The British Embassy Helsinki is part of the UK Government’s global network representing British political, economic, and consular interests overseas. The Embassy is hiring an Economic and Prosperity Officer to support the delivery of UK objectives, including supporting trade and economic opportunities between the UK and Finland, building partnerships to increase mutual prosperity, ensuring access to resources, and promoting sustainable growth. 
 
The successful applicant will have a solid grasp of economic and prosperity issues and the ability to develop and make effective use of a network of contacts in politics, government, academia, and civil society. They will be able to work independently with a high degree of autonomy over these policy areas, producing high quality reporting and analysis. The successful applicant will be flexible and be able to work under pressure, including on new and unfamiliar issues that may arise at short notice and against tight deadlines. 

The Economic and Prosperity Officer sits within the Political and Communications Team. The team is split into three pillars:

1. Economic, prosperity, and EU,
2. Foreign and domestic policy, and
3. Communications and public diplomacy.

The successful candidate will work closely with the Second Secretary Bilateral, who is responsible for the economics, prosperity, and EU pillar of work. The successful applicant will also work with colleagues across the Embassy and the UK Government’s Nordic Baltic Network (NBN) and Science and Innovation Network (SIN), closely cooperating with other UK government departments including the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).

Roles and responsibilities:

Economy

•    Regular reporting and analysis of Finland’s economy;
•    Build and develop strong links with economic policy makers and researchers;
•    Timely reporting and analysis of key economic policy developments;
•    Provide economic support for Russia and China policy leads.

Economic Policy

•    Lead on economic policy engagement – including competitiveness, market access, business environment and international trade;
•    Engagement on rules-based economic system, including WTO, OECD, and IFIs;
•    Economic security – work to understand Finnish strengths and develop partnerships with the UK on building resilient economies and societies, harnessing new technologies;

Prosperity

•    Identifying and reporting opportunities or barriers to increasing imports and investment from Finland to the UK;
•    Develop and deliver projects to boost UK-Finland partnership and promote sustainable growth;
•    Closely coordinate with colleagues from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and Science and Innovation Network (SIN).

Projects and budgets

•    Lead on overseeing the Embassy’s projects and bidding for new project funds;
•    Ensure projects are compliant with FCDO processes;
•    Planning and monitoring the Political Team budget.

 The successful candidate will be responsible for monitoring and delivery of the team’s budget and project funding. 

• Fluency in English and Finnish C1 level;
• Able to build and influence a wide network of stakeholders, building productive relationships with key partners who can help deliver our objectives;
• Can work independently and with a high degree of autonomy over the portfolio; 
• Understands the Finnish economy, and able to monitor, analyse and report on economic developments and trends.
• Understands how the economic context affects policy advice. Can use economic concepts to engage and influence effectively and know when to draw on economic experts for advice;
• Able to interpret, explain and evaluate data. Able to source and analyse data to produce evidence that informs decision making;
• Enthusiastic, creative, and able to spot opportunities to engage with impact;
• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in a related field.