Government Affairs Senior Officer

Citi does business in nearly 160 countries and jurisdictions, providing corporations, governments, investors, institutions and individuals with a broad range of financial products and services.

This new role within Government Affairs (GA) is Citi’s representative to government officials in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, as well as partnering with our Hub Managed Country (HMC) teams based in South Africa and Kenya to cover key locations in southern and eastern Africa. Located in Johannesburg, South Africa, the role reports to the practice head of Government Affairs for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) based in United Arab Emirates and will coordinate closely with the subcluster head of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) based in Nigeria. The role holder works closely with key partners in the business, including the region’s Citi Country Officers and Banking Heads, product heads for Markets and Services, Public Sector heads, and Legal, Compliance, Regulatory Advocacy, Public Affairs and Engagement teams.

The role holder is responsible for coordinating Citi’s South and East African GA policy and advocacy strategy in line with GA global strategic themes and the MEA policy and advocacy strategy outlined by the MEA Government Affairs practice head. The role holder is responsible for identifying policy priorities, developing and implementing strategies to execute on those priorities and engaging with external stakeholders including senior government officials. The role holder assists and advises the countries’ business leaders and the MEA practice head on policy and political engagement, as well as supporting efforts to generate and grow Citi’s revenues with government and public institutions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the primary advocate of Citi’s public policy interests with government officials in South and East Africa, shaping public policy impacting Citi. This includes:  
  • Identify, analyze, prioritize, and regularly communicate issues and implications
  • Build internal consensus on positions regarding policy changes
  • Develop, in coordination with the MEA practice head, a strategy and engagement plan to address identified issues
  • Lead that plan’s execution by engaging with external stakeholders including government officials, trade associations, and consultants in the region
• Collaborate with the practice head and GA colleagues on annual and ongoing strategy development and prioritization
• Be a value-added resource to the Practice Head, South Saharan Africa GA Head colleagues, and internal business partners, providing insight and guidance on political, legislative and regulatory developments and risks in South and East Africa
• Create and execute strategic stakeholder engagement and meeting plans that build and strengthen relationships between Citi’s business leaders, external clients, and senior south and east African and US government officials especially senior officials within the governments of South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia and key officials within the governments as identified by Citi’s business leaders.
• Build and strengthen productive relationships with officials and external groups setting and influencing public policy, including senior officials within the Presidencies, Heads of State, Ministries of Finance, Central Banks, other relevant Ministries, public institutions, the US Embassy, key trade association meetings/working groups, and peer institutions. 
• Coordinate with Citi’s International Government Affairs team in Washington DC for Citi’s engagement with senior officials of the United States Government’s (USG) Departments of State, Commerce and the Treasury. Organize advocacy briefs and talking points for all senior USG visits to the region as well as visits by regional officials into the United States.   
• Represent Citi in public fora and in meetings with government officials when appropriate.
• Prepare talking points and briefing materials for internal Senior Citi visitors to the region.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree required in political science, public administration, public policy, law or international relations. Advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum 7 years’ experience in government relations either from a government in the region, a major corporation, trade association, or other business organization, and/or a private law or government affairs firm in the region
• Prefer experience in working in the south or east African financial services sector
• Strong existing relationships with government officials in region and/or experience working closely with government officials in South Africa, Kenya or other jurisdictions as relevant.
• Experience in coordinating closely with coalitions of peers, external consultants and partners including in trade associations and political organizations
• Ability to travel between multiple jurisdictions in South and East Africa

Competencies

• Public Policy and Political Insights. Understand the relevance of government action on business decisions. Significant knowledge of the intersection of east and south African and U.S. political trends and financial services policy. as well as regional and international fora that affect Citi business in south and east Africa. Able to assimilate and summarize large amounts of information to analyze political risks and translate into strategy.  Demonstratable proven capacity to design and implement a government affairs strategy.
• Collaboration and Influencing: A team player that can demonstrate an ability to build and maintain strong relationships that build trust and confidence with key stakeholders. Can interact and communicate effectively and comfortably to a wide range of audiences including Citi executives, internal business partners, and government officials.
• Business Acumen and Results Orientation: The candidate needs to be self-motivated with the ability to manage a set of deadlines and deliverables with limited supervision and take ownership of issues in a constantly changing corporate environment. A self-starter who can think strategically as well as tactically to help address problems or advance business objectives, with the ability to improvise and adapt while being comfortable with ambiguity. 

This job description provides a high-level review of the types of work performed. Other job-related duties may be assigned as required.

------------------------------------------------------

Job Family Group:

------------------------------------------------------

Job Family:

------------------------------------------------------

Time Type:

------------------------------------------------------

Citi is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you are a person with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to use our search tools and/or apply for a career opportunity review Accessibility at Citi.

View Citi’s EEO Policy Statement and the Know Your Rights poster.