HM Consul General (HMCG) in New York and HM Trade Commissioner (HMTC) North America (US and Canada)

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 3rd March 2024

Reference number: 333582

Salary: £120,000

The salary for this role will be up to £120,000 per annum, depending on the successful candidate's particular skills and experience. Existing Civil Servants will be appointed in line with the normal Civil Service pay rules.

A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Contract type: Fixed term, Loan, Secondment

Length of employment: 4 years

Working pattern: Flexible working, Full-time

Location: New York

About the job

To direct HMG's work on trade and investment across North America as an area critical to the UK's economic interests and to represent HMG across the political, consular, soft power spheres to the dynamic and powerful New York consular region.

The combined role's primary focus is prosperity - advancing the UK's trade and investment interests, promoting our economic reputation, developing science and innovation links, advocating for free trade and projecting our climate action agenda. Top level representational and communications work (promoting the UK and its activities), high quality political networking and reporting (NYC is a political centre in its own right) and careful oversight of a sustained consular workload are also key elements of the role.

As HMTC you will be one of nine key leaders of DBT's overseas network, delivering HMG's investment, export and trade policy priorities in two of our most significant markets; the US and Canada.

Job description

The HMCG/HMTC role is hugely rewarding, based in one of the world's most vibrant cities that is critical to UK's economic interests and our reputation as a global player, and the financial centre of the United States. The US is the UK's largest bilateral trade and investment partner accounting for 19% of UK exports and 27% of foreign direct investment. Post-Brexit, the UK's relationship with the US is arguably even more important. US investment sustains well over one million jobs in the UK; UK investors in the US employ a similar number of Americans. NYC is also a global leader in tech, advanced manufacturing, and the creative arts. The consular district covers: New York State, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Fairfield County in Connecticut.

Visible, inspiring, and strategic operational leadership to a large network across the US and Canada (160 people, 14 locations) to deliver His Majesty's Government (HMG) priorities, working closely with HM Ambassador to the US, High Commissioner to Canada, Tech Envoy based in San Francisco and Consul Generals across the US. As a member of DBT's leadership team, contribute to the strategic and operational direction of the department.

Prosperity: Building and maintaining relationships with senior business and economic leaders through regular travel across US and Canada with impact on UK prosperity (in New York the financial and professional services, creative industries and tech sectors are particularly important).

Development and delivery of an ambitious Regional Trade Plan coordinated with the DBT sector and regional teams to ensure British businesses and the UK economy gain maximum commercial benefit from engagement in the region in support of HMG's export and investment ambitions, contributing to the Prime Minister's levelling up, net-zero and science & technology agenda.

Political: Establishing a strong network of political players in New York and the region, both on domestic and foreign policy (New York has long been politically influential).

Leading the US and Canada-based work on market access and trade negotiations at Federal and State/Provincial level (supported by the teams in Washington DC and Ottawa); leading regional policy initiatives to improve the business environment for UK companies, as well as identifying strategies to unlock trade barriers in specific sectors.

A strong corporate role as a senior leader in the US Network, working with His Majesty's Ambassador and Deputy Head of Mission in Washington to drive change. With the Permanent Representative (PR) in UK Mission to UN in New York, the posts operate a Joint Management Board chaired by the HMCG and PR.

Oversight of a busy consular operation, given the numbers of British residents in New York and the region and the high numbers of UK visitors each year.

Crisis preparedness and leadership in the NY consular district.

The role has a busy representational aspect, including making full use of an iconic British Residence in New York to host a wide variety of events and visitors to promote British interests. New York is a magnet for top level visitors from the UK, each year seeing visits from members of the Royal Family, the Prime Minister and other members of the Cabinet around the UN General Assembly meetings, along with many ministers and officials throughout the year. Putting together imaginative programmes which advance UK interests and hosting the visitors is an important part of the HMCG role.

Public diplomacy and communications work are also a significant part of the job. New York is a vibrant, global player on the media scene and therefore provides an effective platform to promote the UK's prosperity and wider interests to a large audience.

Person specification

The Civil Service is open to talented people from any career background and where possible we will always seek to identify transferable skills from the individual's experience. To help you succeed in this role, you will likely have the following:

Essential Criteria:

• A track record of successful and high impact leadership and effective change management at a senior level within government and/or other large scale, complex organisations, building a collaborative and inclusive culture, developing high-performing geographically dispersed teams and managing resources effectively to achieve organisational goals.
• Experience of international trade, prosperity, and investment policy challenges along with evidence of delivering within this demanding environment.
• Outstanding communication skills, with the ability to convey messages effectively to a range of different audiences, including CEOs of prominent companies, through the media and to the public, and to represent and promote the UK's national interest using multiple communication channels and opportunities.
• Evidence of the ability to lead and manage a fast-moving, sensitive and complex portfolio, working constructively and collaboratively across organisational boundaries and thinking strategically to set direction.
• Proven success in networking and building relationships at a very senior level (such as Board, C-Suite or Ministerial level), showing evidence of the ability to work with sound judgement, commercial awareness, cultural sensitivity, diplomacy, and discretion in both political and high-level commercial environments.
• Knowledge of key commercial sectors including financial services, creative industries, energy, life sciences and advanced manufacturing.

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