Commercial Officer

About the Position

The Commercial Officer is part of the Political and Economic Section of the Embassy, and works specifically with trade and investment promotion as well as general Sweden-promotion. The Commercial Officer will work in close collaboration with the Business Sweden office in Istanbul and the Swedish Consulate General in Istanbul. Swedish companies are increasingly interested in the growing Turkish market, and have a lot of state of the art solutions to offer in a variety of sectors. Your overall goal will be to contribute to increase trade and investments between Sweden and Turkey, and to promote a positive image of Sweden in Turkey.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main duties include assisting Swedish companies wanting to do business in Turkey, identifying business opportunities, planning strategic trade and investment promotion events as well as more general Sweden promotion events. The Commercial Officer has the day-to-day responsibility for commercial enquiries from Swedish or Turkish companies. This work includes preparing, carrying out and following up on projects, activities and visits from Sweden involving business delegations. A key task is to assist and guide Swedish companies in Turkey, for instance when specific contacts with Turkish authorities are required.

You need to keep up to date with industry developments in relevant sectors in Turkey, maintaining a continuous and active dialogue with key Turkish ministries, agencies and actors, and follow procurement announcements and opportunities (both locally and internationally financed projects). Being updated on strong Swedish business sectors, Swedish technology and industry developments is also a requirement for responding to opportunities in Turkey, as well as being in close contact with Swedish companies, agencies and actors. Developing and managing a good network of contacts in Turkey and Sweden will constitute an important part of your work.

An integral part of the Embassy’s work is to use social media to raise awareness of what we do and the services that we provide. The Commercial Officer is therefore responsible for providing relevant information to the Embassy’s website, Twitter and Facebook.

Qualifications and skills

• An MBA or other relevant university degree;
• At least five years’ experience from the Turkish private sector, from a business-related Turkish agency or relevant international organization;
• Fluent oral and written Turkish and English.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Sound knowledge of the business climate in Turkey, the EU-Turkey Customs Union and the legal framework for commercial activities in Turkey;
• Proficient in Microsoft Office and good administrative skills;
• You should be able to manage your work independently, as well as enjoy working in a team. We are looking for a creative person with lots of initiative and drive!

Application

Send your CV together with a cover letter in English, in which you briefly describe your interest for the vacant position and how you meet the requirements, to the following address: ambassaden.ankara@gov.se  with the subject ‘Commercial Officer Vacancy – your name’. To be considered, your application should be submitted by August 14.

Please note that applications will not be returned, and only short-listed individuals will be contacted by telephone. For information about the Embassy, please see: www.swedenabroad.se/ankara.