View Vacancy – JPN (Tokyo) – Senior Market Adviser – Export Support Service, HEO

Main Purpose of Job:

The Department of Business and Trade (DBT) is recruiting a Senior Market Advisor to lead the Export Support Service’s (ESS) International Markets team in Japan and lead the delivery of the UK in Japan’s economic growth agenda, focusing on driving outcomes for UK Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). In this role, you will provide high-quality market entry advice for UK businesses looking to enter and grow in Japan’s dynamic and exciting market and drive demand in a wide range of SME-focused sectors. You will build networks in relevant sectors, identifying demand and opportunities for UK SMEs and help them to capitalise on the UK’s recent accession to the Comprehensive & Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). 

What the Jobholder will be Expected to Achieve:

Located in the Trade Team of the Department of Business and Trade (DBT) in the British Embassy Tokyo, this is an exciting new role leading the International Markets team (part of DBT’s Export Support Service) for the Japanese market. The successful candidate will be able to show initiative and bring fresh ideas to shape it.

Japan is one of the most dynamic and sophisticated markets in the Asia-Pacific region, with bilateral trade currently valued at £27 bn approx, making Japan one of the UK’s top trading partners outside the EU. It offers many opportunities for UK companies across a range of sectors. As the world’s 3rd largest economy, Japan combines innovation, stability and a highly skilled workforce, making it an attractive market for British exporters. The UK-Japan bilateral relationship is the best it has been in decades, underpinned on the business side by two key trade agreements, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which the UK acceded to in December 2024. The UK will participate in EXPO 2025 Osaka Kansai from April to October 2025 where we will deliver a series of business focused events for visitors and trade missions. We also expect a surge in enquiries throughout 2025 and beyond fuelled by the high level of attention on Expo 2025.

You will be part of the regional Asia-Pacific Export Support Service International Markets (ESS IM) Team as the Senior Market Advisor for Japan, joining a dynamic regional team of 23 people focused on attracting more of the UK’s 5.5 million SME businesses into the Japanese market. As a Senior Market Advisor, you’ll be expected to set strategy and design initiatives for improving the quality of the ESS IM team in Japan. You’ll also play a role in regional ESS initiatives, working with counterparts across APAC markets, and the ESS Hub in Ho Chi Minh City, to design and implement regional improvements to the APAC service, as well as collaborating closely with teams across the Export Support Service ecosystem back in the UK. In addition to these primary responsibilities, you’ll be a core member of Department of Business & Trade team located in the British Embassy Tokyo and British Consulate-General Osaka.

You will:

• Set the strategic direction for ESS IM in Japan.
• Identify and drive demand in relevant SME sectors, build and maintain a network of local partners, distributors and retailers, designing and delivering creative comms and events initiatives to deliver trade outcomes.
• Leverage key moments in Japan, including Expo 2025, to maximise opportunities for UK SMEs.
• Support companies by responding to a broad range of market entry enquiries, including conducting market research and identifying potential Japanese commercial partners.
• Collaborate with DBT internal and external partners/stakeholders to ensure a consistent and coordinated support offer for UK companies.

Why work for us?

• Work in a highly professional team, on high-profile issues and in a bilingual environment. The Japan Network, made up of the British Embassy Tokyo and the British Consulate-General Osaka, is a busy and diverse network at the heart of HMG’s work in the Indo-Pacific. Staff are seconded from all the principal government departments to work on advancing the UK’s growth agenda in areas such as security, digital and technology, trade and economic, defence, and climate and energy partnerships with Japan. This is at the centre of the Foreign Secretary’s foreign policy agenda and our commitment to the region.
• Contribute to the UK’s prosperity by assisting UK businesses to export to or expand in the Japanese market.
• Be part of an international team contributing to the successful business programme at EXPO 2025 and future international events in Japan.

About You:

• You are an experienced professional with at least 4 years’ experience in a customer facing job, experience of working in Japanese business with extensive knowledge of the Japanese market (consumer trends, overall market environment and business etiquette).
• You have excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to facilitate introductions between SMEs and potential Japanese commercial partners in a wide range of sectors.
• You have relevant work experience in the private sector, or within a private-sector orientated part of Government or International Organisation.
• You are a people-oriented person with great customer service skills, excellent networking skills and a proven track record of cross-team collaboration.
• You have a positive, resilient, flexible and adaptable “can-do” attitude to overcome challenges.
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills, ability to work successfully in multicultural teams and across boundaries, to build networks across the region.
• Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines.
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written.
• Strong skills in Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, MS Teams.

About the Department:

This is an exciting time to join the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) in Japan. Our mission is to help businesses export, drive inward and outward investment, negotiate market access, and to champion free trade. DBT’s role is to promote UK’s business interests worldwide, and the job holder will contribute to the UK’s prosperity by assisting UK businesses wishing to export to and/or establish a presence in Japan. We promote UK businesses overseas and attract foreign investment to our shores. We have 3,000 staff across the globe in over 100 countries. His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner is responsible for Trade and Investment work in the APAC region. With over 280 staff over 14 markets, DBT APAC is a fast-paced, and exciting place to work. 

The DBT Japan team (the largest in the APAC region) is 50-person strong and divided into 3 main teams focusing on trade (exports from the UK to Japan), investment (from Japan into the UK) and performance & delivery. This role is part of DBT’s Export Support Service International Markets (ESS IM), a free government service that supports UK Small-Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) to export across the world, with market-specific insight and guidance, provided by DBT teams based around the world. As part of a global ecosystem of export support, the International Markets team was established three years ago, and this role offers an exciting opportunity to drive the development of IM in Japan and across the APAC network.
 
The successful candidate will head a team of 1.5 staff. We label our sectors “priority sectors” where we have dedicated resource ie. energy, tech, life sciences, financial and business services, food and drink, creative industries, and the wider economy, handled by the ESS IM team and which include education, maritime, consumer sectors among others. The ESS IM team also provides surge capacity to support other teams during busy periods (trade missions, ministerial visits, etc). 

Account Management and Market Enquiries (80%)

• Increase the value of UK exports by providing an exceptional service to small and medium sized enterprises/businesses (SMEs) looking to export to Japan, providing guidance on entering the Japanese market. This requires an in-depth review of the market, research and knowledge of the UK businesses looking to export.
• Identify and lead on commercial opportunities for UK SMEs flowing from policy work, including integration of the DBT Japan Business Plan into sector campaigns.
• Give presentations and speeches, both in Japan and the UK – on business opportunities and the business climate in Japan in person and online.
• Provide strategic leadership of Japan’s Digital Offer to UK SMEs and oversee the transition from Export to Japan (E2J) to DBT’s great.gov.uk website between April 2025 – March 2026.
• Work proactively to build demand within the local market, seeking out export opportunities and tenders, and identifying and building relationships with major local businesses and importers.
• Maintain relationships with key stakeholders in the trade ecosystem, such as local senior business contacts, buyers, agents, distributors, public sector organisations, trade associations, the British Chamber of Commerce Japan, British Market Council, UK businesses, and JETRO to identify and promote export opportunities.
• Work with the APAC International Markets Hub to identify UK SMEs entering other APAC markets that could potentially succeed in Japan and then highlight opportunities to these UK exporters.
• You will have ownership for the team’s commercial pipeline of export projects relating to SMEs and will be responsible for devising and executing strategies to drive this pipeline forward.

Market Collateral (15%)

• Produce, research and keep up to date various digital market information products. These may include overviews of key sectors of interest and ‘how to’ guides relating to core aspects of setting up operations in Japan, in areas such as Legal, Accountancy, Market Research, Event Management, Marketing & PR, Visa Information and setting up a Bank Account.

Overseas Referral Network (5%)

• Maintain and develop a network of commercial providers who offer specialist or more intensive support for UK SMEs in Japan.

Resources Managed (staff and expenditure): 

• 1 x EO ESS officer and 0.5 x AO
• Line management of a EO ESS IM officer
• Opportunity to bid for funding for projects and travel

Language Requirements:

This role requires written and spoken proficiency in both English and Japanese. Fluency (minimum of C2 level for CEFR framework*) in one language and business level (minimum of high B2) in the other.

*Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages sets the following mastery or proficiency levels:

• C2: Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express themself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations.
• B2: Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in their field of specialisation. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.