JOB SPECIFICATION

OFFICIAL
JOB SPECIFICATION
Job Title/ Position Code
Visits and Bilateral Officer/ APD.BJ.Political.B3(L).6.2
Section
Political
Post
British Embassy Beijing
Line Manager Position
Senior Bilateral Officer, C4(L)
Jobholder Grade
B3(L)
Jobholder Start Date
As soon as possible
Duration of
Employment
Duration if FixedTerm/Short-Term
Fixed-term
1 year (renewable)
MAIN PURPOSE OF JOB
The Bilateral Team forms the spine of the China network, supporting different thematic teams and working closely
with the Ambassador to drive the long-term development of the bilateral relationship. The team’s focus is
predominantly at the national level, but it also works closely with the Consulates, Regional Cities, and
Communications networks to amplify UK messaging across China.
The job holder will need to engage confidently with staff at all levels and develop close working relationships with
stakeholders across the Embassy and China network, as well as with London stakeholders and external contacts.
Within the team, the jobholder will report to the C4(L) Senior Bilateral Officer.
The job holder will use our programme of set-piece dialogues and ministerial visits to drive forward the bilateral
agenda and deliver priorities across the full range of our business plan objectives. He/She will design and deliver
high-impact programmes for FCO ministers, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on China, and some cross-cutting
visits. For Prime Ministerial Summits and VIP visits, the jobholder will be the China network’s logistics lead,
recruiting and managing a team of visits volunteers to deliver the visit and liaising directly with No.10 and other
senior UK stakeholders.
Excellent problem solving and judgement skills are essential as the jobholder will frequently need to respond to
unforeseen obstacles, including last minute changes to visit programmes. The jobholder will ensure consistently
high-standards for visits by proactively offering advice to colleagues across the Embassy, running visits training
sessions, and capturing and sharing best practice. When required, the jobholder will support on visits led by other
Embassy teams, particularly on logistics and protocol issues.
The jobholder will act as the first point of contact for enquiries to the Bilateral Team from across the Embassy and
Consulates; and the main liaison point with the Bilateral Section of China Team in the FCO. This will involve
responding to requests on a wide range of subjects, from visa issues, to crime, to advice on which Chinese experts
should attend conferences in the UK. He/She will maintain and update the standard bilateral briefing script along
with a list of key lobbying points on bilateral issues to be deployed during high level meetings as appropriate. The
jobholder will be responsible for providing advice directly on our bilateral policy and to spot if an issue is likely to
impact adversely on our wider bilateral relations with China. He/ She will also need excellent written and verbal
communication skills, and will work closely with colleagues across the Embassy including at senior level to provide
consolidated responses on cross-cutting issues.
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JOB SPECIFICATION
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES (What will the jobholder be expected to achieve?)
Visits management
Lead responsibility for ministerial and senior-official political and cross-cutting visits, logistics lead
for PM and VIP visits, and coordination of ministerial programmes when the Embassy has a
number of senior officials or ministers all visiting to take part in the same set-piece dialogue,
specifically:
 Designing and coordinating input into high-impact visit programmes;
 Coordinating and collation of briefing packs, including responsibility for drafting briefing on
bilateral issues and quality control of other contributions;
 Managing and providing guidance on all logistics and protocol arrangements, including visa
invitations; car plans; flight bookings; VIP airport arrangements; hotel and venue bookings;
interpreters; liaison with Residence staff; budgets and charging instructions;
 Liaising with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government departments to
secure host invitation letters; set up meetings; and agree protocol and security arrangements;
 Liaising directly with Private Offices and No.10 team on logistics and protocol arrangements;
 Recruiting and leading a team of ‘visits volunteers’ to deliver logistics arrangements for Prime
Ministerial Summits and VIP visits;
 Keeping Ambassador’s and Deputy Head of Mission’s office informed of visits arrangements
and de-conflicting requests for senior-Embassy staff to accompany visitors.
Approximate
% of time
75%
Building capacity and ensuring the quality of visits across the Embassy:
 Advising and supporting other Embassy sections to deliver high-quality visits;
 Maintain and updating the China network visits SharePoint site with guidance, templates,
examples of best practice and visits statistics;
 Leading visits training sessions for colleagues across all grades.
Supporting the Senior Bilateral Officer to manage flow and geographic spread of visits across the
year, specifically:
 Maintaining the visits calendar and de-conflicting any potential clashes;
 Feeding directly into London’s x-Whitehall Visits Planning Process.
Bilateral policy coordinator
First point of contact for managing Bilateral Section’s interactions with China Team in FCO, and
responding to requests to Bilateral Section for input and advice on our bilateral policy, including:
 Establishing and maintaining a record of our key lobbying points with the Chinese government
on bilateral and other cross-cutting issues, drawing links with visits agenda and how to use
visits and other working level meetings with government departments to achieve our lobbying
goals;
 Maintaining a record and forward look of high-level UK-China meetings at international
summits and conferences as well as in the UK and China;
 Liaising with the MFA on visa facilitations;
 Providing advice to other sections of the Embassy on MFA liaison;
 Bilateral Team’s liaison point on crime policy issues, providing advice/ coordinating input from
a bilateral relations perspective to briefing on handling crime policy issues, such as
extradition requests. This will involve working closely with NCA and other Sections in the
Embassy and China Team in London.
 Acting as first point of contact in Bilateral Section with China Team in the FCO; and on ad-hoc
requests from them and others across Whitehall and the Embassy on bilateral issues,
responding directly when possible or coordinating a response.
25%
RESOURCES MANAGED (Staff and Expenditure)
 No line management responsibilities, but the job holder will be expected to recruit and manage a team of
temporary volunteers from within the Embassy to support high-level visits.
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KEY COMPETENCES REQUIRED FOR THE JOB (Maximum of 6 competences)
Refer to the local website for more information on these specific competences.
Competence 1: Seeing the Big Picture
In order to design impactful visit programmes, the job holder will need to have a good grasp of the UK-China
bilateral relationship, the UK’s China Strategy and the priorities of the various teams within the network. He/she
will also need to spot linkages and opportunities to drive forward the bilateral relationship as well as any potential
risks.
Competence 2: Collaborating & Partnering
The job holder will need to develop close working relationships with teams across the Embassy and Consulates,
including other government departments. He/she will also need to work closely with Whitehall departments in
London developing rapport and managing expectations when balancing differing priorities.
Competence 3: Delivering at Pace
The jobholder will need to be able to deliver at pace, and cope with high levels of pressure and demanding
deadlines, particularly in the run up to and during the delivery of high level visits. The jobholder will be expected
to operate with a high degree of autonomy and to take responsibility for his / her own areas of delivery. Problem
solving skills are also key, having to think fast on their feet to produce constructive ideas and solutions in quickmoving situations.
Competence 4: Engaging Internationally
The position in based in Beijing. The job holder will be expected to interact with a wide range of Chinese
interlocutors both within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and more widely and build a good understanding of how
the Chinese political system works.
Competence 5: Managing a Quality Service
The visits aspect of the job requires attention to detail and responsive service to customers across the network and
in London. Written product, including briefing needs to be of a high quality, with minimal need for drafting
amendments up the line management chain.
Competence 6: Making Effective Decisions
The bilateral team empowers team members to take responsibility and to have confidence in their own judgement
and decision making capabilities. The jobholder will need to have sound judgement, show clarity of thought and
be able to analyse and use evidence to evaluate options before arriving at well reasoned and justifiable decisions
as given the wide scope of the bilateral relationship they will receive a variety of different queries.
KEY SKILLS, EXPERIENCE, QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED
LANGUAGE / COMMUNICATIONS
ENGLISH
English
Spoken
Fluent
Written
Fluent
Other
Language Requirements


OTHER LANGUAGES Mandarin Chinese
Specify
Spoken
Basic
other
Written
No requirement
Language
Mandarin skills useful but not essential.
Strong oral and written skills in English are essential, and a proven track record
in report writing and effective oral briefing is highly desirable.
OTHER SKILLS, EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS
Essential on Arrival
 Proven international experience, ideally in the Chinese context
 Strong IT and organisational skills, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
and database management.
 A university degree
Desirable
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
Project management skills
Budget management experience
Chinese language skills
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JOB SPECIFICATION
VISA, PASSPORT AND SECURITY CLEARANCE RESTRICTIONS (As necessary to perform the role)
Holds a UK passport.
Visa/Passport Requirement
Security Clearance
Specify other Visa /
Passport requirements
Open only to British nationals, and spouses/ partners of
diplomats (all nationalities) who are ‘W’ (diplomatic)
visa holders.
Confidential, DV is desirable but not essential
WORKING PATTERNS
If Part-time: FTE or
Required Hours per Week
Some flexible working possible upon discussion with line manager, but current
IT system provision means majority of work must be done from the office.
Employment Type
Full-time Employment
Other details of working
patterns, and/or options
for flexibility.

GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE JOB
We are an equal opportunities employer, dedicated to inclusivity, a diverse workforce, and valuing difference.
We offer a competitive package, which includes basic salary, good leave entitlement, and insurance plan etc. The
abated monthly salary is RMB 20,417/ month for British Nationals and spouses/partners of diplomats with W
(diplomatic) visa. We also offer excellent development opportunities and a 22 day annual leave entitlement in pro
rata. Conditioned working hours is 35 hours/ week from Monday to Friday and flexible working can be arranged
upon personal needs. For more details on our Total Rewards Package, please visit our website
http://www.gov.uk/government/world/china. Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy Beijing is subject to
Terms and Conditions of Service according to local Chinese employment law.
To apply, please accomplish the Job Application Form which can be downloaded from this link:
http://www.gov.uk/government/world/organisations/british-embassy-beijing/about/recruitment#currentvacancies and send it to Recruitment.Beijing@fco.gov.uk. Deadline for submitting applications is at 17.00 (China
Standard Time) on 30 November 2014.
Only short-listed applicants will be contacted regarding the next phase of the selection process. To those
applicants not short-listed, we extend our appreciation for considering the British Government as a potential
employer.
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