Main purpose of job:

Are you a dynamic individual who is interested in a career where international trade meets defence and security? Where you can support British companies seeking to develop business partnerships in Malaysia, as part of a fast-moving and high-profile team?  

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is the UK Government’s department for economic growth. We support businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the UK. We are looking for a Senior Trade Manager (Defence and Security) to join the DBT Malaysia team at the British High Commission (BHC) in Kuala Lumpur to help us build and shape the trade relationship between Malaysia and the UK, increasing UK defence and security exports to Malaysia and the Asia Pacific region.

The job holder will work as part of the friendly and supportive DBT team, with opportunities to travel within Malaysia, Asia Pacific and beyond. We provide a modern and flexible working environment with the opportunity to work part of the week remotely. 

The work will be varied and often fast paced. The successful candidate will be a flexible self-starter with a high degree of initiative and the ability to juggle priorities. We are looking for someone creative, with great people skills. A background in defence/security/business is an advantage but just as important is a proactive mindset and strong strategic and influencing skills. The role offers excellent scope for personal and professional development. The job holder will develop the defence and security export strategy for DBT Malaysia and manage a pipeline of business opportunities with the aim of delivering high value export wins for UK companies against agreed targets.  

The successful candidate will collaborate closely with the Defence & Security Exports (DSE) team in DBT HQ in London, the Defence Adviser and Political Teams at BHC, as well as with colleagues across our Asia Pacific network. 

• Develop and implement the UK government’s defence and security export strategy for Malaysia working closely with colleagues in the BHC Defence team and the DSE team in our UK HQ.
• Develop and maintain an in-depth knowledge of the defence and security sector in Malaysia, building strong and productive relationships with local stakeholders in public procurement and private sectors.
• Develop and manage a strong pipeline of high potential business opportunities in Malaysia, with an outcome-driven approach to creating the best conditions for exporter success.
• Provide strategic advice and support to UK companies around their business development activities in Malaysia with a focus on high value/high impact deals.
• Manage relationships with key industry bodies and scan trends and regulatory/strategic/policy developments to identify and pursue strategic commercial opportunities and to identify and tackle any barriers to trade.
• Support/lead on delivery of sector events and VIP visits that help position UK companies to develop business in Malaysia/Asia Pacific, including drafting high-quality briefings and speeches for ministers and senior officials.
• Develop a sound understanding of UK capability in the defence and security industry.
• Effective self-organisation including uploading evidence of services and interactions to our database.

The successful candidate will be joining a high profile and ambitious team and will be able to develop a wide range of strategic planning, project management and senior stakeholder management skills while developing export opportunities for the UK. If successful you will have the opportunity to get involved in a diverse range of DBT, BHC and corporate workstreams including planning and delivering high profile visits, organising L&D activities, and engaging the business community. 

As DBT Malaysia team’s business priorities evolve, the successful candidate will potentially become involved in supporting other priority sectors/workstreams for DBT Malaysia, and a flexible approach is important.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):

Access to a proportion of DBT’s budget for travel and subsistence, L&D etc 

• Strong interest in and/or experience in defence and security, business and trade
• Excellent oral and written English
• Minimum of 2 years of previous work experience
• Excellent presentation, interpersonal and networking skills
• Strong written, analytical and research skills
• Very good IT skills including Outlook, Word, PPT and Excel
• Self-Starter – ability to work well on own initiative
• Ability to work under pressure and juggle multiple priorities effectively
• Ability to conduct in-depth research and produce high quality materials against short deadlines
• Good organisational/project management skills