Engagement Officer

**Details**:
**Reference number**:
208190

**Salary**:
£28,070 - £35,557

National: £28,070 - £31,824 London: £31,804 - £35,557

**Grade**:
Higher Executive Officer

**Contract type**:
Permanent

**Business area**:
DIT - Trade Negotiations: Trade Policy A

**Type of role**:
Communications / Marketing
International Trade
Policy

**Working pattern**:
Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

**Number of posts**:
2

**Contents**:
Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location

Darlington, London

About the job

**Summary**:
The UK has an ambitious programme of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to build relationships with our trading partners, break down barriers to trade - and support growth, jobs and higher wages for UK workers. To date, the UK has agreed trade deals with 70 countries plus the EU, that account for £772bn of UK bilateral trade in 2020.

This is an exciting time for UK trade policy, and the posts are positioned at the heart of ongoing developments that will shape the UK’s economic future. The post holders would join the communications and engagement sub-team within either the US trade negotiations team, or the Australia and Israel trade negotiations team.

US Trade Negotiations Team:
The US trade negotiations team works on all UK-US trade negotiations, including the recently launched UK-US Dialogues on the Future of Atlantic Trade. They also lead on negotiations for a UK-US FTA, which are currently on hold. The UK conducted 5 rounds of formal FTA negotiations with the US between May 2020 and October 2020. The UK remains ready to resume negotiations on a UK-US FTA when the US are ready to do so.

Australia and Israel Trade Negotiations Team:
The Australia and Israel Negotiations Team lead on UK trade negotiations with Australia, and also with Israel. The Australia FTA was signed in December 2021, and the team continues to support the scrutiny of the deal ahead of it coming into force. The team is also preparing to enter into trade negotiations with Israel later this year.

Communications and Engagement Role:
The communications and engagement sub-teams within the negotiation team act as the bridge between the negotiating room and the outside world. They are responsible for communicating the latest developments and negotiating successes with key stakeholders and the public at large, and are also responsible for shaping external communications and engagement programmes to best support negotiators in the room. This entails coordination and direct engagement with stakeholders, provision of briefing and support to ministers and key officials, and the drafting of internal and external communications.

To achieve these objectives, the post holders will need to form close working relationships with other policy officials across DIT and Whitehall to understand complex negotiation developments. They will also need to work with communications and engagement officials within the Department for International Trade and colleagues working at Embassies and Consulates abroad, as well as directly engaging with external stakeholders in both a proactive and reactive manner.

**Job description**:
The post-holders will be responsible for managing and responding to incoming commissions and requests relating to their respective trade agreements - from within DIT, across government, and from external stakeholders.

Specifically, the post-holder will be required to:

- Understand a wide policy brief spanning across multiple policy areas and sectors.
- Provide high-quality briefing to Ministers, Senior Civil Servants and No.10 to support an extensive programme of engagement with businesses, civil society, Parliament, the Devolved Administrations, as well stakeholders in UK trading partners.
- Deliver a programme of engagement with external stakeholders, gaining first-hand insights and helping to inform the work of the wider team.
- Monitor relevant media, political and economic developments - and report on the intelligence gathered to the wider negotiating team on a routine basis.
- Provide high-quality and timely responses to Parliamentary questions, ministerial correspondence, Freedom of Information Act requests, and media enquiries.
- Work closely with Ministerial Private Offices, colleagues in Embassies and Consulates abroad, colleagues in other departments, and external stakeholders, to deliver the above.

Priorities may change over time and the post holder would be expected to be flexible in being moved to support priority work within the Directorate and within DIT as required. The role may also involve some travel.

**Hybrid Working**

Please be aware that this role can only be worked from within the UK and not overseas.

Informal hybrid working arrangements will be available as agreed with the vacancy manager and in line with the requirements of the role.

Most DIT employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending 2-3 days a week (pro rata) in an office, on average. If your