Economic Adviser, Trade Agreements and Policy Analysis

at  Department for Business and Trade

JOB SUMMARY

This is an exciting time to join the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) as we promote British trade and investment across the world.
The Trade Agreements and Policy Analysis team provide high-quality evidence to support the negotiation of trade policy instruments which enhance trade and investment with the UK’s key partners.
This post is for a lead analyst to provide evidence to support negotiation around international procurement and environmental impacts of trade. The successful candidate would be responsible for working with trade negotiators and policy makers working in the procurement and environment space to ensure they have the best possible evidence to support their decision making.
The post offers the opportunity to work at the heart of delivering on a Government priority and to use your analytic skills to directly shape trade and investment policy and negotiations. It’s a job that requires the ability to build a strong relationship with policy customers, applying analysis to policy problems.

JOB DESCRIPTION

You will be leading, planning and delivering the programme of economic analysis to support the UKs policy and negotiation position on procurement and the environmental impacts of trade agreements:

• Providing negotiators and policy makers with the evidence and analysis needed to inform their decision making.
• Providing evidence to use in negotiations, attending negotiation sessions where necessary to present and defend analysis.
• Take overall ownership of the evidence base on procurement and environmental impacts, identifying evidence gaps and undertaking or commissioning work to fill those gaps as required.
• Leading a team, currently containing two assistant analysts, to support this work programme. Taking responsibility for the overall output of the team while also supporting the wellbeing and development of team members.

Essential criteria

We are looking for someone who:

• Is able to produce analysis to support decision makers and is comfortable making judgements using limited or imperfect data.
• Is able to manage a programme of analytical work, dealing with tight deadlines and prioritising between competing work streams.
• Is able to build and maintain excellent relationships with policy customers and understand their analytical needs.

Desirable criteria

It would be helpful, but not essential if you have:

• Knowledge of trade economics.
• Management experience

PERSON SPECIFICATION

We are looking for someone who is:

• Highly motivated to lead a team.
• Interested in being closely involved with trade negotiation.
• Analytically curious.

We are looking for proactive individuals who combine strong analytical skills with exceptional leadership. You will need to be a team player who enjoys working closely with policy makers to understand the decisions they need to make and how analysis can support them. You will need to be a strong analyst capable of becoming an expert in your area.

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Government Economic Service (GES) - Application of knowledge
• Government Economic Service (GES) - Analysis of data
• Government Economic Service (GES) – Effective communication

QUALIFICATIONS

A first or upper second-class honours degree in economics (or international equivalent), or a postgraduate degree in economics. If it is a joint degree, at least 50% of the course modules must be in economics.

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Analytical
Economist