Main Purpose of Job:

This is an exciting opportunity to drive growth in business and government partnerships across the sustainable infrastructure space, as part of the UK Department for Business & Trade (DBT). This role will lead the British Embassy Jakarta’s strategic trade promotion engagement on infrastructure. You will support UK companies and organisations to win business in the infrastructure sector in Indonesia, unlock new opportunities for export and investment, and address and resolve market access barriers, alongside delivering programming that will unlock future large scale business opportunities. You will be a self-starter who can identify and articulate long-term objectives and make effective use of stakeholders to achieve this.

You will be expected to set strategic direction for trade in the infrastructure sector in Indonesia. This will mean developing and implementing long-term plans to grow the UK footprint in market to support Indonesia’s sustainable infrastructure development goals. You will focus on developing and managing a pipeline of high-value commercial opportunities, alongside wider market development in specific sub-sectors across Indonesia. You will be responsible for designing and delivering strategies to grow these sub-sectors into major opportunities for UK business, leading and effectively delivering events, missions, inward/outward visits and strategies to support this.

You will lead our work on the UK’s offer for the New Capital City, developing innovative approaches to bring together UK expertise to meet growing demands for the city. This will involve working cross-Embassy to define the UK offer, developing delivery plans, leading external engagement with key stakeholders, managing trade missions/bespoke events and realising commercial opportunities associated with the new capital.

You will also be responsible for delivering major, multi-year ODA and non-ODA programmes across sustainable infrastructure, designed to bring together development objectives with prosperity and secondary benefit aims (ODA), as well as opening up opportunities for UK business in previously untapped areas (non-ODA). You will oversee a major ODA programme on railway development in Surabaya, working with delivery partners and external stakeholders. You will also take forward a non-ODA programme on transport development in Bali, and potentially elsewhere. You will proactively explore new funding avenues to continue this line of market development work. Under the FCDO’s Green Cities and Infrastructure Programme, new programmes will be launched over the next 2-3 years; you will have the opportunity to oversee delivery of interventions designed under these programmes, as well as take a leading role in advising on secondary benefit angles across other interventions, and other synergistic programmes being delivered simultaneously across the embassy.

You will bring with your extensive knowledge of the infrastructure sector both in the UK and Indonesia. You will use this knowledge to position the UK as a partner of choice for sustainable infrastructure development across Indonesia. You will advise UK companies on routes to market based on your experience of the most effective ways of partnering and doing business here. You will lead relationships with senior stakeholders across the Indonesian government and private sector. You will also be responsible for establishing and maintaining relations with UK and Indonesian companies, trade associations, and multipliers, working closely with them to grow opportunities and expand the UK business footprint in Indonesia.

You will be a voice for the UK government and industry in the sector. Success in this area will mean access to senior (Ministerial/C-suite) levels of Indonesian industry and government, if necessary, using UK Ministers, His Majesty’s Ambassador, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner, and other senior staff within the Department. You will be comfortable working with, preparing and briefing senior internal stakeholders on your area of work so they can engage effectively.

You will be expected to work collaboratively with teams across the Embassy and effectively manage the relationship between major stakeholders, including teams in Headquarters (i.e. the UK Department for Transport, the DBT infrastructure sector team, FCDO programme teams) and multiple Indonesian stakeholders.

You will also support wider UK Government objectives including UK Export Finance, supporting and identifying trade policy issues and related issues that can be addressed under the government-to-government Joint Economic & Trade Committee (JETCO) trade dialogue.

We reserve the right to review, revise or amend the roles and responsibilities from time to time reflecting the changing needs of business.

What the Jobholder will be Expected to Achieve:

Leadership/Strategic Direction

• Lead DBT’s campaign in the infrastructure sector, setting a clear strategy for growing UK trade and investment with Indonesia, and identify and promote business opportunities in Indonesia for UK infrastructure companies and organisations.
• Develop a long-term, strategic approach to identifying strategic opportunities to strengthen and deepen UK collaboration with Indonesia across all areas of the infrastructure sector. This will include developing a multi-year approach to our business development activities in the infrastructure sector, planning for long-term delivery of our transport campaigns, scoping new sub-sectors of opportunity and developing a plan to grow our activity within.
• Develop and deliver the UK commercial offer for Indonesia’s New Capital City (IKN), working in partnership with UK sector teams and UK industry, and secure a clear delivery pathway for increased engagement on IKN projects. You will ensure HMG realises the commercial opportunities afforded by the New Capital and create opportunities for UK Plc to play a key commercial delivery role.
• Devise a strategy to take forward next steps following delivery of ODA and non-ODA programmes across infrastructure.
• Lead a collaborative working approach with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Department for Transport (DfT) and arm’s length bodies such as Transport for London (TfL) to deliver on shared objectives. You will be the main counterpart to FCDO infrastructure teams and responsible for ensuring activities are joined up, DBT aims are clearly articulated and understood and incorporated into wider policy and programme work, advising on areas such as secondary benefits and UK capabilities where required.
• Line manage 1 x EO/B3 Sustainable Infrastructure Manager – Trade, setting direction of their work and priorities and overseeing their day-to-day work.

Trade and Investment Promotion

• Develop a pipeline of high value projects through market intelligence, research, company engagement, relationship management of stakeholders, and set out a short, medium and long-term plan to support UK business to secure projects.
• Proactively lead and deliver trade missions, events, activities, webinars and forums in support of identifying business opportunities, and working with DBT/embassy marketing teams to showcase information.
• Be DBT’s core relationship-holder with the Indonesian Ministry of Transport, the Indonesian Ministry of National Planning and Development, the New Capital City authority (OIKN) and senior stakeholders across the wider Indonesian infrastructure sector, including other relevant agencies, provincial and local government bodies, and the private sector.
• Key account management of UK and Indonesian clients, provide assistance and advice to support market entry and business wins.
• Work closely with DBT London including the infrastructure sector team, trade policy teams, and UK regions (e.g. Northern Powerhouse) on opportunities and expanding UK companies interested in the market.
• Identify, prioritise and work to resolve market access barriers in the infrastructure sector to unlock business opportunities for UK organisations.
• Work in partnership with UK Export Finance (UKEF) to develop UK financing offers to match major infrastructure projects and complement these with UK-led or UK-bolstered consortia for delivery.
• Manage inward and outward visits of senior officials and Ministers as necessary, managing all aspects of the programme and ensuring the UK business features prominently despite competing priorities. This may include supporting areas that fall outside of our core business area but are in support of wider DBT objectives.
• Proactively develop marketing and comms campaigns and materials to showcase UK sector capabilities and celebrate successes.
• Work collaboratively with the UK and Indonesian trade associations (e.g. British Chambers of Commerce Indonesia, UKABC, etc).
• Understand the UK Government’s Regional Trade Plan for Asia Pacific and use it to develop local sector campaigns to deliver its objectives in Indonesia, working with the APAC regional sector lead for Infrastructure to identify regional synergies and support colleagues across the region to learn from success stories in Indonesia.
• Strategic delivery of the infrastructure elements of the British Embassy’s Country Plan for Indonesia and support implementation of the UK-Indonesia 2022 Memorandum of Understanding on Transport Cooperation.

Programme Delivery

• Oversee a multi-year £1.25m ODA-funded programme in Surabaya, delivering a feasibility study for a possible future Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, working directly to the Deputy Country Director programme lead and deputising for them as required. This will involve managing external delivery partners; monitoring delivery progress and managing any risks and issues that arise; reviewing and approving milestone deliverables; giving feedback, advising, and setting direction where required.
• Manage Indonesian stakeholders involved in the programme, including working closely with the appointed Indonesian implementing agency, managing wider Indonesian government stakeholders including those located in Surabaya, to ensure they remain bought-in to programme delivery and support future ambitions on the MRT project. This will involve ad-hoc travel to Surabaya and occasional travel to the UK to support Indonesian capacity-building visits related to the project.
• Act as a focal point for internal and external communications on the programme in Indonesia, ensuring the programme’s visibility is properly managed and that the UK government gains recognition for its work. This will also include ensuring the UK sector understand the work and potential future engagement they can have with it.
• Proactively bid for and deliver additional, smaller-scale ODA and non-ODA programmes in the infrastructure sector, in order to unlock opportunities and/or secondary benefits for UK companies. This will include overseeing an existing non-ODA sustainable transport study in Bali and taking forward recommendations it identifies.
• Support the FCDO’s Green Cities and Infrastructure Programme (GCIP) work in Indonesia, advising on secondary benefit angles to proposed sustainable infrastructure interventions. There is potential to take a future role in programme delivery of DBT-related interventions under GCIP’s multi-year deep offer.
• Other duties may be required of the postholder as priorities change and emerge.

Corporate

• All staff are expected to participate in wider Embassy activities which can include active work on various committees and other corporate roles, as well as play a role in crisis management activities on an ad-hoc basis.

Resources Managed (staff and expenditure):

• You will manage 1x EO/B3 Sustainable Infrastructure Manager
• You will oversee a large ODA-funded programme delivered by DBT Indonesia. Actual budget management will be handled by a centrally managed programme team; however, you will be responsible for managing delivery partners and their deliverables.
• There may be opportunities to bid for funds and manage bespoke projects related to infrastructure and deliver additional ODA and non-ODA programmes.

We are looking for a proactive, confident and creative self-starter who can bring their expert knowledge of both the Indonesian infrastructure landscape and UK commercial expertise across the infrastructure sector. You will work largely unsupervised, using your initiative to deliver large scale strategic projects and programmes, and will need to be flexible to changing priorities and able to work to tight deadlines. You will need excellent interpersonal and communications skills to build strong relations within the Embassy and with senior stakeholders at the regional and national level as well as with UK and Indonesian infrastructure companies. 

• At least 2-3 years’ work experience in the infrastructure sector, either in the government or private sector
• A strong understanding of the Indonesian infrastructure system, its strengths and weakness
• A demonstrable interest in and understanding of sustainable infrastructure development, and a big-picture approach to supporting this in Indonesia
• Knowledge of UK infrastructure capability areas, most notably in the railway sector, and able to talk confidently about these. Knowledge of airports, electric vehicles, and broader transport planning capabilities in the UK would also be of benefit
• Understanding of business development and how UK companies operate overseas. Existing knowledge of UK companies active in Indonesia in the infrastructure space would also be of benefit
• Experience of working on large scale events, arranging visit programmes for delegations, and working with Ministers
• Understanding of the Indonesian procurement processes and how international partners can engage with this
• Experience of programme delivery, including bidding for programme funds, developing business cases and terms of reference, managing delivery partners, milestone delivery, budgets, and external stakeholders
• Understanding of UK ODA and non-ODA parameters; understanding of secondary benefit outcomes and ability to advise on these
• Experience in developing policy advice/analysis, making evidence-based recommendations for action
• Good project management skills and experience
• Computer literate, working with Microsoft Windows and able to manage information effectively with available computer system

Language Requirements:

• Excellent working levels in English and Bahasa Indonesia, both written and spoken
• Evidence of a recent IELTS score above 7.0 will be required at interview
• Level of language required: Operational