Senior Policy and Strategy Adviser - WTO and Multilateral

at  Department for Business and Trade

JOB SUMMARY

This is an exciting time to join the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). The work we do has a real impact on jobs and growth across the United Kingdom. Our Vision is to champion open and fair global trading that drives growth, creates better jobs and higher wages, and improves living standards in this country and around the world.
We are an international department based in 108 countries, and we work closely with our colleagues worldwide. Working in DBT you will have the opportunity to shape the UK’s international growth agenda for years to come.
The Multilateral and WTO Trade Policy Team is responsible for influencing global rules and managing the UK’s relationship with the WTO and other multilateral fora, using the UK’s independent voice to advocate for and reform the rules based international system. The team sits within DBT’s Economic Security and Trade Relations Group.
We are recruiting for a senior policy adviser in the Policy and Strategy branch in the World Trade Organization (WTO) & Multilateral Team. In this role, you will be responsible for driving a strategic approach to Multilateral and WTO work ensuring clear objectives are delivered upon through a number of policy, strategy and engagement levers. You will be responsible for ensuring a coherent approach to UK activity at the WTO, including leading UK policy and strategy preparations for Ministerial Conferences and the General Council. In this role, you will engage regularly with colleagues across HMG, our diplomatic network, and officials in other WTO Members’ administrations. You will need to work closely with the MWTO programme team to ensure coherence of activity, and to making connections across workstreams to support WTO day-to-day activity. You will also work closely with seniors to support overall delivery and progress reporting up to Ministers. This is a unique opportunity to sit at the heart of trade policy and delivery, working to deliver UK objectives across a number of high-profile forums and cohering and driving multilateral trade policy to deliver tangible outcomes. You will be uniquely placed to provide strategic challenge on the work of the department and ensure multilateral policy and engagement is part of a joined up, coherent and strategic programme of work. You will need to be able to flex in line with business need, in adapting the role to support the cycle of WTO Ministerial Conference preparations.

JOB DESCRIPTION

• Work with experts across policy areas, including other departments, in developing the UK’s multilateral trade strategy and setting strategic objectives for the WTO.
• Drive the implementation of the department’s multilateral strategic priorities, embedding the vision and objectives and driving coordination and coherence of UK activity within a defined programme of work across diverse policy teams.
• Work with a programme team to oversee delivery of strategic objectives and develop products and processes to support effective ways of working.
• Lead strategy and policy preparation for WTO Ministerial Conferences, General Councils and Trade Negotiation Committees, working closely with a small programme team to translate strategy into delivery.
• Provide constructive critical challenge across a range of policy areas to ensure policy development and live negotiations and other day-to-day work at the WTO supports the delivery of strategic objectives
• Prepare and support senior officials and ministers for high profile multilateral meetings to deliver UK multilateral trade policy objectives including the WTO Ministerial Conference and General Council.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with colleagues within DBT and across government in particular FCDO, DCMS, DEFRA, HMT, Cabinet Office and UKMis Geneva to help co-ordinate and deliver the UK’s policy priorities.
• Lead drafting of briefings, submissions and cross-government communications to inform decisions by Ministers and senior officials.
• There will also be line management responsibilities.

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)

Policy