Global Talent Visa Programme Lead (Maternity Cover)

Please note the following:

• This job posting will not be monitored over the festive holiday period
• This is a maternity cover post
• This role is listed as Remote, however it may be beneficial if you have access to our central London office. We also welcome anyone that wishes to work on-site or on a hybrid basis in our London office.
  
  

Are you passionate about tech and supporting the talent needs of the UK tech ecosystem, and want to lead the operations and engagement activity of a high impact visa route for the world's best talent?

The Opportunity

We are looking for a Global Talent Visa Programme Lead (Maternity Cover) to join the Tech Nation Visa team, playing a pivotal role in delivering our internal operational requirements and external engagement activity with key stakeholders.

This role will contribute to the successful operation and delivery of Tech Nation’s Global Talent Visa (GTV), offering the opportunity to have a significant personal impact on one of the UK’s primary visa routes for technology employees and entrepreneurs. Working with key stakeholders such as the Home Office, expert assessors, universities, accelerators and the wider tech sector, the Programme Lead will help promote the Global Talent Visa to a range of strategically important audiences, whilst also ensuring that a high quality of service is maintained at all times.

A high degree of attention to detail, exceptional execution ability and a desire to seek out opportunities and continuously improve is crucial to success in this role. This role requires a genuine passion and interest for the UK tech talent landscape, particularly in relation to international talent and scale-ups. Given the strategic importance of this role, a high degree of personal motivation and commitment to the highest standards is required.

The Lead will be supported by the Head of Visa and will assist the Visa Programme Administrator (who is responsible for day-to-day running of the route, such as managing applications, assessors and finance). In addition, the Lead will work closely with other members of the Visa and Tech Nation teams, such as Marketing and Insights, to ensure that accurate communications are available in the promotion of the Global Talent route.

About Tech Nation

Tech Nation is the leading growth platform and industry body for startups and scaleups and their teams across the UK. Supercharged by Founders Forum Group, Tech Nation amplifies the UK founder’s voice and empowers them to scale via practical knowledge, powerful connections and peer to peer communities.

Tech Nation is designated by the Home Office as the official endorsing body for the digital technology route of the Global Talent Visa.

The Role

Operations

• Core process - Support the Visa Administrator with operation of the core Visa application process between the Home Office, Applicants and Tech Nation’s assessors, in addition to responding to enquiries, invoicing, and supporting the Assessor Group. This role will be accountable for our operational flow, ensuring KPIs are hit and liaising with our Assessors.
• Systems - Work with the Head of Visa Programme to establish effective operations and systems for the management of Visa Applications, Assessor Group, Alumni Network and External Engagement. Ensure critical functions and data management operate effectively, securely, whilst also building for future scale and growth of the programme.
• Assessor Group - Assist with developing the group of Assessors. Foster a high-functioning group by developing the support provided to them, keeping them informed and managing their availability and capacity in order to ensure sufficient capability for handling application volumes. Through your network of engagement, take a lead on the recruitment and onboarding of new Assessors.
• Tracking - Routinely collect, monitor and report KPIs for Operational, Engagement & Marketing activity. Support with the collection and analysis of data for reporting to the Home Office and any other key stakeholders, such as government departments or strategic partnerships / collaborators. Monitor the performance of these activities to ensure they are operating effectively, implementing systems to manage these processes and associated tracking.

Engagement

• External Engagement - Proactively seek external engagement opportunities to attract high quality applicants by raising awareness of Tech Nation’s Global Talent Visa with key regional, national and international stakeholders. Assist with the creation of written communications and delivering frequent information sessions to targeted key audiences such as Universities, Accelerators, VCs, Scaleups, Corporates, Legal firms, Talent firms, etc. Always ensuring methods of engagement are scalable.
• Alumni Network - Provide support for managing the Alumni Network and its Ambassador Group, supporting the thousands of active members and maintaining the Alumni Network as a significant contributor to raising awareness of the Global Talent Visa. This will include the curation of a routine programme of events.
• Advisory Groups & Events - Chair Quarterly calls with the Assessor group and relevant Tech Sector Advisory Groups, setting and monitoring actions as required. Enable an environment open for constructive discussion, feedback, insight, questions and debate, which may contribute to policy work and overall improvements. Collaborate with the Events team regarding the delivery of Global Talent Visa online and physical events.
• Marketing & Insights - Collaborating with Visa and Marketing teams using data driven insight to define the overall marketing plan, targets and objectives for Global Talent Visa’s annual marketing campaigns and reports. Support the Data & Insights team to conduct surveys and information gathering sessions with key sector audiences.

Essential skills:

• Project management skills with exceptional planning and execution ability
• Systematic, detailed and documented approach to all areas of work
• Management and use of critical software based systems
• You must be a people person, able to engage with a variety of audiences from senior officials to potential applicants groups
• Confident with public outreach and engagement through excellent communication and interpersonal skills (written, verbal and presentation)
• Able to oversee and direct the direction of marketing and communications

Beneficial skills:

• Career expertise in the digital technology sector and/or talent
• Existing network within UK tech, such as accelerators, VCs, universities, etc.
• Knowledge of the UK’s immigration system for digital talent
• Comfortable delivering keynotes and public addresses to international audiences

You must have a right to work in the UK.