About the job

Job summary

Origination and Client Coverage (OCC) is the internationally facing business development and client relationship arm of UKEF. We are primarily responsible for delivering new business opportunities in overseas markets suitable for UKEF financing and ensuring delivery of the department’s Global Client Coverage strategy. We do this by:

• Engaging with British exporters and overseas buyers to build up the business pipeline of opportunities suitable for UKEF support.
• Developing business development strategies for overseas markets of interest by connecting with current and potential clients both in the UK and globally.
• Coordinating the activities of our international team of export finance executives based in British Missions across the world.
• Collaborating across Whitehall, working closely with DBT, HMT, FCDO and others to make sure the UKEF offer is front and centre in HMGs trade promotion and diplomatic activities.

Job description

We are looking for a dynamic senior business development officer to support our international engagement and new project development activities. You will be working in an outward facing team based in London which acts as a HQ to colleagues across the globe. We regularly travel overseas to engage with foreign buyers, including governments and corporates as well as financial institutions.

The role will be highly varied, but an example day might look like:

• Meet with incoming delegation from a key contractor in the Civil & Infrastructure sector, support your Regional Head contributing to the discussion on financing support they could access for their projects.
• Hold regular virtual team meeting with a large-scale renewable energy developer to discuss their future strategy and growth plans and how to position the UK supply chain in support of their net zero ambitions.
• Speak to a solar farm company in Croatia seeking financing, review their financial accounts for a rough opinion before deciding to refer to UKEF credit analysts.
• Write a briefing note for an upcoming Ministerial visit to an overseas market where a key exporter you are working with is headquartered.

You will report to and work with Regional Heads each of whom have responsibility for UKEF activities in selected geographies. The role requires a self-starter who can support our business development activities in given markets and would require some overseas travel.

Person specification

Why you should apply for this role.

“Having joined the Origination and Client Coverage Team back in late 2021 I soon found working in business development in UKEF to be an exciting and fulfilling role.

From the onset it was clear to me that working at UKEF offered plenty of unique experiences which would help me have a first-hand impact on strategic elements of government policy alongside helping my personal career development.

As a Senior Business Development Officer, I played a key role in identifying business opportunities, helping UK exports win new contracts overseas, bringing the expertise of the UK supply chain to new global audiences. Beyond this, the role enabled me to play a part in developing strong commercial ties with key overseas counterparts by helping them access competitive financing when they procure from the UK.

For somebody that studied International Trade Theory at university it was brilliant to experience what I had studied! Even more so through the eyes of the Origination and Client Coverage team who are at the forefront of the transactions UKEF executes.

Working in a predominantly international facing team you get the chance to collaborate with many overseas colleagues, not just UKEF’s network of Country Heads but also colleagues based internationally with The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and The Department for Business and Trade. The role itself is fast paced, varied, and requires tenacity. It is fair to say that no two days are the same and getting exposure to such a broad range of experiences have really helped me to develop in both a personal and professional capacity.

With such a commercial mandate UKEF is uniquely positioned, straddling the private and public world allowing employees to experience some of the best elements of both!”

The main responsibilities of the role include:

• Raising awareness of the financial support we can provide to overseas buyers of UK exports, including presenting at events and in client meetings.
• Engage with customers to understand their forward-looking priorities – through relationship meetings, market research and views from relationship financial institutions.
• Mapping closed deals with key customers (UKEF deals, other ECA and multilateral financings) to inform strategy and relationship going forward.
• Working closely with the UKEF international network based overseas. It will include helping your Regional Head in supporting and managing these overseas colleagues.
• Directly supporting and briefing senior government stakeholders, including Ambassadors, High Commissioners, Trade Envoys and Trade Commissioners at events and meetings in the UK and overseas.
• With your Regional Head, shaping our strategy to bring in new business and open new markets and sectors for the key external stakeholders that you will be working with and in the geographies you will cover.
• Evaluating potential projects suitable for UKEF support. This will include initial analysis of project and credit risks.
• Guide exporters and overseas buyers on accessing UKEF finance, and what is needed to meet our eligibility and risk parameters.
• Ensuring our deal pipeline (SalesForce) is well managed, and all internal reporting is accurate and high quality.
• Producing presentation materials and briefings for client meetings.
• Preparing country briefings, strategy papers and market and sector analyses and research, and liaising with other teams and government departments.

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

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,890, UK Export Finance contributes £11,850 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, Experience and Technical skills.

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
4. Behaviours

In the event of large number of applications, your application will be sifted against the lead behaviour Communicating and Influencing.

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.

Technical - a short presentation (this will be on a topic determined by UKEF and will need to be prepared in advance). 

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.