View Vacancy – Deputy Country Director

The Department for International Trade (DIT) at the British Embassy in Cairo invites applications for the position of Deputy Country Director grade C5 (L).

This is an exciting leadership role in the Department for International Trade (DIT) team of 10 people in Cairo. The team is one of the highest performing in Africa, and you will be given significant autonomy to drive large parts of our increasingly complex operation in Egypt.

Overview:

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.

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 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.

Main duties and responsibilities:

• Support British companies to win new trade and investment opportunities in Egypt.
• As part of the DIT Leadership team, help to shape DIT activity in Egypt, identifying and regularly reviewing priorities for trade, outward investment, trade policy and market access work streams, ensuring that these are fully aligned to the Africa Regional Trade Plan.
• Lead on pulling together briefing and points to make for the PM’s Trade Envoy, Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner and the Ambassador.
• Regularly update the Africa Export and Investment Pipeline and ensure wins are logged onto Data Hub.
• Prepare for quarterly reviews and regular updates to DIT Africa SLT.
• Coordinate the team’s Overseas Direct Investment campaign, managing strategic relationships with the UK investors in market and driving a strategy to attract new British investment to Egypt as part of the UK commitment to become the largest G7 investor in Africa by 2022.  In doing this you will work very closely with the Market Access Adviser, who coordinates the interface with Egyptian partners.
• Provide strategic oversight to a number of sector specific export/investment campaigns lead by the team’s trade advisers, ensuring campaigns have clear objectives, and a clear pipeline of deals and activities in place to achieve those objectives.
• Deputise for the Country Director where required, ensuring that senior stakeholders including the Ambassador and the Trade Commissioner for Africa based in Johannesburg are fully briefed on and active in support of DIT’s objectives in Egypt.
• Oversee the organisation of visits and trade missions, including by trade ministers, the Trade Commissioner and the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy
• Manage an events schedule in support of the country business plan, leveraging the HM Trade Commissioner, Deputy Trade Commissioners, Heads of Mission and Trade Envoys.
• Develop and maintain a network of high value trade and investment relationships in Egypt, including in the Egyptian government and the local British and Egyptian business community.
• Organise the quarterly British Investors Forum with key investors in Egypt.
• Promote, where relevant, the financing products offered by UK Export Finance, the British government’s Export Credit Agency, to support companies win contracts;
• Oversee the creation and implementation of a cross sector Green Economy strategy, that will align with Climate Change as a key campaign goal of the Embassy’s Egypt Country Plan
• Liaise with other areas of UK government, especially the embassy prosperity committee, and provide advice and guidance on trade, investment and trade policy issues, ensuring that commercial offers are complementary to our political and programme support.
• Manage the local devolved budget, ensuring financial and staff resources are deployed effectively in support of DIT priorities, the achievement of challenging targets and the identification of future opportunities.

The role is subject to change as sector priorities develop. The above list is not exhaustive and the jobholder will be required to be flexible and take on other ad hoc tasks as required. The job description may be reviewed to meet changes in business needs.

Key Competences:

• Changing and Improving – People who are effective in this area are responsive, innovative and seek out opportunities to create effective change. It’s about being open to change, suggesting ideas for improvements to the way things are done, and working in ‘smarter’, more focused ways.
• Achieving Commercial Outcomes – Being effective in this area is about maintaining an economic, long-term focus in all activities. It’s about having a commercial, financial and sustainable mind-set to ensure all activities and services are delivering added value and working to stimulate economic growth.
• Building Capability for All – Effectiveness in this area is having a strong focus on continuous learning for oneself, others and the organisation. It’s being open to learning, about keeping one’s own knowledge and skill set current and evolving.
• Managing a Quality Service – Effectiveness in this area is about being organised to deliver service objectives and striving to improve the quality of service, taking account of diverse customer needs and requirements. 

• Postgraduate degree and/or undergraduate degree and other relevant professional qualification
• At least 10 years professional work experience
• Relevant work experience in the private sector, or within a private-sector orientated part of Government or International Organisation
• Experience of working in or with government departments, NGOs, and similar institutions
• Proven track record of cross-team collaboration
• Proven client facing experience, for example with an investment promotion agency or professional services firm
• Fluency in the language of business and investment
• A positive, resilient, flexible and adaptable “can-do” attitude that can see way through challenges
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills, ability to work successfully in multicultural teams and across boundaries, to build networks across the region
• Excellent drafting skills