Head of Market Access Programme

at  Department for Business and Trade

JOB SUMMARY

Are you looking for a leadership role, delivering at the heart of one of this Government’s central missions?
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) exists to support UK economic growth, aiming to make every part of our country better off. We do this by enabling businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the country.
This is an opportunity to lead our market access programme, the whole-of-government effort to remove barriers to UK exports around the world. The scale of opportunity here is vast: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) assesses that removing non-tariff barriers with just the G20 countries could add an incredible £75 billion per year to UK exports.
This role sits within DBT’s International Strategy and Trade Relations directorate, formed in April to be the Department’s centre of geographic expertise and responsible for all of the UK’s trading relationships, bar those currently in live free trade agreement (FTA) negotiation. The role is responsible for overseeing the end-to-end process, taking issues raised by business and convening the right expertise and networks across Government to resolve them.
We are looking for a dedicated leader to join the senior management team of our EU and market access division. Alongside the global market access programme, we are responsible for the UK’s trading relationships with EU member states, some of the UK’s most important trading partners.

JOB DESCRIPTION

This is an exciting role leading work with a global reach and tangible benefits for people throughout the UK. Your mission is to grow that impact, drawing on various facets of leadership: inspiring, developing and directing your team and the wider division; engaging the rest of the Department, wider Government and our overseas network to play their part in our programme; and continually innovating the structures that ensure we deliver results for Ministers and business.

• Programme management – You will lead the team responsible for managing our market access programme. Together you are responsible for overseeing governance, monitoring and evaluation structures that enable colleagues from across Government – including our overseas network – to collaborate on identifying, scoping, prioritising and resolving billions of pounds worth of trade barriers each year. To this end, you’ll be able to work well with specialists from digital, analytical, finance and commercial backgrounds. At the same time, you’ll be skilled at influencing and understanding the needs of geographically-focussed trade policy colleagues in our directorate and the overseas network to enhance their delivery.
• Strategy – As Head of Programme Delivery, your insights, both on a practical and strategic level, will be vital as we seek to increase the economic impact our programme can have, still further. In its manifesto, this Government promised to deliver an Industrial Strategy, a Plan for Small Business, and spoke about ‘Securonomics’, all in the context of its growth mission. You will work closely with our Directorate’s central strategy function and experienced colleagues from our overseas network, among others, to develop how the market access programme can support those core pillars of this Government’s economic agenda and Growth Mission, piloting new approaches to open and shape markets. As well as evolving processes (above), this will involve working with analysts on an evaluation, drawing on those insights to implement changes successfully and making an effective case for our work in next year’s Comprehensive Spending Review.
• Leadership – You will lead a productive team of six people (2xG7, 1xSEO, 3xHEO) based across our London and Darlington offices. As well as delivering the market access programme, they are also responsible for overseeing the resolution of some of our priority market access barriers in the EU region – which provides a valuable day-to-day connection to the practical realities of removing trade barriers. You will also play a full and active role, alongside the Deputy Director for EU and Market Access, and two grade 6 peers, in ensuring we make our division something its members reflect on fondly at the end of their careers – where people grow and develop, are clear on our top priorities and work efficiently between teams.

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)

This is an exciting role leading work with a global reach and tangible benefits for people throughout the UK. Your mission is to grow that impact, drawing on various facets of leadership: inspiring, developing and directing your team and the wider division; engaging the rest of the Department, wider Government and our overseas network to play their part in our programme; and continually innovating the structures that ensure we deliver results for Ministers and business.

• Programme management – You will lead the team responsible for managing our market access programme. Together you are responsible for overseeing governance, monitoring and evaluation structures that enable colleagues from across Government – including our overseas network – to collaborate on identifying, scoping, prioritising and resolving billions of pounds worth of trade barriers each year. To this end, you’ll be able to work well with specialists from digital, analytical, finance and commercial backgrounds. At the same time, you’ll be skilled at influencing and understanding the needs of geographically-focussed trade policy colleagues in our directorate and the overseas network to enhance their delivery.
• Strategy – As Head of Programme Delivery, your insights, both on a practical and strategic level, will be vital as we seek to increase the economic impact our programme can have, still further. In its manifesto, this Government promised to deliver an Industrial Strategy, a Plan for Small Business, and spoke about ‘Securonomics’, all in the context of its growth mission. You will work closely with our Directorate’s central strategy function and experienced colleagues from our overseas network, among others, to develop how the market access programme can support those core pillars of this Government’s economic agenda and Growth Mission, piloting new approaches to open and shape markets. As well as evolving processes (above), this will involve working with analysts on an evaluation, drawing on those insights to implement changes successfully and making an effective case for our work in next year’s Comprehensive Spending Review.
• Leadership – You will lead a productive team of six people (2xG7, 1xSEO, 3xHEO) based across our London and Darlington offices. As well as delivering the market access programme, they are also responsible for overseeing the resolution of some of our priority market access barriers in the EU region – which provides a valuable day-to-day connection to the practical realities of removing trade barriers. You will also play a full and active role, alongside the Deputy Director for EU and Market Access, and two grade 6 peers, in ensuring we make our division something its members reflect on fondly at the end of their careers – where people grow and develop, are clear on our top priorities and work efficiently between teams