NEDs x 2 for FCO Departmental Board

The FCDO is actively seeking to appoint two Non-Executive Directors. They will be significant contributors to both the operational and strategic leadership of the Department. Their primary objective is to bring independent advice, support and challenge to the Executive Team helping to shape the Department’s work for Ministers, particularly in terms of delivery.

• Contribute effectively to discussions on the leadership and performance of the business at FCDO Supervisory Board meetings, usually held at FCDO’s headquarters in central London (Non-Executive Directors also have an open invitation to attend monthly meetings of the FCDO’s Management Board and support specific pieces of departmental work).
• Support the Foreign Secretary to examine and challenge the operational delivery of policy proposals, major projects and programmes, strategic and organisational issues.
• Work with the Permanent Under-Secretary, Directors General and senior leaders to scrutinise the Department’s management information, to ensure that performance and delivery of the Department’s Outcome Delivery Plan and other key objectives are ambitious and achievable.
• Bring an independent perspective to the work of the FCDO Board, as well as providing independent scrutiny for the Department upon request.

The FCDO’s enduring purpose is to lead the Government’s diplomatic, development and consular work around the world. Our overall aim is to position the UK as a reasonable, reliable, and effective international actor and partner, investing in the global relationships we need for the long-term.

The Foreign Secretary has set out how we will achieve these aims, establishing a strong ethos of taking the long view with an approach to foreign policy that will endure for decades. We will act with agility to respond to evolving priorities and emerging risks, and prioritise and plan thoroughly for known and likely scenarios and events. This also means sweating our assets, by playing to our strengths and drawing on all the tools available to achieve UK objectives, including diplomatic, economic, development, defence and security, technology and cultural. We will use our time, energy, money and global network to generate influence on the world stage and continue to stand up for our world view: championing the democratic values we believe in, including the right to freedom, justice, the rule of law and the integrity of sovereign states.

We do so to deliver the vision for the UK’s role in the world set out in the Integrated Review in 2021 and updated in the refresh published earlier in 2023 (IR2023): to promote and protect the UK’s core national interests of security, prosperity and sovereignty, while working to shape an open and stable international order.

The FCDO Supervisory Board (chaired by the Foreign Secretary) provides strategic direction, oversight, support and challenge, to encourage the long-term health, reputation and success of the FCDO. Membership comprises of the Non-Executive Directors, as well as the Ministerial Team, Permanent Under-Secretary and Director General of Finance and Corporate. The FCDO’s Management Board takes strategic choices for long-term departmental management where a cross-departmental view, impact or action is required. Non-Executive Directors have an open invitation to attend meetings and support specific pieces of departmental work. Both Boards operate according to these recognised principles of good corporate governance in business:

• leadership – communicate a clear vision for the department
• effectiveness – challenge and scrutinise performance
• accountability – promote the government’s goal of transparency through clear and fair reporting
• sustainability – take a long-term view about what the department is trying to achieve

• Proven leadership experience in complex organisations in the private, public or voluntary sectors;
• Strong communication skills, including an ability to offer challenge in a constructive, straightforward and open manner;
• Interest in (and passion for) international development and foreign policy work;
• An understanding of the wider environment in which the FCDO operates, including its current strategic and organisational challenges, as well as the wider challenges faced by the public sector;
• An engaging and collaborative working style which is challenging and constructive, including the ability to contribute and inspire confidence with a wide range of FCDO stakeholders, and;
• A strong desire to support the?successful?delivery of the FCDO core agenda?and the?Foreign Secretary’s priorities.

We are looking for strong expertise in any of the following:

• Experience of leading complex organisational change and people in a diverse, international organisation; or
• Experience in digital, data and technological change, with an understanding of how the digital world is impacting international systems and institutions.
• Experience at board level as a non-executive or executive of an organisation.