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View Vacancy – Visit and Events Officer (42/ 23 PTA)

British High Commission

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Programme Roles)

Political

The Visit and Events Officer will work in collaboration with colleagues from across the UK-in-South Africa network to lead the planning and logistics for:

  1.  UKinSA events
  2.  High level visits from the UK to South Africa (including UK Government Ministers).

Working closely alongside another Visits and Events Officer (there will be two of you in total), you will be expected to:  

Events  

  • Lead on the planning and delivery of the British High Commission’s large scale events programme, ranging from receptions to high-profile public diplomacy events.  
  • Lead on the logistics for the British High Commission’s two largest annual events (the King’s Birthday Party in Pretoria and the Eve of Parliament reception in Cape Town) working closely with a wide range of teams to deliver these.  
  • Work closely with the High Commissioner’s Executive Office to deliver smaller scale events at the Residence and regional conferences for UK government officials (with the lead role flexing between you depending on workloads). 
  • Offer support for occasional internal staff events. 

 

Visits  

  • Work in collaboration with colleagues from across the UKinSA network to provide planning and logistics support for visitors from the UK. This will range from a full support package for senior UK figures, including members of the royal family, Ministers and senior Government officials, to an advisory service for lower-level visitors (with the exact level of support dependent on competing priorities). 
  • Work with the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (DIRCO) on protocol arrangements for VIP visits, including liaison with State Protocol Lounges at South African airports and manage a roster of volunteers able to assist with airport meeting and greeting responsibilities. 

 

Strategic Mission Support 

  • Establish ‘best practice’ for visits and event management and ensure this knowledge is used throughout the mission. Keep this guidance up to date.  
  • Think creatively about future events with policy leads at the British High Commission, spotting opportunities for promoting UK objectives.  
  • Provide wider adhoc administrative support to the British High Commission if required (e.g. in a crisis scenario). 
  • For every visit and event, you will be expected to work closely with the residence teams (in Pretoria and Cape Town), the communications team, the executive office, the security team, and the visit/event leads embedded in policy teams.

Resources managed

  • You will be expected to work very closely alongside another Visits and Events Officer in Pretoria, and an Events Officer in Cape Town, to manage the visits and events workload appropriately.  
  • You will also be expected to generate positive working relationships with the residence, executive office, protocol and drivers’ teams.  
  • You will be expected to deliver events that are value-for money and against set budgets. You will need to follow budgetary processes on purchasing and accounting for expenditure.  
  • Resilience and wellbeing: There will be times where you have to demonstrate flexibility and provide resilience across the events cohort (e.g. leave cover in either Pretoria or Cape Town and during unexpected absences). 

Evidence of representational or customer-facing skills. 

Organisational skills.

Good communication skills.

 Performing well under pressure. 

Ability to manage multiple projects at the same time.

 Previous government/embassy experience.

 Prior experience working in an events-orientated role.

Changing and Improving, Managing a Quality Service, Delivering at Pace, Working Together

11 September 2023

Executive Officer (EO)

Full-time, Permanent

36.5 hours per week

Africa

South Africa

Pretoria

British High Commission

1

ZAR

R 26 397,66 per month paid 13 times

2 November 2023

This is a hands-on role, and you will be expected to be very visible among your colleagues at the High Commission. This is a Pretoria based role, but you may be expected to work in Johannesburg and Cape Town on occasion and for specific events.  

There will also be times when you need to work out of hours at a specific location – on occasion requiring overnight travel (for example during delivery of a visit programme). This will be managed carefully, and time-off-in-lieu will be provided when this is the case. Overtime can be paid when applicable. Expenses are covered in full for out-of-hours costs or travel.  

The High Commission is open to considering requests for flexible working from its staff on a case-by-case basis balanced against the operational needs of the role.

  • 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 High Commission will never request any payment or fees to apply for a position. 
  • Employees recruited locally by the British High Commission in Pretoria are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law in South Africa. 
  • 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 fees for the permit 
  • Make arrangements to relocate 
  • Meet the costs to relocate  
  • The British High Commission do not sponsor visas/work permits except where it may be local practice to do so.  
  • 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 Civil Service Success Profiles can be found on this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles. Please note:  AA=A1, AO=A2, EO=B3, HEO=C4, SEO=C5 
  • Reference checking and security clearances will be conducted on successful candidates. 
  • Appointable candidates who were unsuccessful may be placed on a ‘reserve list’.  If during the reserve period of 12 months the same or a largely similar role becomes available, that role may be offered to the second or subsequent candidate. 

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.

To apply please copy and paste this link: https://fco.tal.net/vx/appcentre-ext/candidate/jobboard/vacancy/1/adv/
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