Deputy Head of Corporate Services – British Embassy

By Osama Elsheikh Last updated Jan 1, 2022

About the FCDO’s development work in Sudan

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) pursues UK national interests and projects the UK as a force for good in the world. We promote the interests of British citizens, safeguard the UK’s security, defend our values, reduce poverty and tackle global challenges with our international partners.

The UK is an active donor in Sudan, playing a leading role in the humanitarian response, and supporting Government with its plans for economic reform and social impact mitigation. Our bilateral development programme portfolio includes support for the humanitarian response, clean water, climate change, women’s empowerment and economic and governance reform. Sudan also benefits from FCDO’s Centrally Managed Programmes including on health, education, mine action and targeted technical assistance. Critical priorities include getting support economic reforms, supporting citizen voice to inform/ support transition and strengthening the role and profile of women who have been pivotal in driving a peaceful, constructive revolution. Darfur is one of the longest-standing humanitarian crises in the world. The UN peacekeeping force is drawing down at the end of 2020 and is being replaced by a new UN peacebuilding and political mission to support Sudan’s transition and along with the international community, is supporting the transition from peacekeeping to peacebuilding and development. Safeguarding and inclusion are key in this process.

Job Description

POSITION	Deputy Head of Corporate Services (13/21 KRT)
Grade	C4 (L)
salary	USD 3,301.36 plus USD 72 (Transport allowance)
Type of Position	Full-time
Start Date	01/03/2022
Deadline	16/01/2022

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer. We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.

Job Category

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Policy & Political roles)

Job Subcategory

Communications, Press and Media

Best English Courses offered from United States Embassy: US EMBASSY COURSES

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities)

Main purpose of job:

The main purpose of the job is to provide strategic direction to Corporate Services; leading an efficient, cost effective, and professional team to deliver quality services across the 1HMG platform.

As a leader in corporate delivery, the jobholder will require excellent management, interpersonal and communication skills, tact, discretion, and an ability to deliver consistently across a broad range of responsibilities. The jobholder will be required to show an understanding for and sensitivity in handling Embassy and host government requirements.

In particular, we are looking for a skilled manager able to bring the best out of their staff and able to organise the work and team to ensure delivery whilst adhering to Embassy protocol and standards.

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

Strategic Planning and Leadership 20%

Support of the corporate agenda including the country business plan and risk management.
Act as trusted advisor to local leadership and partners on the platform ‘horizon scanning’ locally to enable proactive resource and activity planning.
Engage, analyse, and report on developments in Corporate Services policy, highlighting opportunities to the Director of Corporate Services (DCS) and Senior Management Team.
Inform and steer Corporate Services communications across the Network. Lead and deliver Corporate Services communication strategy.
Maintain relationships with key stakeholders internally, within regional and global hubs and with external partners (at other diplomatic missions, government departments and suppliers) to maintain informed and current corporate knowledge.
Ensure local policies are reviewed and aligned to global and local requirement and adopted by all partners on the platform.
Lead and monitor the delivery of services against the local corporate services charter, MoU’s and corporate services improvement plan.
Lead and monitor the delivery of services against the local corporate services charter.

People 30%

Alongside the DCServices and DHM, contribute to the overall employer proposition, including terms and conditions of service and pay and benefits for Country Based Staff (CBS), ensuring compliance with local labour law and full alignment across the platform.
Provide guidance and act as an escalation point on sensitive staff matters for diplomatic and CBS, including management issues and dispute resolution, engaging with specialist HR functions where necessary.
Champion and embed a collaborative and inclusive culture.

Delivery 35%

Oversee all corporate delivery across a range of areas including HR, Procurement, estates protocol, technical works, working closely with the regional HR, finance and procurement hubs.
Direct the management of the estate, ensuring that UK and local standards are met through planned and reactive maintenance and in compliance with corporate procedures, including local and UK health and safety regulations and policy.
Act as the ‘intelligent client’, identifying requirements, appropriate service level agreements and key performance indicators to manage and monitor supplier contracts in line with procurement policies.
Oversee the local delegated budget in accordance with corporate policies to ensure on-budget expenditure and value for money.
First direct liaison for staff associations and committees.
Lead and manage CS reports to deliver quality customer service to internal stakeholders.
Manage the Learning and Development budget in collaboration with local L&D committee
Instil a continuous improvement mentality within the team, leading on corporate projects and the change management required to deliver them.
Managing the full re-tender of the staff and families Medical Insurance Scheme

Resilience 10%

Respond to operational crisis, providing leadership and flexing team prioritisation as required.
Ensure cross training within corporate services roles to provide resilience within the teams and across the region.
Ensure wellbeing and engagement are maintained within the corporate services team, seeking regular feedback and embedding the values of resilience and respect.
Ensure wellbeing and engagement are maintained within the corporate services team, seeking regular feedback and embedding the values of resilience and respect.

Other 5%

Cover for the DCS as and when required
Ad-hoc tasks as and when required requested by the Head of Corporate Services.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):

Day-to-day and direct line management of 6 members of staff.
Escalation point and advisor for complex cases.
Effectively allocating work, prioritisation, and performance management of the team.
Training development, coaching and mentoring of the team and staff
Oversight of platform budget of circ 6 million.

Essential qualifications, skills, and experience

Minimum 5 years of middle management experience working for international organisation, preferably with direct involvement in HR and or Estates, Finance policy and implementation
At least a bachelor’s degree in HR, management, finance, or a related field
Minimum 5 years experience in managing cross functional teams
High levels of discretion, with a resilient, flexible and ‘can do’ attitude
Able to challenge and influence senior stakeholders
Experience in managing suppliers and outsourced service delivery
Strong organisational skills and keen attention to detail. Ability to effectively work under tight deadlines and in a fast paced environment and adapting to changing aims without compromising the quality of the work.
Strong IT skills and proficiency in MS Office tools, particularly Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.
Language: English and Arabic – Level of language required: Fluent in both written and spoken

Desirable qualifications, skills, and experience

Familiarity with Sudan Labour Codes and laws
Advanced degree or professional qualification/s in HR, management, procurement/finance or a related field.
Previous experience in the government or public sector or in an international organisation in a similar capacity.

Required competencies Seeing the Big Picture, Making Effective Decisions, Leading and Communicating, Collaborating and Partnering, Delivering Value for MoneyApplication deadline

Other benefits and conditions of employment

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

The successful candidate will receive training on all Embassy processes and IT systems.

Other Learning and Development opportunities including

Strong induction process
Formal in-house on-line training
Coaching, mentoring and job shadowing
Structured learning on the job, including stretching objectives and work
Clear set of Embassy cultures and values

Working patterns: 38.5 hours per week

0800-1600 Sunday to Wednesday and 0800-1430 on Thursday.

Additional information

Please complete the application form in full as the information provided is used during screening.
Please check your application carefully before you submit, as no changes can be made once submitted.
The British Embassy will never request any payment or fees to apply for a position.
Employees recruited locally by the British Embassy in Khartoum are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law in Sudan.
All candidates must be legally able to work and reside in the country of the vacancy with the correct visa/work permit status or demonstrate eligibility to obtain the relevant permit.
The responsibility lies on the successful candidate to; Obtain the relevant permit; Pay the fees for the permit; Make arrangements to relocate; Meet the costs to relocation
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
Information about the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Competency Framework can be found on this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-competency-framework Please note: Job grade AA=A1, AO=A2, EO=B3, HEO=C4, SEO=C5
Reference checking and security clearances will be conducted on successful candidates
British Embassy will only contact successful candidates, if you do not hear from us please consider your application unsuccessful.

Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.

British Embassy

British Embassy Khartoum

The British Embassy in Sudan maintains and develops relations between the UK and Sudan.

Our work covers a range of issues including:

supporting a comprehensive and sustainable peace agreement
working towards an inclusive peace with justice in Darfur
supporting national and regional stability
backing human rights
encouraging the development of democratic and accountable government
reducing poverty levels

British Embassy Brussels

We maintain and develop relations between the UK and Belgium.

British Embassy Washington

The British Embassy Washington maintains and develops relations between the UK and the United States.
We deal with a wide range of political, commercial, security and economic questions of interest to the UK and the US. Our consular team in Washington provides consular assistance to British nationals in the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
The ambassador is responsible for the direction and work of the embassy and its consulates. Their tasks are to present UK policies to the American government and to Americans, to report and explain American policies and views to their own government in London, and to support UK interests. They are also responsible for press and cultural relations and for consular services. They are based at the British Embassy in Washington but travels regularly throughout the United States.

British consulates champion trade and investment between the UK and US. They also keep the ambassador aware of political, economic and other developments in their consular districts. The consuls are also responsible for providing consular services to British nationals in their consular districts.

Is there a UK embassy in every country?

Britain does not have Embassies in any of the Commonwealth countries. British interests in these countries are represented by High Commissioners, not Ambassadors, working in High Commissions, not Embassies.

For jobs from British Embassy visit: British Embassy Jobs Page

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