position UK companies, including drafting high-quality briefings and speeches for ministers and senior officials. 
• Develop a sound understanding of UK capability in clean energy and infrastructure (with flexibility around priority areas). 
• Effective self-organisation including uploading timely data to our customer database.

The successful candidate will be joining a high profile and ambitious team and will be able to develop a wide range of strategic planning, project management and senior stakeholder management skills while developing export opportunities for the UK. If successful you will have the opportunity to get involved in a diverse range of DBT, BHC and corporate workstreams including planning and delivering high profile visits, organising L&D activities, and engaging the business community. 

As DBT Malaysia team’s business priorities evolve, the successful candidate will potentially become involved in supporting other priority sectors/workstreams for DBT Malaysia, and a flexible approach is important.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):

Access to a proportion of DBT’s budget for travel and subsistence, L&D etc 

• Strong interest in and/or experience of clean energy/infrastructure, business and trade
• Excellent oral and written English
• Minimum of 2 years of previous work experience 
• Excellent presentation, interpersonal and networking skills
• Strong written, analytical and research skills
• Very good IT skills including Outlook, Word, PPT and Excel
• Self-Starter – ability to work well on own initiative
• Ability to work under pressure and juggle multiple priorities effectively
• Ability to conduct in-depth research and produce high quality materials against short deadlines
• Good organisational/project management skills

Language requirements:

English (mandatory fluent in both written and spoken)

Bahasa Malaysia (preferred but not essential)