The Plant Health Exports & Passporting Lead is responsible for providing technical advice, guidance and direction to colleagues within APHA, Defra, other UK government departments and devolved administrations. Managing a team of experts that deliver a technical service to the business, the role involves working across P&BH and policy teams day‑to‑day while contributing to the wider management of APHA and Plant and Bee Health. The successful candidate must have practical knowledge of plant exports and plant passporting, be able to work independently and in teams, make key decisions, and respond to extremely tight deadlines. The role involves regular travel to APHA locations across GB and may require out‑of‑hours or detached duty work.
* Oversee the operational requirement for the export of goods, including monitoring international legislation to meet the trade of goods under plant health and horticultural marketing.
* Ensure appropriate working groups are advised on new aspects of trade agreements that may affect plant passporting or plant exports, maintaining alignment with the EU and support for exports to the rest of the world.
* Engage with, advise and provide data for fees and charges across plant passporting, plant health exports and other new, chargeable activities.
* Monitor and report on operational delivery, using analytical skills to assess data, identify issues and propose sound business decisions.
* Collaborate with IT project teams to develop agile systems that improve business processes.
* Provide training and monitor performance with operational teams.
* Lead APHA’s Technical Advice Panels (TAPs) covering export and plant passporting to keep internal and external advice up to date, and to provide staff training.
* Line‑manage staff.
* Liaise with Defra international, technical and policy teams, the Forestry Commission, devolved governments and Crown Dependencies on new or changed policy, fees and legislation across plant health.
* Engage with FERA Science on plant health matters.
* Identify and support management information for future work monitoring.
* Develop and lead continuous improvement and quality initiatives for exports, working with other APHA groups, to achieve and maintain ISO 17020 for plant health exports and plant passporting.
* Co‑develop training materials with technical leads and create ways to monitor learning outcomes.
* Produce, maintain and develop stakeholder content, including publishing APHA plant passporting updates to trade several times a year.
* Ensure appropriate dialogue for HMI marketing standards and export activities, including delivery of certificates of conformity for relevant controlled goods.
Disability Confident – a Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant who declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer.
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