International Investment Officer

Increasing private investment, foreign and domestic, is crucial to the UK’s economic growth and the future prosperity of its citizens. Leveraging private investment is also fundamental to the Government’s plan to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050 and establish international leadership as a science and technology driven economy.  

The Office for Investment (OfI) is at the core of the Government’s efforts to achieve these aims. The OfI was spun out of Downing Street in January 2021 and is now a joint unit between No.10 and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).    

The OfI is an exciting, creative and dynamic place to work among a motivated and driven team with both commercial and public sector backgrounds. The Office works closely with Secretaries of State, Junior Ministers, and No.10 to deliver the highest-value, highest-profile investment propositions. 

The team operates a flexible and flat structure which means that staff across all grades have the opportunity to work directly alongside the senior leadership, and have direct exposure to ministers and senior business executives. 

The OfI’s missions are to improve the UK’s chances of landing large and impactful internationally contestable investment projects; increase the allocation of capital investment into the UK from the world’s most prolific and exciting financial investors; and give the world’s most important investors the best possible experience of investing in the UK. 

In this role, you’ll be joining a growing cohort of investment officers following a successful recruitment round earlier this year. The Office’s international investment officers are at the heart of the team’s model, responsible for leading on specific investment projects across different priority sectors (across the full net spectrum of UK sectors, especially Net Zero and science and technology). Your role will be to provide the structure, coordination, and personal drive to unblock barriers and get these deals over the line. On each deal you will work closely with, and be supported by, one of the OfI’s Senior Investment Partners, but with the autonomy and responsibility to set direction, drive progress, and make effective decisions.  

This role is multi-faceted, and requires a broad skills base, including commercial judgement, problem solving, project management, numerical fluency, and the ability to form collaborative relationships both with clients and across Government. This role would be particularly appealing to people with experience in strategy consultancy, business development, investment management and or social/innovative finance to be able to understand what investors want from Government policy and engagement. However, this experience is not a requirement for succeeding in the role; ultimately, we are looking for dynamic, confident, and credible individuals, whatever their previous experience, who can learn fast to give investors a professional high-quality service.

1.  Project Delivery: You will be responsible for proactively leading and delivering high-value commercial investment projects, providing a bespoke service to some of the world’s largest and most exciting investors. This will involve: 

• Driving creative, novel solutions to barriers to investment (including often a need to challenge the status quo) 
• Leading and convening cross-departmental projects teams to align different Government policy areas behind strategic, high-value investment projects 
• Working with industry experts to inform the UK strategy for investment promotion across different Net Zero, levelling up and science and technology policy areas 
• Scoping and delivering project milestones 

2.     Investor Relations: You will form collaborative, trusted relationships with the UK’s top investors, providing guidance on complex policy areas, and where appropriate, working with them to shape their UK market entry/expansion strategy. 

3.     Investment Promotion: You will promote the UK as a leading investment destination, developing bespoke pitches and visit programmes to attract inward investment from global investors. 

4.     Influencing Policy Development: You will work with cross-Government departments to shape Government policy, translating investor feedback into tangible investment opportunities which catalyse private sector investment into the UK in line with strategic government objectives, such as Net Zero and leadership in Science and Technology. 

5.     Advising Ministers and No.10: You will lead on briefings for Ministers and No.10 teams to inform strategic decisions on investment negotiations at heart of Government.

Essential Criteria 

• Delivering complex projects: Proven track record of working on cross-cutting projects, from project conception to successful delivery of milestones, whilst managing multiple stakeholders and communicating effectively to set the direction of projects. 
• Problem-solving: Track record of breaking down multi-faceted policy, strategic, and organisational barriers by identifying the key underlying issues, analysing the evidence effectively, and devising creative solutions.
• Relationship building: Strong relationship building skills across all levels of seniority, and an ability to manage and mobilise senior stakeholders.
• Communication Skills: Strong communication skills across diverse mediums (e.g. briefings, pitch writing and presentations), with an ability to set out information and recommendations in a clear, concise and persuasive fashion.
• Intellectual curiosity: An ability to quickly understand and assimilate a diverse range of subject areas, and enthusiasm for getting to grips with the political, social, and economic forces which drive the opportunities and challenges in these areas.
• Collegiate and collaborative working style: a demonstrable commitment to raising standards, providing support, sharing expertise, and showing leadership across your own peer group, as well as with junior and senior colleagues. 

Desirable Criteria 

• Client facing experience – we’re looking for confidence and credibility when dealing with external investors and stakeholders.
• Ability to respond flexibly to change, ensuring our area of work continues to join-up with wider Government priorities.

Personal Attributes & Skills

• Demonstrates initiative, proactivity and the desire to deliver against challenging objectives and exceed expectations. 

• Organised and delivery focused – you will need to balance a diverse portfolio of projects, managing competing needs and organising work according to tight deadlines, whilst being tenacious in overcoming barriers. 
• Strong team member focused on working together and willing to flex across activities as needed to achieve the team’s priorities. 
• Analytically minded – able to make sense of a wide range of information and translate into clear insights, using evidence and your wider knowledge to support decisions and recommendations. 
• Effective communicator, someone who enjoys building strong relationships with a variety of different stakeholders. 
• A willingness to learn and adapt in an ambiguous and changing environment 

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities.

Please refer to the attached candidate pack for further information on our benefits.

Job contact :

• Name : Leo Barnes
• Email : Leo.Barnes@officeforinvestment.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : dbtrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk