The British Embassy in Algiers is looking to recruit a Visa Outreach Officer under the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), job grade Higher Executive Officer (HEO), on a fixed term contract for eighteen (18) months.

The jobholder may be based in one of the following locations: Algiers, Cairo, Tunis. Applicants should only apply once to their preferred job location. 

UKVI’s overseas Visa Outreach Officers have four key areas of responsibility, these are:    

1. Representation and Stakeholders: 

Visa Outreach Officers are responsible for promoting awareness and understanding of the UK’s visa offer, delivering regionally tailored customer and stakeholder communications, assisting with high-profile/value applications, and working with Government Partners (including FCDO, DBT, Visit Britain, and the British Council) to increase understanding of Visits, Study, and Investment visa offers. Visa Outreach Officers achieve this by: 

• Leading on relationship management with senior stakeholders in the agreed VSI priority countries across their region.
• Strategically planning communications and engagement activities to build relationships with key stakeholders in the market, including HOMs/DHMs/Head of DBT, Heads of VB and BC, key education and tourism agents, British Chambers and Business Councils, airlines, and like-minded mission counterparts.
• Managing key in-country relationships regarding UK visa services and changes to the visa regime, and managing the Regional Outreach Mailbox replying to queries from HMG colleagues within 24 hours.
• Amplifying and targeting distribution of centrally devised communications / messaging campaigns.
• Being a knowledgeable first point of contact and visa expert for HMG colleagues, building trust and confidence in UKVI.
• Being an active member of Post leadership, engaging in weekly leadership meetings, country business meetings and plans, running regular lunch and learn sessions, and attending occasional Political and DBT team meetings to promote visa awareness.
• Supporting high-profile events and high-value applications, distributing event-specific communications and liaising appropriately with visa decision-making centres.

2. Assurance and Integrity:

Visa Outreach Officers are responsible for assuring the quality of the customer experience in Visa Application Centres (VACs), Secure English Language Testing Centres (SELTs), and TB clinics through visits, information from travel/education and PAG stakeholders, and formal audits as directed by the Regional Assurance and Integrity Manager. Visa Outreach Officers achieve this by: 

• Conducting monthly ad-hoc visits to Visa Application Centres and Secure English Language Testing Centres to gather local insight and intelligence from customers.
• Investigating local customer experience issues and escalating any issues immediately to the Regional Assurance and Integrity Manager.
• Supporting Visa and Citizenship Application Services (VCAS) relationship management with our supplier, Visa Facilitation Services (VFS.)
• Providing additional support to the Regional Assurance and Integrity Manager for piloting and rolling out supplier service innovation.
• Conducting formal audits of VAC, SELT, and TB Centres to ensure compliance with UKVI standards, within timescales set by the Regional Assurance and Integrity Manager. 

3. Customer Insight and Innovation:

Visa Outreach Officers are responsible for collecting and reporting market insight and customer intelligence to UKVI teams, driving continuous improvement of the UK visa service and our customer offer, including identifying opportunities for change and innovation. Visa Outreach Officers achieve this by: 

• Using all engagement opportunities both internal and external to collect market insight, and sharing this insight with relevant UKVI teams globally.
• Identifying opportunities for customer improvements in the market, and working with relevant UKVI teams to deliver these.
• Being a ‘country expert’ and source of knowledge / expertise for colleagues across UKVI and the Home Office.
• Providing ‘on-the-ground’ market insight data and intelligence to UKVI teams, including identifying potential changes in visa demand, and opportunities for innovation to continuously improve our customer offer.
• Supporting the pilot and roll out of supplier service innovation, such as supplier remote printing and On Demand Mobile Visa services.

4. Supporting Operations:

Visa Outreach Officers are responsible for promoting streamlined processing schemes with HMG partners and stakeholders, undertaking regional insight taskings from UKVI teams, and supporting UKVI Country Leads. Visa Outreach Officers achieve this by: 

• Building close relationships with Visits Service Line Country Leads, and agreeing on required Decision Maker training and awareness materials.
• Leading on the promotion and implementation of the Global Partner Programme within their region, working with the Department for Business and Trade to target new members and meet sign-up targets.
• Providing regional critical incident or major event support and other ad-hoc tasks as directed to support UKVI regional operations/objectives.

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer.  We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow. 

The above list is not exhaustive, and the jobholder will be required to be flexible and take on other ad hoc tasks as required.  

Key behaviours required:   

• Communicating and Influencing: Communicate purpose and direction with clarity, integrity, and enthusiasm. Respect the needs, responses, and opinions of others.
• Seeing the bigger picture: Understand how your role fits with and supports organisational objectives. Recognise the wider Civil Service priorities and ensure work is in the national interest.
• Working Together: Form effective partnerships and relationships with people both internally and externally, from a range of diverse backgrounds, sharing information, resources, and support.
• Changing and Improving: Seek out opportunities to create effective change and suggest innovative ideas for improvement. Review ways of working, including seeking and providing feedback.

Eligibility 

• Applicants must have the legal right to reside and work in Algeria.

• Ability to work independently, including planning and delivering long-term projects, manage workload and deliver results.
• Experience of representing your organisation, including with senior stakeholders
• Ability to travel frequently across the region and to the UK.
• Ability to work collaboratively and remotely within a team located in multiple locations across the region, and with colleagues across the globe.
• Confidence in speaking in public, engaging with stakeholders, and delivering public presentations, including virtually.
• Experience of working collaboratively with other organisations
• Ability to manage range of different tasks, to prioritise effectively, meet deadlines and maintain high quality standards.
• Well-developed communication skills (both written and oral) in English. Ability to express ideas and messages clearly and concisely.
• IT literate and able to use the Microsoft Office Suite of Software (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, MS Planner).