View Vacancy – Programme and Policy Support Officer

Main purpose of job:

The British Embassy in Mexico City is looking for a Locally-Engaged A2(L) Programme and Policy Support Officer. The successful candidate will support the UK Government’s (HMG) work on Prosperity through efficient use of budgets and timely delivery of expected results while managing associated risks to deliver critical impacts in the UK-Mexico bilateral relationship.

We are looking for a collaborative individual with strong organisation skills and attention to detail. This position is responsible for supporting operational capabilities in finance (purchase to pay), reporting, and other administration tasks while accurately managing budgets in a dynamic landscape. The ideal candidate will have excellent communication skills to manage a complex network of internal and external stakeholders.

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

Prosperity is one of the UK’s three Foreign Policy Priorities. We seek to ‘build the UK’s prosperity by increasing exports and investment, opening markets, ensuring access to resources, and promoting sustainable global growth’.

One tool for achieving this objective is a £1.2bn five-year Cross-Government Prosperity Fund, which was launched in April 2016 to help promote economic growth in developing countries.

The Prosperity Fund Mexico Programme’s (£60m) aims to reduce poverty, improve gender equality and support inclusive economic development. It also aims to produce greater opportunities for global trade and investment, including between Mexico and the UK. It will strengthen the economy and expand markets in Mexico with a focus on 4 strategic strands of activity: 1) Energy, 2)Future Cities, 3) Financial Services, and 4)Anti-corruption and Rule of Law.

Core responsibilities of the role include:

• Provide responsive administrative support to two strands of the Mexico Prosperity Fund.
• Supporting the implementation of two of the Prosperity Fund strands, liaising with the implementing partners, the Programme Team and Virtual Teams where needed.
• Monitor, forecast and report spend against FY expectations on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. This includes liaising with another A2 Admin Support Officer, four Project Officers, four Programme Managers, the Head of the Mexico Prosperity Fund, and other teams based in London.
• Participate in the planning, projection and execution of budget while complying with relevant frameworks.
• Communicate with different stakeholders across different geographic locations to explain required inputs and timelines for successful programme implementation.
• Manage programme execution to ensure compliance with planned expenditure, based on completion of activities, targets and financial and narrative reporting under FCO Programme Management Procedures guidelines.
• Prepare regular financial and administrative reports.
• Present recommendations and updates on budget status to the Programme Managers and the Head of the Mexico Prosperity Fund.
• Lead on the budget management of the Mexico Prosperity Fund to deliver accurate, strategic and high-level programme financial analysis, ensuring implementation through the analysis and verification of systems of internal control, compliance to processes, risk management and monitoring overall programme expenditure.
• Lead on the management of the International Programme.
• Contribute to the Embassy’s policy relationships under the relevant work streams with (including but not limited to) key government stakeholders both in the UK and Mexico, as well as civil society, academia and business.
• Work with DIT colleagues to support delivery and spend of commercial activities.
• Support the wider Prosperity team, lead on a crosscutting role that will support the Prosperity Fund bilateral programme and take on Embassy corporate roles.   

We are looking for a proactive, number-savvy self-starter who can prioritise to operate in a fast-paced environment, largely unsupervised, delivering to deadlines. They will need excellent interpersonal and communications skills to build strong relations within the Embassy; in Mexico; and with stakeholders in the UK.  

Essential on arrival:

• Graduate with a university degree.
• Analytical skills / attention to detail is key for this role.
• Experience of delivering high quality reports.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Computer literate, working with Microsoft Windows and able to manage information effectively with available computer systems.

The successful candidate will be expected to embody the Embassy’s core values of Respect, Professionalism, Inclusion and Honesty.