Government Relations Officer
On-site Riyadh, Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia Regional Management Full time
Description
The Government Relations Officer (GRO) plays a pivotal role in ensuring smooth interactions between our organization and government authorities in Saudi. Responsibilities will encompass administrative tasks, compliance, and liaison with local authorities.
Government Liaison:
• Act as a primary point of contact between our company and relevant government bodies in Saudi Arabia.
• Coordinate with local authorities to facilitate business operations, compliance, and regulatory matters.
• Set up business accounts on government sites such as Absher, Qiwa, Muqeem etc.
• Renew, update and maintain the trade licenses and other government certificates of all company's legal entities in KSA to ensure that the documents are up to date.
• Renew and maintain all company's leases before their expiration.
Visa and Work Permit Management:
• Manage visa applications and work permit processes for our employees.
• Submit, follow-up and collect all new employment and business visas to ensure that the visas are processed on a timely manner to support the business.
• Renew, update, and maintain all employees and their dependents' visas, labor cards, and labor contracts in a timely manner to ensure that company's records are up to date in the labor and Immigration Departments.
• Obtain visas from Embassies for staff members for their business travel.
Document Preparation and Translation:
• Arrange processing attestation of employee qualifications as required.
• Prepare and submit correspondence in both English and Arabic to government authorities.
• Provide translation services for official documents related to visas, work permits, licenses, and clearances.
Compliance and Due Diligence:
• Stay updated on local laws, rules, and regulations in Saudi Arabia.
• Advise staff and senior management on relevant processes and procedures.
Record Keeping and Expiry Tracking:
• Maintain a list of internal and external contacts to facilitate embassy work.
• Manage the Protocol & Government Relations email inbox.
• Track and monitor document expiry dates to ensure timely renewals.
• Maintain confidentiality and security of company and employee documents at all times.
• Obtain monthly visa reports from MOL and immigration to keep company's files in order.
Requirements
• 5+ years of experience in a GRO role in Saudi Arabia with relevant experience liaising with government departments.
• In-depth understanding of Saudi laws, labour regulations, and government processes.
• Experience of working in an International business.
• Bachelor’s degree in International Relations, Business Administration, Law or related discipline.
• Fluency in both written and spoken English and Arabic.
• Excellent analytical, decision-making, and problem-solving skills
• Ability to manage time-sensitive documents and ensure compliance.
• Autonomous and willing to take initiative.
• Able to communicate, network, engage with and influence people at all levels of the organisation, building strong working relationships with managers.
• Able to address issues constructively by providing independent, objective, and commercial advice, while offering the business pragmatic yet workable and compliant solutions.
• Able to demonstrate a high level of credibility, integrity, resilience, and customer service.
