View Vacancy – SRR – Trade Officer, Financial & Professional Services (FPS) and Investment A2(L)

The British Embassy Riyadh has a vacancy for a Trade Officer, Financial & Professional Services (FPS) and Investment under the Department for International Trade (DIT) for a fixed-term contract of two (2) years.

The Department for International Trade (DIT) is the British Government’s trade and investment development organisation. Its aim is to enhance the competitiveness of companies in the UK through overseas trade and investments; and attract a continuing high-level of quality foreign direct investment into the UK. We work with UK based businesses to ensure their success in international markets and encourage overseas companies to bring their high-quality investment to the UK.

DIT has a network of three trade teams in Saudi Arabia (in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Al Khobar) that work closely together to deliver services to our customers. The main purpose of the job advertised is to help support UK companies that are seeking to develop their business through trade with Saudi Arabia.

The role entails engaging and supporting a wide range of UK financial and professional services institutions including: investment banks, fund managers, fintechs, pension funds, venture capital and private equity firms, legal firms, and the London Stock Exchange. The jobholder will provide support to the Senior Trade Advisor but will also have a high degree of responsibility in generating and maintaining local and UK business contacts, identifying new business opportunities, and providing other campaign activity including Embassy events.

The jobholder will also need to be flexible as specific sector responsibilities could change in the future and this would be at the discretion of the DIT KSA Director.

Duties and responsibilities:

The jobholder will contribute to the design, management, and implementation of the day-to-day strategy of securing business wins for UK companies within the DIT FPS and Investment Sector across the Kingdom by:

• Developing and engaging a wide range of relationships in Saudi client organisations and the Kingdom’s private sector to understand and promote commercial opportunities in the FPS and Investment Sector;
• Providing DIT and Sector specialists with in-country support including (but not limited to) official programmes, trade missions, events, and trade shows;
• Providing support to private sector stakeholders, promoting opportunities within UK plc seeking to increase UK commercial wins and meet DIT targets within the FPS and Investment Sector;
• Providing market analysis and guidance on doing business in Saudi Arabia. Briefing both individual visitors and groups of UK companies on the characteristics of the Saudi market;
• Providing logistical support with external engagements, set up meetings, input into briefings, capture meeting and follow up notes on a timely basis; help maintain/ develop the investor database, liaise with the capital and growth teams in HQ and across the Gulf. Help to promote direct and fund investment opportunities to selected investors, organise strategic engagements and events (e.g., investor dinners, roadshows etc.), monitor and share key investor news to help the wider team in developing relationships with investors;
• Providing market analysis and guidance on doing business in Saudi Arabia. Briefing both individual visitors and groups of UK companies on the characteristics of the Saudi market;
• Support on the delivery of the virtual and physical ‘Trade Missions’ with precision and dedication.
• Send invites and coordinate with the Marketing Hub. Support on logistics plans for both missions and visits and deliver quality events. Supporting on the follow up interactions from the events;
• Manage and support FDI queries and pipeline.

The above list is not exhaustive and the jobholder will be required to be flexible and take on other ad hoc tasks as required, including participating in the Embassy’s emergency planning and any other response to a crisis affecting UK citizens.

Key competencies required:

• Managing a Quality Service – Valuing and modelling professional excellence and expertise to deliver service objectives and striving to improve the quality of service, taking account of diverse customer needs and requirements. Effectively planning, organising, and managing time and activities to deliver a high-quality, secure, reliable, and efficient service, applying programme and project and risk management approaches to support service delivery.
• Achieving Commercial Outcomes – Having a commercial, financial, and sustainable mind-set to ensure all activities and services are delivering benefit and working to stimulate economic growth. Maintaining an economic, long-term focus in all activities.
• Delivering at Pace – Focusing on delivering timely performance with energy and taking responsibility and accountability for quality outcomes. Working to agreed goals and activities and dealing with challenges in a responsive and constructive way.
• Collaborating and Partnering – Being a team player who creates and maintains positive, professional, and trusting working relationships with a wide range of people within and outside the organisation to help get business done. Working collaboratively, sharing information appropriately, and building supportive, responsive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders, whilst having the confidence to challenge assumptions.

• Have a proven record of organisational ability and good time management skills. Ability to multitask and juggle several projects/ tasks at the same, and adapt to a dynamic and fast-moving sector such as FPS.
• Demonstrates being proactive in supporting colleagues (Senior Trade Advisor/ Head of Investments) on business activities such as events, marketing, investor follow-ups, roadshows, trade missions, etc.
• Team player who is also capable of working on their own initiative. Strong customer focus and ability to deliver quality service.
• Able to make sensible decisions and act swiftly on urgent and important tasks. Being creative and proactive in putting forth suggestions that would improve/ enhance efficiency within their own job remit and the wider team.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to develop and maintain a range of contacts to build effective working relationships. Demonstrates a collaborative approach to colleagues and stakeholder partnerships and supporting others to deliver results.
• Excellent communication skills (both written and oral) in English. Able to express ideas and messages clearly and concisely.
• Strong IT computer skills using Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams) and internet applications.