Corporate Affairs and Strategic Relationships Lead

Job summary

This is a high-profile, hands-on role with lead responsibility for a portfolio of UKEF's priority accounts broader stakeholder engagement and external affairs activity. You will set the account strategy, coordinate activity across UKEF and ensure these relationships deliver clear value for UKEF, our partners and UK exporters.

You will build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, develop advocates for UKEF and provide strategic advice to ministers and senior leaders. You'll identify opportunities to strengthen UKEF's reputation, increase influence and support organisational objectives, while ensuring emerging risks and issues are identified and managed effectively.

You will drive forward UKEF's continuous improvement approach to Strategic Relationship Management, embedding best practice in account planning, stakeholder insight, CRM, and performance measurement. Success will be measured through the advocacy, referrals, partnership opportunities, lead generation and business outcomes delivered through stakeholder engagement.

Job description

• Build and manage relationships with senior stakeholders across government, banking, industry, trade associations and business networks.
• Manage a portfolio of priority stakeholder accounts (primarily banks and financial institutions), developing engagement plans that deliver measurable outcomes and driving through delivery.
• Act as the senior relationship lead for priority accounts, bringing together product, business development, marketing and senior colleagues across UKEF around shared goals, commitments and delivery.
• Develop advocates and partner organisations that can champion UKEF, extend its reach and strengthen its reputation.
• Lead stakeholder engagement programmes, including product launch, announcements, events, roundtables, speaking opportunities, ministerial visits and executive-level engagements.
• Create impactful content and engagement activity across multiple channels and formats that engages stakeholders and their audiences, raises awareness of UKEF, builds advocacy, strengthens reputation and generates leads.
• Provide ministers and senior leaders with strategic advice, concise briefings, stakeholder insight and high-impact engagement opportunities.
• Use stakeholder intelligence, commercial awareness and horizon scanning to identify emerging risks, opportunities and reputational issues and recommend appropriate action.
• Continuously improve UKEF's Strategic Relationship Management approach, embedding best practice in account management, stakeholder segmentation, CRM and outcome measurement.
• Set clear objectives and KPIs, using insight, data and digital tools to drive performance, inform decision-making and demonstrate impact.
• Lead, coach and develop a high-performing team while contributing to the wider leadership of the Marketing and Corporate Affairs function.

This list is not exhaustive, and the post holder will be expected to respond flexibly to emerging priorities.

Person specification

Essential

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent demonstrable work experience (A,I)
• Evidence of continuing professional development (A,I)

Knowledge

• Substantial commercial and political awareness, with the judgement to identify risks and opportunities and translate stakeholder insight, data and performance information into action and manage reputation (A,I,P)

Skills/Ability

• Excellent communication, organisational and delivery skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities, coordinate others, build a high performance team, and deliver high-profile work at pace (A,I,P)
• Ability to create compelling content, assets, and storytelling across a range of formats and channels to engage stakeholder audiences, as part of our wider integrated campaigns (A,I,P)

Experience

• Significant experience of owning and developing senior strategic external relationships/accounts, with evidence of turning relationship and partnership plans into measurable business outcomes, such as generating referrals, leads, opportunities, advocacy or other demonstrable results (A,I,P)
• A demonstrable track record of building trusted senior relationships, influencing decision-makers and coordinating delivery across organisational boundaries – providing trusted advice and briefings (A,I,P)
• Experience leading high-profile stakeholder engagement activity, including ministerial visits, executive engagement, events or roundtables (A,I,P)

Qualifications

oUndergraduate degree or equivalent demonstrable work experience (A,I)
oEvidence of continuing professional development (A,I)

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Presentation - on a topic agreed by UKEF and will be provided to the relevant candidates.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £63,500, UK Export Finance contributes £18,395 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

We are assessing candidates using Success Profiles (see Appendix 1) and across the whole process we will assess your Experience, Technical and Behavioursas highlighted below.

The application must be completed by 23.55 on the day of the closing date for it to be accepted.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Please ensure that you read through the Candidate Information Pack attached to this advert, before applying.

All applications will be sifted against our essential criteria outlined in the personal specification.

• Qualification

• Statement of suitability - you should fully articulate in 750 words how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification within the Information Pack.

For the initial sift your application will be evaluated against:

1. Experience - CV / Application and Statement of Suitability

In the event of a high volume of applications, an initial sift will be completed against the following essential criteria:

• Substantial commercial and political awareness, with the judgement to identify risks and opportunities and translate stakeholder insight, data and performance information into action and manage reputation (A,I,P)
• Significant experience of owning and developing senior strategic external relationships/accounts, with evidence of turning relationship and partnership plans into measurable business outcomes, such as generating referrals, leads, opportunities, advocacy or other demonstrable results (A,I,P)
• A demonstrable track record of building trusted senior relationships, influencing decision-makers and coordinating delivery across organisational boundaries – providing trusted advice and briefings (A,I,P)

If you are successful following the sift stage, you will be invited to an initial interview, to be held onsite at 1 Horse Guards Road or via MS Teams; this will include the following assessment:

1. Behaviours/ Experience - a formal panel interview where you will be interviewed across all four behaviours highlighted in Appendix 1.
2. Technical - you will be assessed across your technical expertise and acumen, in relation to the essential criteria
   1. Presentation - on a topic agreed by UKEF and will be provided to the relevant candidates.

Candidates may be invited to a second interview, to be held onsite at 1 Horse Guards Road or via MS Teams; the relevant candidates will be notified of the format for this at the relevant time.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : UKEF Resourcing Team
• Email : Recruitment2@ukexportfinance.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitment2@ukexportfinance.gov.uk

Further information

Should you have a complaint or wish to raise any concerns regarding the recruitment process, please e-mail your complaint to the Head of Pay and Resourcing (UKEF) at Recruitment2@ukexportfinance.gov.uk and include “Complaint” in the subject heading. Should you remain dissatisfied following UKEF’s investigation then you can refer your complaint to the Commission - http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/making-complaint.

Attachments

Candidate Information Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1736kB)