British High Commission Hiring For Senior Trade Adviser – Education Services & Skills, Grade – HEO, Kolkata at Kolkata, West Bengal Full Time

Note: All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the complete online application form including the employment and educational details, experience-based segment and the behaviours and technical/ professional skills-based questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the application forms only for all the required details. Forms that are incomplete in any respect will not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.’

Main purpose of job:

Background: Based in the British Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, this role is an exciting opportunity to work with business and government in an international setting, within an India-wide Education team at the UK Department for Business & Trade (DBT). DBT secures UK and global prosperity by promoting and financing international trade and investment, and championing free trade, and will soon start negotiating a new Free Trade Agreement with India.

Education is a vital sector for the UK-India trading relationship. The team covers sectors such Ed-Tech, Technical & Vocational Education, Skilling, Higher Education, & International Schools, and other related areas. Within Ed-Tech, the focus would be on Futuristic technologies that would leverage on the fast-growing Indian digital landscape. This is a large and challenging area to operate in but one with plenty of opportunity for India and UK collaboration.  

The job holder will support UK edtech companies by connecting them to the relevant partners or customers in India. The job holder will be responsible to develop partnerships between the UK & India in the Skilling & Higher Education space across various sectors. This would require the job holder to work closely with stakeholders like Leading Central & State Govt Universities, Private Universities, and Central & State Govt Skilling Departments. The job holder would also work closely with regulatory bodies such as the UGC, AIU, MHRD, and AICTE.  

The incumbent will be expected to focus specifically on developing a pipeline of UK export projects and wider market development, as well as supporting the sector and cluster manager within Kolkata.

As a Senior Trade Officer, you will be responsible for leading and effectively delivering events, strategies and activities based in Eastern India. You will also be responsible for establishing and maintaining relations with companies, trade associations, and multipliers. The job entails working closely with and supporting your colleagues in the wider team.

The job holder will have to work on the three pillars: Commercial opportunities, Market Development and Market Access. You will bring with you, or demonstrate how you would quickly acquire, an in-depth knowledge of the Education sector, ideally both in the UK and India.  You will support a strategy based on this knowledge to turn the long-term potential of the sector into a pipeline of opportunities for UK business.  To do so, you will identify and build relationships within the sector and build a pipeline of validated projects for UK business, particularly large or high-value deals which would require UK government support or involvement to win.  You will then work with the DBT team in the UK and in other markets to bring UK companies to India and support them to win business, delivering towards the UK government’s commercial targets and wider trade objectives.

Your role will be high profile and with responsibility.  You will be a voice for the UK government and industry in the sector; you will be expected to gain access to the most senior levels within Indian industry and government if necessary, using His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner, Deputy High Commissioners and other senior staff throughout India.  You will be a self-starter who can demonstrate a long-term objective; plan and manage a delivery model; identify, grow and make effective use of stakeholders.   You will work with colleagues within DBT in India and elsewhere, with other UK government colleagues, Indian government(s), business and other multipliers (trade associations, etc.). 

 The team in DBT focuses on:

• Supporting UK Education/Skills exports to India across sectors; providing advice and assistance to UK companies looking to invest and operate in India; identifying commercial partnership opportunities, both in the UK and India.
• Key responsibilities will include supporting current and future scoping of export opportunities for UK business, including public tenders, if any, at every stage from facilitating introductions of organisations through to the winning of contracts/closing of deals and identifying trade policy and market access issues and leading on discussions to overcome these.

We reserve the right to review, revise or amend the roles and responsibilities from time to time reflecting the changing needs of business.

Roles and responsibilities-

Market development and Business opportunities (60%)

• Create, validate, plan and deliver a strategy for enhancing the bilateral trading relationship within the Education sector, and within related sub-sectors. 
• Identify, validate and deliver a pipeline of high value projects and opportunities; plan and deliver activities to connect UK business to these opportunities and provide bespoke support to UK companies to win business.  In doing so, meet DBT’s internal targets (trade policy, strategic relationship management business wins, return on investment and customer satisfaction/quality).
• Within the Education team, build and manage senior level relationships with companies, government departments, trade associations and multipliers in the UK and Western India.
• Research and identify high-value Education/Skills exports opportunities for the UK companies, support UK companies to get access to these opportunities and win significant contracts in India.
• Assist UK companies to increase Education/Skills exports to and invest in India, find new partners and safeguard investments.
• Support overseas direct investments from UK companies in India.
• Work in close coordination with various stakeholders such as the wider DBT and UK network in India, DBT teams in HQ, International Trade Advisers, senior-decision makers of Education companies in the UK and India, and various departments of Government at the State and Central levels to deliver DBT sector campaign and wider HMG objectives.

Market Access and Policy Support (20%)

• Work with trade policy and market access colleagues to overcome trade barriers being faced by UK companies.

Delegations and Ministerial Visits (20%)

• Support UK business delegations visiting India and Indian business delegations visiting the UK by organising various events and meetings.
• Support senior managers, including UK Ministers, HM Trade Commissioner and other senior management, providing them with high-quality briefing and advice with an aim to strengthen relationships with senior local contacts and further facilitate towards achieving the objectives of the team and DBT.
• Lead and effectively deliver events and activities based in Eastern India.

To be successful:

• You will have an in depth understanding of the Education sector – knowledge of both in India and the UK context and a strong network on the ground would be preferred. You will use your good analytical skills to apply this to identifying significant market opportunities for UK business and then supporting them to turn these into opportunities.
• You will need to be strategically aware to identify emerging opportunities in the sector, as well as relevant trends in the UK and emerging potential exports and investments into India.
• You will have strong interpersonal skills and be capable of setting the direction for yourself and those around you, gaining their trust and respect – while working within a virtual team located across India.
• You will have experience of developing productive relationships with senior decision-makers, stakeholders and partners, and of using these to deliver your objectives; and
• You will need to be collaborative and flexible, and able to manage yourself and the demands on you. You will also lead on sector specific communication.
• You will have good project management skills to deliver campaigns; and excellent English written and verbal communication skills. You will be expected to produce written work into a high standard.

Language requirements: Language: English, Bengali/Hindi/other languages (optional)

Level of language required: Excellent spoken and written English and, spoken Hindi/Bengali is desirable.

Learning and development opportunities (and any specific training courses to be completed):

The British High Commission in India and the Department for Business & Trade offer excellent training opportunities to employees. A successful candidate will be asked to complete an induction course and further training will be offered tailored to individual needs. The candidate will need to travel within India and internationally, with opportunities to travel to the UK for sector related events and training courses. 

Any other information (or specific local Post requirements):

You will occasionally be required to support activities and events outside of normal working hours and have to travel, depending on business needs.