Private Sector Development Adviser | British High Commission

Grade: Senior Executive Officer (SEO)
Type of Position: Full-time, Permanent
Working hours per week: 36
Region: South Asia & Afghanistan
Country/Territory: Bangladesh
Location (City): Dhaka
Type of Post: British High Commission
Number of vacancies: 1
Salary: BDT 227,228 per month
Type of Salary: monthly
Start Date: 1 January 2025

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities)  

Main purpose of job:

The UK Government is a significant development partner of Bangladesh. Its Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) seeks a motivated and knowledgeable professional with expertise in financial sector development to join its Dhaka office at the British High Commission as a Private Sector Development Adviser.

This role presents an exciting opportunity to contribute to shaping the future of the financial sector in Bangladesh. You will be the lead adviser of a major new technical assistance programme, funded by the UK's Official Development Assistance, to develop Bangladesh's financial sector. The programme aims to strengthen governance and supervision of the financial sector, support the development of financial services (including digital finance) that can serve the needs of low-income customers and small businesses and build the foundations for long-term finance in Bangladesh. The project will support Bangladesh Bank, other financial regulators and government agencies and work closely with the private sector.

You will provide intellectual leadership and technical expertise to guide the implementation of the programme, assess the quality of the outputs and the progress towards achieving the outcomes and modify its scale and scope based on changing scenarios. You will engage directly with top officials of the Bangladesh government, financial regulatory authorities, the private sector and bilateral and multilateral development agencies to discuss policy issues.

You will be the policy lead on private sector development, including on investment climate and labour standards as well as on the UK's Developing Countries Trading Scheme. You will advise on climate finance and the market for renewable energy for major climate and environment programme. You will also be the point of contact for development financial instruments funded by the UK Government in Bangladesh. This includes British International Investment, GuarantCo and InfraCo Asia.

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

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

The Private Sector Development Adviser role requires specialist technical skills in financial and private sector development. In this role your main responsibilities will be to:

1. Provide technical advice and strategic guidance for a new and ambitious financial sector development programme, which will launch later this year. This will require the post holder to advise and guide the implementing partners of the project and to collaborate with top officials in government agencies and the private sector to enable the project to achieve its objectives.
2. Provide intellectual leadership on financial sector development in Bangladesh including on banking, capital markets and innovative financial instruments. Identify feasible and specific ways to address market and governance failures in financial markets in Bangladesh by taking a system level view and understanding how political, economic, bureaucratic and industry dynamics and incentives affect markets and services.
3. Work closely with team leader, advisers and programme managers to ensure that programmes are designed and delivered following the FCDO's Programme Operating Framework (PrOF) and to support continual improvement in programme design and delivery in response to changing needs and priorities.
4. Undertake annual reviews of development programmes to assess the quality of outputs and progress against objectives, recommend changes to the project.
5. Be the policy lead and provide high quality expertise on private sector development and investment climate in Bangladesh including laws and regulations that affect markets, foreign direct investment and export diversification.
6. Provide expert advice on private and financial sector aspects of programmes and policies of other teams, e.g. renewable energy, climate finance, international trade, livelihoods and labour markets.
7. Represent the UK Government at external events and policy engagements with the Bangladesh government, regulatory agencies, private sector, multilateral and bilateral development agencies and research institutions.
8. Engage with British International Investment, GuarantCo and other financing instruments funded by the UK Government
9. Contribute to the strategies and plans of the British High Commission Dhaka and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Initially you will not be expected to directly manage any other members of staff. You will be managed by the head of the Prosperity and Economic Growth Team, who will provide additional development support.

Language requirements:

Language: English, Bangla
Level of language required: Excellent, Good

Learning and development opportunities (and any specific training courses to be completed):

You will agree a learning and development plan with their manager and will have the opportunity to undertake training courses and attend workshops and conferences.

You will be a member of FCDO's global cadre of private sector development (PSD) advisers. The cadre supports the professional development of its members and provides mentorship and technical quality assurance. You will be expected to take part, in due course, in an accreditation process run by the PSD cadre to qualify as an expert. The cadre ensures that the PSD advisers are up to date on relevant academic and policy thinking and sectoral developments through seminars and conferences (both virtual and in-person), which you will have the opportunity to attend. You will also have the opportunity to contribute to FCDO programmes in in other countries.

Any other information (or specific local Post requirements):

To ensure a successful application it is important that you explain how you demonstrate these behaviours, including through your experience. You are strongly advised to read the technical competency framework before completing the technical questions:

Competency: Core - Market systems and business fundamentals

Competency: Investment and Finance

See: Private Sector Development: Technical Competency Framework - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Essential qualifications, skills and experience  

Essential on arrival: 

• Undergraduate degree in finance, economics, business or a related field.
• Master's degree in finance, economics, business, public policy, international development or a related field.
• At least 3 years' of relevant experience in financial or private sector development. This can include experience of working in the financial sector, development agencies, project implementation, policy institutions or on applied research.
• Knowledge of the financial sector in Bangladesh and understanding of how legal, regulatory and institutional barriers can prevent the development of banking and financial markets and practical ways to overcome these barriers.
• Understanding of investment climate in Bangladesh, especially regulatory and institutional barriers.
• A proactive individual with a can-do attitude who can work across teams and build relationships with external stakeholders at all levels.

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience  

Desirable:

• Knowledge of international development: international financial institutions, SDG, aid architecture and instruments
• Network of contacts in the Bangladesh's financial sector, policy and regulatory bodies and private sector

We welcome applications irrespective of age, race, colour, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, belief or creed.

We especially encourage applications from early career and female candidates.

Required behaviours: Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Making Effective Decisions, Seeing the Big Picture.

Other benefits and conditions of employment  

For British High Commission (BHC) candidates, the Country Based Staff Terms & Conditions will apply.

The salary will be all inclusive of BDT 227,228 per month.

The British High Commission offers a competitive remuneration package, including salary, benefits, a leave entitlement, Health Insurance and relevant L&D opportunities.

Please note - Employees who are not liable to pay local income tax on their Mission salary may have their salaries reduced by the equivalent local income tax amount.

Employment offers are subject to successful clearance of pre-employment and security checks.

No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position.

The BHC is recognised as a good employer, with a robust, fair and transparent performance management & appraisal system linked to staff bonuses. We have a 5-day working week, plus annual leave, public holidays, maternity leave provision, special leave, paid sick leave provision; ample development opportunities, travel opportunities, a good organisational culture, and excellent work/life balance.

We treat people with respect and equality and have a policy of zero tolerance for any form of discrimination, bullying, or harassment. The FCDO also operates an agile workforce. To facilitate this, you may be required to undertake other duties from time to time as we may reasonably require.

This is a good opportunity to be part of a strong, diverse team, working in the biggest network that FCDO has anywhere across the globe. We are aiming to make it the best.

Additional information

To Apply: Please note applications without (a) and (b) will not be considered.

1. Complete the Online Application Form
2. Complete the Experience, Behaviour and Technical/ Professional skills-based questions segment in the Online Application Form
3. Applicants needs to answer the questions based on their professional experience. Refrain use of AI based tools to avoid application from getting rejected.

Please note that internal candidates applying for this position must have completed their probation along with 1 year in their current role and have prior approval from their line manager, else the application will not be considered.

We will accept only online applications by 30 October 2024, till 23:55 hrs (Dhaka time)

Please note that all the applicants will be required to strictly adhere to the security guidelines for British High Commission.

Applicants who do not have the required qualification & experience should kindly abstain from applying, as their applications will not be considered.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted, and no telephone enquires will be dealt with. Basis the scores, the candidate/s who did not score as highly as the successful candidate, might be placed on the reserve list. If during the reserve period of 6 months, the same or largely similar role becomes available, the role may be offered to the second or subsequent appointable candidates.

The start date mentioned in the job advert is a tentative & the appointment of successful candidate will be subject to clearance of police and other checks including references/medical/educational and professional which all applicable.

We welcome all applications irrespective of age, race, colour, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, belief or creed. We are also open to applications from people who want to work flexibly.

APPLY ONLINE

Note: "All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the complete online application form including the employment and educational details, motivational segment and the behavioural based questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the application forms only for all the required details. Forms that are incomplete in any respect will not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.''