Sector Director

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities)

The Department of International Trade at the British Embassy in Cairo has a vacancy for a **Sector Director - Education**, job grade Grade 7 (G7).

The UK Department for International Trade (DIT) is the UK Government’s Department for promoting free trade and open market access, UK exports and investment. In Africa, DIT supports the development of strong, prosperous and peaceful African nations, through trade and investment partnerships delivering mutual benefit for the UK and Africa. DIT brings together trade policy, promotion, and finance expertise to break down barriers to trade and investment in markets across the world, and to help businesses succeed.

This is a great opportunity to take a leadership role, operating with a high level of autonomy, shaping our work in Africa in a very important sector for the Continent. The UK offer includes world-class capability in education, at school and higher levels, in curriculum development, vocational education, in partnership approaches to deliver major education projects, and in edtech. UK institutions are ready to partner to help to deliver even better quality in education in Africa. Africa’s needs in education are huge and the Continent is in need of reliable partners like the UK who can deliver sustainable solutions.

Your job will be to work independently with senior level African buyers and key UK companies. You will help UK firms to create new, and expand existing business, and build up investments in Africa. This includes identifying the very best opportunities in Africa and the right strategies and markets together with UK companies, informing, challenging and helping UK companies at board level to create plans that support new effective market entry, and successful engagements with major projects. You will guide DIT country teams to understand the UK offer, and help them to evaluate projects in terms of their best alignment to deliver outcomes that match UK interests, and to work effectively in support of UK business interests in their countries. You will leading DIT’s work with the key UK businesses in education in Africa. You will develop a strong understanding of the current state of education development in Africa, the greatest opportunities for the UK, identifying new projects on the horizon as well as driving existing projects forward. You will learn to understand the key barriers to UK trade and investment, and ensure that our work in this area is prioritised effectively, and that adequate action is taken to resolve these barriers. You will engage UK companies early on when opportunities start to arise in Africa. You will liaise with key buyers, increase their understanding of UK expertise, and help key buyers to engage with UK companies. You will create and lead a small number of very high quality events that reflect the unique quality of the UK offer in education, and that advance our interests with key buyers.

The jobholder will join a dynamic team of experts from the private sector, committed to support UK business interests and Africa’s economic growth. This is an exciting time to join DIT Africa, as we deliver on our ambition to be Africa’s trade and investment partner of choice.

**Duties and responsibilities**:

- You will lead and deliver DIT Africa’s work in the education sector.
- You will create and deliver a sector plan focussed on outcomes and with clear priorities, goals, milestones and deliverables. You will create greater awareness in the UK, organise focussed sector events, and provide an evidence based view of the key areas for UK business engagement. You will create a pipeline of key projects and opportunities, and ensure there is appropriate and strong support for UK companies in making progress on these projects. You will lead a pan-Africa virtual sector team working in the sector. You will work together with UK stakeholders to advance your interests.
- You will lead this work, securing outcomes through the wider DIT Africa team across the continent, providing them with direction, helping to upskill them, and ensuring a consistent high standard of delivery and service.
- You will lead a strong programme of relationship management with major UK companies in the sector. You will lead accounts at Africa CEO level, working with senior leaders to understand their strategy, priorities and objectives, and market access concerns, delivering additional support for them that matches their needs, helping to realise the best possible opportunities in Africa. You will deploy support across the full range of DIT and HMG interests (trade policy, market access, export and business support, planning and strategy development, and new investments). You will also create your own relationships with buyer Governments, and your role will include some occasional travel when conditions permit to African countries.
- You will use your own experience of business to role model and secure bette