Main purpose of job:

The UK Government has launched a new £25M ASEAN Economic Integration Programme (EIP) to support ASEAN’s development priorities, economic integration, and drive stronger and more equitable growth through better regulations and standards and ease of doing business. The EIP consists of 3 pillars:

1. Regulatory Reform Pillar covering better regulations, standards, consumer protection, and intellectual property.
2. Financial Services Pillar covering financial access and services
3. Open Trade Pillar covering trade barriers and improving trade

The British Embassy Hanoi (BEH) is seeking a talented and enthusiastic programme manager to lead, and project manage the EIP’s Regulatory Reform Pillar interventions in Vietnam, focusing on Regulatory Reform (RR) and Intellectual Property (IP) regulations and enforcement. 

The successful candidate will have the exciting opportunity to shape Vietnams regulatory systems, contributing to a robust international trading environment, that protects people and places from product related harm. The candidate will strengthen IP regulations and practices for Vietnam’s digital and online economy through technical assistance, regulations review and fostering close government and industry collaboration and joint actions. 

The job holder is expected to lead and manage external delivery contractors and ensure smooth projects delivery and outcomes, budgets management, monitoring and timely evaluations and reporting. 

This role will have dual reporting lines for the regulatory reform component and the intellectual property component.  The successful candidate will work alongside a dynamic cross-Department regional team based in SE Asia and UK that supports implementation of the EIP and UK’s wider ASEAN-UK ambitions.  

The Regulatory Reform component is led by the Office for Product Safety & Standards (OPSS) which is part of the Department for Business and Trade and aims to support the Government of Vietnam with its regulatory reform priorities. The IP component is led by the Intellectual Property Office of the United Kingdom (IPO) which is part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). It will focus on strengthening IP enforcement and coordination in Vietnam on the digital, e-commerce and online space to reduce IP infringements, counterfeits and facilitate ease of doing business locally. 

The successful candidate will work closely with the Vietnamese Government, UK businesses and UK Government colleagues in the region and UK. The successful candidate will:

• act as an advisor on regulatory reform and IP, building and maintaining effective relationships with government officials and the FCDO to help identify priorities for reform, lead regulatory reform engagements and support the delivery of the Regulatory Reform technical assistance pillar.
• be responsible for facilitating OPSS and IPO interventions on a range of regulatory reform issues and, overseeing and coordinating technical experts during deployments to support the delivery of technical assistance.

The ASEAN EIP is led by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). There are 2 planned interventions for Hanoi – one in Regulatory Reform and the other in Intellectual Property. The successful candidate will be based in Hanoi. 

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve:

• Leading on oversight of regulatory and IP portfolios in Hanoi:
  o    Ensuring synergy with other UK programming and activities in country;
  o    Avoiding over-laps between regulatory capacity building by demonstrating awareness of current and planned regulatory policy and enforcement activity of the Government of Vietnam;
  o    Making evidence based decisions, informed by the needs of the Government of Vietnam, to prioritise topics that the OPSS UK team should focus technical assistance on;
  o    Contributing to project planning and reporting on delivery progress, value for money and emerging risks;
  o    Working closely with internal and external stakeholders on policy advocacy in regulatory reform and IP to remove market access barriers for UK firms operating in Vietnam

• Proactive stakeholder management;
  o    Building strong relationships with the Vietnamese Government and third party implementers securing agreement on complex areas of technical assistance to be delivered within this programme
  o    Represent the UK HMG when communicating complex information on regulatory policy with senior officials of the Government of Vietnam;
  o    Facilitating stakeholder meetings and workshops, ensuring effective communication and collaboration among all parties involved;
  o    Reassessing the ongoing commitment to programme activities, planned outputs and outcomes;
  o    Avoiding wider duplication through awareness of other donor activities in the same space.

• Planning and coordinating the delivery of the Regulatory reform pillar components;
  o    Planning and coordinating the delivery of OPSS technical assistance programme and the IPO IP enforcement programme;
  o    Act as the local representative for both programmes, engaging and advising government officials on regulatory reform;
  o    Identifying areas for further cooperation by developing an understanding of role that regulatory reform can play in economic development and how this links into the UK agenda on prosperity and development.
  o    Responsible for the storage/ownership of intellectual property developed.

• Resource management;
  o    Responsible for organising events to facilitate workshops and training, within budgets provided, ensuring good value for money.
  o    Responsible for managing personal expenses, remaining within budgets provided, when travelling on duty or facilitating events.
  o    Monitoring and reporting on expenditures.

• Able to work independently and in a team.
• Ability to meet deadlines with strong attention to consistency, detail, and quality.
• Ability to travel if needed.
• Excellent negotiating and influencing skills, both in order to win confidence and to deliver outcomes across a wide range of Government departments and business stakeholders.
• Confident and able to tailor messaging to the local context
• Able to engage and build credibility with a diverse range of international stakeholders.
• Experience in project coordination
• Knowledge and familiarity on Overseas Development Assistance and delivery, Theory of Change and programming processes (e.g. MREL) is required

Language requirements: 

Language: English/Vietnamese 

Level of language required: English fluent, working level of Vietnamese needed