Job summary
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is the department for economic growth. We support businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the country. We operate in an increasingly dynamic international environment, with a range of forces rapidly reshaping the global economy. To meet this challenge, the Government launched a new Modern Industrial Strategy in June 2025.
The Local and International Growth directorate within DBT supports economic growth across the UK by strengthening places, enabling businesses, and connecting local economies to national and international opportunity driving jobs, higher living standards and inclusive growth.
We do that by providing local policy insight and influence to shape growth policy, drive big bet interventions to support business growth in each area, collaborate with local partners to deliver growth outcomes, and connect DBTs international network to unlock global growth opportunities for businesses across UK.
Within the directorate, the Local Growth Policy Team performs a critical role in driving forward DBTs strategic approach to local growth policy. It is a linchpin team, acting as the strategic hub for local growth policy in DBT, working closely with our place-based teams.
The Sector Manager will support "Big Bets" work in Scotland to drive economic growth, supporting Sector Leads in the team with operational delivery. The role involves working closely with businesses, partners and colleagues across DBT to develop sector propositions, support investment and export activity, and ensure Scotlands strengths are reflected in UK Government growth strategies.
Events and Sector Manager
The Events and Sector Manager will combine sector insight, stakeholder engagement and event delivery to support DBT Scotlands growth and investment objectives. The role, which supports the Inward Investment Lead and Strategic Growth Lead, focuses on gathering and synthesising intelligence, developing compelling materials and coordinating high-profile investor visits, round tables and engagement activity. The postholder will help promote Scotlands investment opportunities, strengthen collaboration and ensure effective alignment between domestic policy priorities and international promotion activity.
Job description
Role 1 (Sector Manager) 1. Provide Local Insight for Government Growth Policy - Support strategic insights on local sector strengths, challenges, and opportunities. Support the production of insight reports and briefings to inform policy development and strategic planning. Share intelligence regularly with the wider team
- Contribute to the delivery of UK Government growth strategies at the local level, particularly the Industrial Strategy. Provide evidence-based recommendations to support ministerial briefings and policy documents
2. Promote Local Business Growth Opportunities - Work with local partners and across DBT to identify and support the delivery of activities that drive sectoral growth. Support initiatives related to exports, domestic business development, supply chain mapping, and inward investment. Engage with businesses to understand barriers and opportunities for growth
- Map and promote sector-specific investment opportunities. Support the development of compelling sector propositions and case studies, working closely with the investment lead
3. Collaborate with Local Growth Partners - Support sector leads to foster collaboration across sector and international teams in DBT. Contribute to joint initiatives and cross-sector projects. Share best practice and lessons learned to support continuous improvement
4. Integrate Domestic and International Growth Delivery - Liaise with DBTs international teams to provide up-to-date sector knowledge. Support the delivery of international campaigns and ensure local strengths are showcased globally. Facilitate connections between local businesses and overseas markets
Role 2 (Events and Sector Manager) 1. Provide Local Insight for Government Growth Policy - Synthesise stakeholder views, sector intelligence and place-based insight to inform UKG growth policy and strategic positioning.
- Support the Head of Strategic Growth Policy with evidence, briefing and analysis drawn from engagement with partners, investors and local actors.
- Coordinate internal inputs across policy, sector and trade teams to ensure advice reflects on-the-ground realities in Scotland.
- Maintain oversight of engagements and follow-up to ensure policy development is informed by current intelligence and delivery insight.
2. Promote Local Business Growth Opportunities - Support the development and articulation of Scotlands investment proposition, including sector and place-based opportunities.
- Produce high-quality briefing, materials and narratives for Ministers and senior stakeholders to showcase growth opportunities.
- Identify and collate intelligence on priority sectors, strategic sites and live opportunities to support promotion activity.
- Coordinate investor-facing activity, ensuring opportunities are clearly communicated and effectively presented.
3. Collaborate with Local Growth Partners - Coordinate engagement across the Team Scotland ecosystem (UKG, Scottish Government, enterprise agencies, local authorities, business groups).
- Build and sustain effective relationships with partners by managing meetings, communications and follow-up actions.
- Lead planning and delivery of joint events, visits and engagements that strengthen collective impact.
- Enable effective collaboration by aligning partner inputs into coherent engagement and delivery plans.
4. Integrate Domestic and International Growth Delivery - Lead planning and coordination of investor visits, roundtables and strategic engagements aligned to priority sectors and growth objectives.
- Ensure strong alignment between domestic policy, sector priorities and international investment promotion activity.
- Support end-to-end coordination of engagement activity, from pipeline planning through to delivery and follow-up.
- Work across LIG, trade and investment teams to ensure a joined-up approach to attracting investment and supporting business growth.
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Person specification
Essential Skills The below criteria are essential and will be assessed at application stage; - Strong stakeholder management skills and confidence working across government, partner organisations and business-facing networks.
- Experience of planning and delivering high-quality events, visits, meetings or engagement activity involving senior stakeholders.
- Strong organisational and project coordination skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver at pace.
- Strong written communication skills, including the ability to draft clear briefings, meeting materials and summary notes for senior audiences.
Desirable Skills The below criteria are desirable only. These will not be assessed throughout the recruitment process, but will be used in the event of tied scores between candidates; - Experience of supporting inward investment, economic development, strategic policy or place-based growth activity.
- Experience of building and managing relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
- Experience of working across matrix teams and coordinating contributions from multiple stakeholders.
- Experience of the Scottish political landscape and the devolved, concurrent and reserved competencies.
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