Innovation & Growth Specialist - Midlands / East of England
Starting salary Up to c£50,000pa (plus Car allowance £3840pa, 10.5%non-contributory pension)
Working with the most ambitious, high-growth, innovative SME businesses, you will support them in developing their long-term growth, innovation and commercialisation plans.
My client’s team Innovation Growth team, is made up of individuals with business experience at a senior level and/or experience of setting up and running their own high growth business. They also look for strategic and management or consultancy experience in the commercialising of ideas, including IP, access to finance and establishing sales channels.
Purpose of the role:
*To act as strategic coach, mentor, critical friend and champion to a portfolio of demanding high-growth potential Scale-up SME clients.
*To make a significant contribution to the development of competitiveness of Midlands and East of England businesses.
*To provide tailored support to clients, providing an account management function to maximise impact for the business.
*To contribute to the successful delivery of contractual requirements across the wider innovation and programmes directorate.
Key Responsibilities:
Using business analysis / diagnostic tools (eg. GROWTHmapper), to assess and understand the specific needs of high growth innovative SMEs and support them effectively;
Provide robust strategic advice to a portfolio of circa 20 high growth innovative SMEs across the Midlands and East of England. You will establish facts, weigh up pros and cons, examine consequences, and then deliver on the agreed action plan, specifically providing a combination of hands-on support, advice, coaching and mentoring, that will help SMEs manage the issues and areas associated with rapid growth, so that they move on faster.
You will:
*Connect companies to the right complementary innovation and internationalisation services, and other forms of growth/structural support;
*Provide advice on suitability of and support for applications to European and UK funding programmes for innovation;
*Provide information and guidance on intellectual property matters, signposting or referring to professional support as required;
*Deliver and or participate in activities as appropriate, including webinars, Sector Groups, Working Groups, Training events, Conferences and meetings;
*Comply with reporting requirements and all agreed systems and processes, including timely contributions to reports as required, recording all activity on the appropriate CRM;
Knowledge / expertise:
*Assessing risk through analysis of business plans, financial accounts and other supporting information;
*Interpreting outputs of business diagnostic and benchmarking tools to develop action plans;
*Understanding of IPR and IP commercialisation strategies (routes to market, value chain analysis, marketing channels, especially digital), together with an understanding of business finance and access to finance;
*Critical appraisal of bids for innovation funding;
*Understanding of the business support landscape together with funding and support available through Innovate UK.
Person Specification:
*Capable of being a combination of exceptionally high calibre coach, mentor, critical friend and champion to exceedingly demanding high growth SME clients;
*Able to understand and communicate the key business issues affecting the profitability and growth of an enterprise, along with the factors leading to success in commercialising innovative ideas;
*Able to gain and hold the respect of business owners and senior staff in high growth scaling businesses; work independently as well as part of a team, and use own initiative/self-motivation;
*Active listening skills, with non-confrontational challenging of business assessment;
*Good written and verbal communication skills, with ability to clarify complex points and summarise situations and facts succinctly;
*Influencing skills and personal drive to achieve the best outcome for clients.
Other Requirements:
Most meetings will be conducted remotely, but there will be occasional travel to HQ in Hertfordshire, possible meetings in London and the successful candidate will need to be flexible for face to face meetings within the Midlands and East of England region, at short notice.
Driving licence and access to a vehicle, as the role requires regular travel in the Midlands and East of England region, and may require occasional overnight stays.