The successful applicant will play a key role in overseeing the British Embassy’s infrastructure programming at the national level. The role holder will be committed to driving the UK’s international growth mission by working closely with the UK’s Department for Business and Trade (DBT) at post. They will oversee interventions of the UK Sustainable Infrastructure Programme (UKSIP) implemented by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), maximising their effectiveness and efficiency, especially the design of Peru’s third National Infrastructure Plan. They will also manage the Urban Climate Action Programme (UCAP) in Peru, including the UK’s collaboration with Germany and the USA regarding the Cities Finance Facility (CFF), and targeted interventions of the Green Cities and Infrastructure Programme (GCIP).

This is an exciting position within the Climate, Nature and Infrastructure (CNI) Team (13 staff) and will involve collaborating with senior national stakeholders (Vice Minister level), especially within the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), and government officials in the UK and across Latin America. The post holder will engage with the IDB on policy development (e.g. the next National Infrastructure Plan) and pipeline projects for blended finance – seeking alignment with UK priorities.

The embassy objective on infrastructure and clean energy is to develop public policy and practices to deliver “greener, fairer, faster” infrastructure, closing the infrastructure gap (~$110 billion) with Peru as a pathfinder for best practice in the region. We provide TA through programmes (especially UKSIP) combined with capacity building offered by the UK infrastructure ecosystem (e.g.  National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority – NISTA) and supported by the Peru-UK Infrastructure Task Force. On the commercial side (led by DBT), the UK’s Government-to-Government agreements are worth $10+ billion since 2017. 

Roles and responsibilities:

Project management 40%:

• Lead the TA interventions of UKSIP, which are divided into four categories: upstream (relationship with the Ministry of Economy and Finance), transport, energy, and water. Shape the next phase of UKSIP, with a focus on nature-based solutions and private investment.
• Champion mutual alignment with DBT and the political section on the embassy’s overall infrastructure strategy. This includes actively promoting synergies between UK infrastructure programmes to inform wider policy work, and maximising commercial opportunities.
• Improve the access to finance for infrastructure projects by a) influencing the private tranche of UKSIP (blended finance) to feed strategic projects into IDB Invest’s pipeline and b) working with IDB to develop a foreign exchange hedging solution to de-risk investment (TBC).
• Lead other infrastructure TA: UCAP, CFF, and GCIP.
• Lead on bids to internal UK government Challenge Funds to complement infrastructure activities, e.g. through targeted missions, trainings or events.

Policy development 30%:

• Support the Head of Infrastructure and Clean Energy Policy with the organisation, management, and follow up of the annual high-level UK-Peru Infrastructure Task Force.
• Oversee the NISTA expert deployment funded by the UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (UK PACT) Programme, which is a consultant who will work with MEF and other agencies to improve project design (e.g. Five Case Model).
• Ensure that the new National Infrastructure Plan “makes markets” by improving the business environment for international investment, creating growth opportunities for the UK, while delivering on sustainability to achieve Peru’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• Work with the World Bank and IDB to create incentives, for example through loans for infrastructure in the Amazon with better interest rates for deforestation avoided.
• Take the work we do on infrastructure at the national level to the regional level (top down) and inform national policies with lessons from working with regional governments, communities and the private sector (bottom up).

Economic reporting and analysis 10% (TBC based on skillset):

• Economic reporting (diagnosis), identifying opportunities to shape new interventions (analysis), and influencing senior leadership to act on those opportunities.

Line management 10%:

• Line manage the Infrastructure Policy Associate.

Other 10%:

• On-going tasks: Summarise meetings, missions, correspondence, and reports, etc.
• Play an active part in the corporate life of the embassy to maximise the overall well-being of staff, and to contribute to the embassy’s response in case of a crisis.

These responsibilities will be reviewed on an ongoing basis in accordance with the changing needs of the organisation. The above is an indicative outline of roles and responsibilities required of the role.  The FCDO operates an agile workforce. To facilitate this, you may be required to undertake other duties from time to time as we may reasonably require. For example, this could include the management of Ministerial and official visits from the UK related to infrastructure, clean energy or wider economic development/growth in Peru and/or supporting embassy events.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure): 

•    One staff member – Infrastructure Policy Associate (this number may increase in the future).
•    Oversight of projects under UKSIP and related programmes worth several millions.
•    Manage the NISTA expert deployment.

• Bachelor’s Degree and/or Masters in Economics, Finance, Business Administration, Public Policy, Political Science, Environmental Science or related field.
• A minimum of 4+ years of experience working for an organisation in a relevant field, for example, working with government or international organisations on infrastructure policy.
• Strong understanding of UK and Peruvian policy, practices and eco-systems related to infrastructure, especially ESG.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills:
  • Proven ability to write fluently and persuasively in English about technical and policy issues for a senior audience.
  • Ability to form coherent arguments and persuade someone of their point of view.
• Good team player with excellent interpersonal skills, including experience of managing diverse relationships and teams.

Language requirements: 

Language: English and Spanish

Level of language required:  High level of fluency and professional proficiency required in both.