Innovation & Growth Specialist - Exemplas : Job Details

• Do you want to work with the most ambitious, high-growth innovative SMEs businesses?
• Do you want to work with these businesses to develop their long-term growth, innovation and commercialisation plans?
• Do you have credible experience at a senior level within an innovative growing business and/or setting up your own high growth innovative business?

If you’ve answered yes to these questions the role of Innovation & Growth Specialist could be for you!

About the role

In this role you will deliver the Innovate UK Business Growth service to provide innovation and business advice to a portfolio of SME clients.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Acting as a strategic coach and mentor to SME clients to support them in developing their own long-term growth and innovation commercialisation plans;
• Providing an account management function for the delivery of business support services to enable SME clients to enhance their innovation management capacity;
• Using holistic analysis tools to review client needs and provide tailored coaching and mentoring support, including advice on suitability of funding and support services from Innovate UK and other business support providers;
• Focusing on supporting the most ambitious, high-growth potential innovative SMEs to benefit from national and global opportunities;
• Providing information and guidance on intellectual property matters, signposting or referring to professional support as required.

About you

We are looking for someone with business experience at a senior level and/or experience of setting up and running their own high growth business, who has strategic and management or consultancy experience in the commercialising of ideas, including IP, access to finance and establishing sales channels.

You will need to demonstrate experience or knowledge of:

• 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 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.

What we offer

We endeavour to make roles flexible. While this role is advertised as full time, we will consider requests to undertake the work on a flexible part-time basis, so please feel free to talk about what flexibility means to you at your initial phone interview.

You need to live within commutable distance of the East of England and West Midlands and have a driving licence and access to a car as the role requires regular travel to those regions, as well as occasional national and international travel sometimes involving overnight stays.

• We are more interested in finding the right person, but we are loosely looking in the region of £45,000 - £50,000 pa FTE
• Car allowance of £3,840 per annum FTE
• Broadband allowance
• Generous, up to 10.5% non-contributory pension scheme
• Ill-health income protection
• Life assurance (Death in Service)
• 26 days holiday FTE, rising to 28 after 2 years’ service
• Flexible and supportive working culture including access to mental health first aiders
• Wellbeing services for employees including access to discounts, employee assistance programme, Doctorline and more
• Modern, open space and technology enabled working environment in Hatfield office
• Flexible benefits including holiday-buy scheme, eye care vouchers, annual flu vaccination and Cyclescheme.

We are committed to equality of opportunity for all and value diversity in our workforce. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

About us

We are one of the UK’s foremost business support organisations and for over 25 years, we have provided business advisory services to more than 500,000 small to medium sized businesses on behalf of Government and Private sector organisations. As part of our expert team, you can expect to be empowered to be the best you can and share our company values of Openness (I am keen and willing to engage), Inspiration (I want to be the best that I can be), Conviction (We win, or lose, together) and Accountability (I will take responsibility and ownership). As a business we recognise that giving a superior service to our clients depends on making the most of our people and we aim to give our teams challenging opportunities, recognition for achievement, job enrichment and the maximum flexibility we can.

The fine print

• Please note we are not a Home Office visa sponsorship licence holder and therefore you must be currently eligible to live and work in the UK to apply for this role.
• Please read our recruitment privacy notice on the Exemplas website for information about how we process your personal data.