About the job

Job summary

The Operations division reports directly to the Chief Operating Officer. The Division is formed of existing experienced staff and several new staff who have come on board in the last 3-4 years.

Premium and Data Control team (PDC)

Partnering with key stakeholders within Ops and other teams outside of Operations to ensure that all UKEF business transactions are accurately recorded and maintained on UKEF’s corporate System, Advanced Commercial Banking system (ACBS). 

Direct Lending Operations team

Ultimate responsibility for the Direct Lending portfolio, on a post signing basis, including correct booking of new facilities, accurate processing of drawdown requests, covenant monitoring and handling receipts of interest and principal.

International Debt team

Ensuring that the maximum amount of debt in respect of claims paid is recovered in a manner consistent with the Governments’ policy on debt forgiveness, through the appropriate UK representation at Paris Club where debt treatment is negotiated. Ensuring that Bilateral agreements are drafted in a timely manner and negotiations are concluded within deadline, agreements are built accurately on ACBS, and payments of sovereign debt made to UKEF are administered, and payments to customers made in timely manner. Additionally, the management of non-Paris Club sovereign debt.)

Job description

Direct Lending Operations branch (DLOps), part of Operations Division, operates UKEF’s Direct Lending (DL) portfolio, from a loan administration aspect.

The job holder will participate in the administration of the DL loan portfolio by assisting with drawing requests, core daily DL tasks such as processing receipts in respect of interest and principal payments, following up on covenants, dealing with DL enquires received by email from internal sources and externally from Agent banks and any other DL related matters that are deemed appropriate.

They will also manage updates to DL data in our DL system, as well as our loan booking system ACBS, at all stages of the lifecycle of a Facility, to ensure that corporate data is up to date and accurately represents the current loan balance and the best estimate of the future profile.

Person specification

• Assisting with the processing of DL drawings to prepare for payment to exporters/borrowers, which includes reviewing the documentation provided, checking content limits are adhered to, updating various EUD’s for limit monitoring purposes, seeking the correct authorisations for the payment and then processing the drawing in ACBS.
• Ensuring that the DL system is updated with new and existing DL facilities, changes in respect of case stage, estimated drawing profiles, actual drawings and repayments and responsible for the checking of any inputs undertaken by the EO.
• Ensuring our loan booking system (ACBS) is updated with any new facilities as well as ensuring payments of interest and principal are processed in ACBS and receipts are accepted in the Receipt Management Database (RMD) prior to updating ACBS.
• Daily monitoring and action of the DL Sharepoint diary, in relation to tasks such as CP deadline dates, availability period end dates, interest and principal repayment dates, covenants falling due or requiring chasing and any other miscellaneous tasks that require monitoring and follow up.
• Checking Agent bank calculations for upcoming interest payments against our records and system held data for correctness and feedback any discrepancies/issues to the Agent bank.
• Ensuring that Agent banks comply with the terms of the facility documentation, in relation to all operational matters, including timetables for drawings etc. and escalate any issues to either the SEO or the DL Ops Senior Manager and where instructed, liaise with the Agent bank as appropriate.
• Assisting with the completion of semi-annual and annual tasks, such as the completion of the Estimates processes and audit reporting etc.
• Assisting with ad hoc data requests received from Finance, Risk Management Group and Business Group etc.
• Assisting and provide input into various projects or initiatives relating to the DL function, including regular reviews of the DL portfolio and communication with other business areas on non-standard situations.
• Help drive change within the team by identifying areas of improvement and assist the team with the implementation of any identified improvements to processes or tasks.
• Aid the team in maintaining accurate and up to date procedure guides and process maps.
• Line management of 1-2 staff.

This list is not exhaustive, and you may be required to carry out additional duties, according to business need.

Apprenticeship opportunities

This role may be open to apprenticeship opportunities on completion of probation. If successful, your line manager will discuss with you what apprenticeship options that may be available and whether you would like to pursue them. An apprenticeship provides a great opportunity to gain a professional qualification whilst working.

 

The essential criteria can be found within the person specification in the information pack below. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,000, UK Export Finance contributes £9,990 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Ability, Experience and Technical skills.

We are assessing candidates using Success Profiles (see Appendix 1) and across the whole process we will assess your Experience, Ability, Technical aptitude and Behaviours as highlighted below.

You will be invited to complete the online application form.  The application form must be completed by 23.55 on the day of the closing date for it to be accepted.

All applications will be sifted against our minimum selection criteria outlined in the personal specification. 

You will be asked in the relevant sections of the application form to provide examples of evidence against a range of the success profiles (refer to appendix 1).  Where applicants are asked to apply with a personal statement, you should fully articulate in 750 words how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification within the Information Pack.

For the initial sift your application will be evaluated against:

1. Experience
2. Ability
3. Technical

In the event of a large number of applications at sift, there will be a pre-sift on the technical question;

• Technical Question (250 Words) - Give an example of when you were following up on a long overdue matter with a particular party and either weren’t receiving any engagement from them or you felt they didn’t understand what was required. What alternative courses of action did you consider to help resolve the matter, did you involve other colleagues/stakeholders in the process for their input/suggestions, change your communication method/style and if so, what were the eventual outcomes?

If you are successful following the sift stage, you will be invited to an initial interview; this will include the following assessment:

1. Behaviours/Technical/Experience - a formal panel interview where you will be interviewed across all four behaviours highlighted and your technical ability to successfully carry out the role.

Details of interview panel members will be e-mailed to all successful candidates who are invited for interview.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

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)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.