Job purpose

The Senior Specialist, International Relations is responsible for developing and executing engagement strategies and plans to achieve strategic and policy objectives. This role involves identifying key government stakeholders, managing diplomatic relations, coordinating with delivery stakeholders, and developing concepts for new partnerships. The individual will prepare reports and insights, plan and prepare missions and meetings for the GCEO, prioritize international engagements, and develop KPIs to report progress. Additionally, the role includes delivering critical and confidential strategic missions, briefing reports, and developing content for portfolio countries.

Key accountabilities

Job specific:

• Prepare engagement strategies for mandated countries/special envoys, including deep-dive studies and baseline/topical analysis.
• Develop engagement plans and roadmaps to deliver on strategic/policy objectives.
• Identify key government stakeholders for profiling, engagement planning, and relationship management.
• Manage diplomatic engagements and relations, coordinating engagements, and adjusting plans based on international dynamics.
• Identify, engage, and coordinate with delivery stakeholders; report on progress.
• Develop concepts for new partnerships, identifying cooperation areas, opportunities, and challenges.
• Prepare reports and insights for strategic countries overseen by the GCEO.
• Plan and prepare missions and meetings for the GCEO.
• Prioritize international engagements and develop KPIs to report progress to MOFA.
• Deliver critical and confidential strategic missions and international and government-related tasks.
• Produce briefing reports, talking points, messages, and ad-hoc tasks for the leadership of all countries overseen by the GCEO.
• Develop content for portfolio countries, including correspondence, talking points, key messages, press releases, and situational reports.

Generic:

• Supervision
  Plan, supervise and coordinate all activities in the assigned area to meet functional objectives.
  Train and develop the assigned staff on relevant skills to enable them to become proficient on the job and deliver the respective business objectives.
• Budgets
  Provide input for preparation of the function, division, department, or section budgets, assist in the implementation of the approved budget, and work plans to deliver business objectives.
  Investigate and highlight any significant variances to support effective performance and cost control.
• Policies, systems, processes & procedures
  Implement approved function, division, department, or section policies, processes, systems, standards, and procedures in order to support execution of the work programs in line with company and international standards.
• Performance management
  Contribute to the achievement of the approved performance objectives for the function, division, department, or section in line with the company performance framework.
• Innovation and continuous improvement
  Design and implement new tools and techniques to improve the quality and efficiency of operational processes.
  Identify improvements in internal processes against best practices in pursuit of greater efficiency in line with best industry standards in order to define intelligent solutions for issues confronting the function.
• Health, safety, environment (HSE) and sustainability
  Comply with relevant HSE policies, procedures, controls, applicable legislation, and sustainability guidelines in line with international standards, best practices, and ADNOC code of practices.
• Reports
  Provide inputs to prepare MIS and progress reports for company management.

Communication & working relationship

Internal:
Regular contact with International Affairs Management team to ensure alignment and coordination of strategies and objectives.

External:
Contact with external parties, including government stakeholders, consultants, and strategic partners, to foster relationships and achieve engagement objectives.

Qualifications, experience, knowledge & skills

Minimum qualification
Bachelor degree in Public Policy, Public Administration, International Relations, or a related field.

Minimum experience & knowledge & skills
10 years of experience in international relations, diplomacy, or a related field.

Professional certifications

Core / technical skills:

• Planning, forecasting and budgeting (L3)
• International Finance Corporation performance standards compliance (L1)
• Corporate reporting (L2)
• Cultural, geo-political and industry awareness (L2)
• Business partnership (L2)
• Global marketing (L2)
• Strategic relations (L4)
• Stakeholder management (L3)
• Trend identification (L3)
• Strategic planning and management (L4)
• Relationship management (L3)
• Internal business advisory (L2)
• Intercultural relationships and respect (L2)
• Project proposal development and writing (L2)
• Company representation and authority (L2)
• Market share competitive analysis (L2)
• Policy research and recommendations (L3)
• AI fluency (L3)
• AI-driven process optimization (L4)
• Intelligent data interpretation (L4)