Associate Executive, Government Relations, Strategic Communication

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES

1. Surveillance and advisory
• Keeping abreast of developments in Malaysia’s political/economic landscape, including those related to the identified public stakeholders to assess impact on BNM’s policy objectives.
• Provide advisory to BNM’s Management and line departments on effective engagement strategy with key identified stakeholders to secure BNM’s policy objectives. This also includes facilitating such engagements where needed.

2. Stakeholder management
The Government Liaison Management team engages a wide array of public stakeholders, including but not limited to Ministers/Deputy Ministers, elected officials, the civil service, statutory bodies and agencies. In this regard, the role will be to:
• Support the development of productive working relations with key public stakeholders and their teams
• Facilitate enquiries and requests from these public stakeholders and their teams with our line departments, where appropriate
• Support BNM Management’s engagements with public stakeholders. This includes coordinating the preparation of briefing/presentation materials and logistical support, among others
• Support BNM representatives at engagements to advance BNM’s policy objectives

In addition to the above, BNM also routinely engages Parliament (e.g. Parliamentary Select Committee, Public Accounts Committee, Government backbenchers’ briefing), either directly or via the Minister / Deputy Minister / Ministries. As such, a key part of the role will be to:
• Draft Parliamentary responses by working with relevant line departments
• Facilitate briefings with Minister / Deputy Minister on Parliamentary Questions relevant to BNM
• Facilitate tabling of Bills that are related to BNM’s mandates in Parliament
• Advise line departments on the workings and procedures in Parliament

3. Internal client management
The Strategic Communications Department provides support and advisory to our internal line departments on their communications and engagement needs. In line with this, the role will be to:
• Be part of the ‘Relationship Manager’ (RM) team for assigned line department(s). Be the point of contact to facilitate requests for services provided by the Strategic Communications Department (e.g. publication of press releases, social media posts, developing/updating webpages, translation editing services)
• Support in the development of public engagement campaigns for key policy initiatives

NATURE OF ACCOUNTABILITIES AND COMPETENCIES

Job Complexity & Problem Solving
The role is primarily tactical with strategic elements, involving stakeholder engagement and policy alignment. The officer in this role is expected to deftly navigate complex interactions in rapidly evolving environments involving political/institutional sensitivities. Thus, it requires the use of diverse information sources – expressed and tacit – and sound judgment. The role puts a premium on resourcefulness and tenacity when it comes to problem solving, with a drive to develop a sufficient grasp on the wide array of policy issues that relate to BNM.

Leadership & Stakeholder Management
This role does not carry supervisory responsibilities. That said, the Government liaison function is a team sport. Having a reputation for being someone who delivers and is easy to work with goes a very long way. Together with his/her supervisor, this role will heavily involve engagements with various internal and external stakeholders – at times in high-stakes/time-pressure situations. Successful officers in this role tend to be those who are emotionally mature with keen sense of environmental awareness and ability to handle pressure.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Academic Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Public Policy, Finance or any policy-relevant areas. That said, candidates with other academic backgrounds should also consider applying, although one should be prepared for a much steeper learning curve
• Experience: At least 2 years full-time working experience. This requirement will be strictly applied. Interested candidates with less than two years full-time working experience are encouraged to apply for Bank Negara Malaysia’s Kijang Graduate Programme.
• Language: Excellent command of English and Bahasa Malaysia

GENERIC SKILLS/ KNOWLEDGE
• Project management
• Report/speech writing
• Communication, interpersonal and presentation skills
• Risk management
• Critical thinking
• Proactive problem-solving
• Knowledge on Malaysian political scene is an advantage

TECHNICAL SKILLS/ KNOWLEDGE
• Policy and strategic analysis
• High-level stakeholder management
• Public affairs knowledge
• Developing communications/engagement campaign

PREVALENT & EMERGING SKILLS
Prevalent skills:
• Stakeholder management to secure alignment on key policy objectives
• Public affairs advisory to internal and external stakeholders
• Effective project management to ensure successful coordination and execution of deliverables
• Proficiency in common communications deliverables (e.g. drafting press releases, designing communications campaign)
• Strong understanding of Malaysia’s economic and political developments with the ability to discern and assess how they affect BNM’s policy objectives
• Good command of Bahasa Melayu and English
• Strong drive to develop sufficient understanding on BNM’s mandates and functions and to keep abreast with rapidly changing developments

Emerging skills:
• AI-usage to facilitate more effective and efficient delivery of policy briefs