About the job

Job summary

The Department for Business and Trade is leading preparations for the UK’s participation at Expo 2025 Osaka, taking place 13 April 2025 - 13 October 2025. The Expo provides a unique opportunity to promote the UK’s global leadership, economy, culture, businesses and international policies on a global stage. The event is expected to attract around 28 million visitors overall and will be an important milestone showing the importance of foreign policy bilateral relationships between the UK and Japan.  

The Roles   

These are exciting roles working as part of the team leading the planning and delivery of the Osaka Expo 2025 – a high-profile, cross-Whitehall project with a budget of between £40-70 million.  

We are operating within tight timescales to be able to design and construct a Pavilion in Japan and deliver our presence at World Expo Osaka 2025. DBT is expanding the project delivery team to ensure the UK Pavilion and the event management programme is delivered to achieve its objectives, on time and on budget.   

Roles 

These roles are in the UK pavilion’s Creative Content and Event Programme team. The successful candidate will be responsible for one of these roles:  

• Ensuring the International Content Design Supply (ICDS) supplier delivers the conceptual content and creative aspects of the UK pavilion. 
• Supporting to deliver the Pavilion Events Programme for the UK’s presence at the Osaka Expo.  
• Ensuring project management principles and tools are used effectively to support the successful delivery of the Creative Content and Events Programme.  

There will be a requirement to ensure Government, Sponsors and Business are engaged and high-quality delivery of UK presence at Expo 2025 is on time and on budget. 

Job description

Role 1: Creative Content Officer 

• Support the ICDS supplier ensuring HMG’s objectives and ambitions are fully woven into the content design for UK Pavilion. 
• Continuously managing and evaluating progress and development of content across the project including with HMG partners and sponsors. 
• Support stakeholder engagement managing internal and external relationships, communicating expectations, ensuring the project’s aims are at the forefront of all engagement.  

Role 2: Events Officer  

• Support the design, develop, and manage the delivery of the high profile events programme for UK presence at Osaka 2025 in conjunction with variety of key stakeholders including OGD funders, sponsors and Post.  
• Support the design of the Specification for any Events Management Contract that will be required to support the Pavilions programme and have oversight of  delivery of that contract once in place. 

Role 3: Project Support Officer  

• Support the development and implementation of cross cutting operations workstreams and governance to ensure seamless coordination of all engagement at Expo. 
• Support planning and dependency management across the team and develop project processes and standards for managing risks and issues, alongside providing secretariat support for the projects Creative Steering Committee.  
• Support on producing a project evaluation and lessons learned report for project closure at the end of Expo.  

Essential Criteria:

• All Roles: Experience of multiple stakeholder management with the ability to develop and maintain professional relationships working with contractors and partners to ensure successful delivery of project aims and objectives. Experience of working flexibly across teams to ensure objectives are met.  
• Role 3: Experience in delivering projects and campaigns, managing delivery and implementation, including the management of key project-wide priorities and dependencies being delivered by wider stakeholders and understanding how to identify risks and issues. Experience on implementing robust governance in complex delivery environments.  
• Roles 1&2: Insight into developing and managing the delivery of public facing events and cultural experiences that encourage audiences to travel, study and do business in the UK. Raising public perceptions of the UK internationally. 

Person specification

Personal Attributes & Skills:

• A self-starter who can deliver in a fast-paced project environment, inspiring others to make things happen. 
• Be able to collaborate across teams and where there are conflicting interests, be flexible and pragmatic to broker compromises between teams, recognising the sensitivities.  
• Be adaptable to work flexibly across the project to lean in on priorities and relief pressure on other teams when necessary.  

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,858, Department for Business and Trade contributes £8,872 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, Strengths and Experience.

Interviews for this vacancy will be conducted virtually. We will, however, consider in-person interviews by exception.

Please ensure that you check your emails regularly as all updates from us will be sent to you this way.

To apply for this post, you will be asked to complete the following as part of the online application:    

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Provide employment history that relates to the essential criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages. 
• A Personal Statement of up to 750 words, outlining your eligibility for this vacancy.

It is likely that the sift will take place 1-2 weeks after the closing date and interviews 3-5 weeks after the closing date though this is subject to change. 

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial short sift will be conducted based on Personal Statements only. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.   

Reasonable Adjustments

We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process. In order to request an adjustment: 

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section on the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. 

Alternatively contact the Government Recruitment Service at DBTrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.  

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Candidate Support

You may want to join a virtual Candidate Support Session. These sessions include helpful tips and advice on the recruitment process, from application to interview.  

Please see attached Candidate Pack for further information on: Diversity and Inclusion; Benefits; Learning and Development; Working Patterns and what we deliver as a department. 

Further Information:

• A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Reserve Lists will be for each location and appointments made in merit order based on location preferences.   
• Any move to the Department for Business and Trade from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments.
• The Department will not consider sponsoring a visa or issuing a Certificate of Sponsorship. We are unable to offer advice on any Visa and Immigration cases.  
• New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.  
• Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty. Any applicant who has details held on the IFD will be refused employment.   
• A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.  
• Terms and Conditions are attached.  Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service /Disclosure Scotland/Access NI on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. 

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk 

For further information on the Access NI confidential checking service telephone: the Access NI Helpline on 0300 200 7888 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email accessni@ani.x.gsi.gov.uk 

Feedback

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.