Innovation Consultant - Established Engineer in Cambridge

Role Level: Mid-level role, with proven experience in a similar role.

Role type: Permanent

About Innovia

Innovia Technology makes innovation breakthroughs happen for the world’s leading companies. We solve complex innovation challenges and create new opportunities so our clients can outperform competitors and change the world for good.

Our clients include Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, LEGO, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Haleon, Shell, IWC Schaffhausen, Kenvue, Kraft Heinz, and The North Face. Clients work with Innovia Technology because our work leads to products and services that customers prefer - reaching markets faster and more efficiently than any realistic alternative.

The Opportunity

This role is ideal for an engineer with proven experience in a similar role, who is motivated to work as a consultant in a creative, exploratory, and interdisciplinary environment. Consultants at Innovia work at the front-end of innovation - ideation, experimentation, concept testing, prototyping, and idea development.

You won’t join an isolated engineering department; instead, you’ll represent your field by joining collaborative project teams composed of experts in other disciplines - from veterinary medicine to theoretical physics, plant science, industrial design, chemical biology, business strategy, psychology, and more.

You’ll leverage your background in engineering and broader know-how to solve complex challenges for Innovia’s clients:

• Showing awareness of client-business issues, building these into the way you approach the project.
• Working closely and effectively with consultants from all backgrounds.
• Communicating effectively with team members and clients, including in in-person meetings and workshops.

You will need to be motivated to engage significantly with, or lead projects for a wide variety of clients and sectors, including those for which engineering is not the key discipline. Whilst experience in managing innovation projects is not a prerequisite for this role, we are looking for someone with the motivation and interest to take on full ownership of complex multidisciplinary innovation projects. We'll work with you to support your development - depending on your past experience this might involve shadowing experienced managers, mentoring or initially taking ownership of less demanding assignments.

Key Responsibilities

• Bring your expertise to innovation projects across a wide range of sectors.
• Apply structured, analytical, and creative thinking to generate and evaluate early-stage ideas.
• Take on project management of innovation projects, perhaps initially with support or following training. This will involve detailed planning, supplier and client liaison, team coordination, and day-to-day delivery.
• Contribute to selling new projects including creating compelling proposals and work programs, confidently engaging in client discussions, building trust, and persuasively communicating recommendations or concepts.
• Collaborate closely with consultants from different fields, sharing knowledge and skills to aid colleagues, and learning about new technical fields and industries.

The Candidate

We’re looking for a solution-oriented engineer with a curiosity for tackling problems that others might consider unsolvable, and with the interpersonal skills to build trust and communicate effectively with clients and colleagues.

Essential skills

It is essential that you:

• Hold a Degree in Engineering (mechanical, manufacturing, design engineering, or similar).
• Have proven experience in a similar role and in practical application of engineering within a commercial environment and/or consultancy.
• Have strong technical and creative abilities in engineering, with many of the following: analysis, concept generation, detail design, prototyping.
• Demonstrate an ability to apply subject fundamentals to unfamiliar and/or complex problems and are able to engage with the broader context.
• Have an interest in disciplines beyond your own, and enthusiasm for multidisciplinary collaboration.
• Demonstrate appropriate regard to the details and rigour of your discipline, with an ability to define concepts precisely when asked.
• Demonstrate effective teamwork and delegation, including effective motivation of those you delegate to and supervise.
• Demonstrate self-awareness of personal style and awareness of the needs of the people in the teams or among clients.
• Have experience presenting to clients or internal stakeholders, and an ability to engage with their concerns beyond technical aspects (e.g. commercial, business and/or regulatory).
• Are able to engage with discussions with clients and stakeholders, considering the full breadth of their needs, including commercial and business priorities.
• Demonstrate both good judgement and willingness to seek help when required.
• Are motivated to expand skills in holistic, front-end innovation - working comfortably on projects with higher levels of uncertainty and with broader interdisciplinary teams.
• Are a deeply curious individual.

Desirable Skills

It would be an advantage (but not essential) if you also:

• Have experience working in a multidisciplinary environment, preferably consultancy.
• Have experience defining work programmes for small teams, and experience in leading client or stakeholder negotiations and/or communications.
• Have experience in project management.
• Are able to facilitate parts of client meetings and basic interactive sessions (e.g. criteria setting).

Important Practical Considerations

Office attendance: For this role, we offer hybrid working on Mondays and Fridays, but a new joiner is expected to come to the office more frequently in the first few weeks to attend induction meetings and meet with relevant stakeholders.

Remote working: Unfortunately, this role is not suitable for applicants who wish to work 100% remotely.

Hours: Full-time, 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday.

Role type: Permanent

Tech: We primarily use Apple laptops in our business, although the candidate will be expected to make occasional use of a Windows PC (e.g. to use CAD software).

Applications deadline: No deadline as we are committed to finding the right candidate for the role - apply as soon as you can to have the best chance of success.

Right to work: The successful candidate must, by the commencement of employment, have the right to work in the UK.

Visa sponsorship: Innovia Technology may be able to sponsor a visa for this role, subject to Home Office eligibility requirements.

Confidentiality: Our clients trust us to work on their most complex and challenging projects. As a Innovation Consultant, you’ll be working directly on commercially sensitive projects. You will need to maintain confidentiality at all times. This means you won’t be able to share detailed information about your work in articles, social media, or public talks unless this is discussed and agreed with Innovia Technology.

Interview Process

Throughout the entire process, we'll explore:

• Your deep knowledge and understanding of engineering fundamentals
• Your skills in creativity and innovation
• Your aptitude to lead and manage complex interdisciplinary innovation projects

Stage 1: 30-minute technical interview via Zoom, exploring your understanding of subject-specific fundamentals.

Stage 2: If you are selected, you'll be invited to an in-person interview in our offices in Cambridge to further explore your technical skills. The interview will last up to 2.5 hours.

Stage 3: If you are selected to progress to the final stage, you’ll be invited to an in-person consultancy aptitude interview. The interview will last up to 1.5 hours.

How to Apply

Go to the ‘Apply for this job’ button. You’ll answer a few questions and need to upload two documents:

1. Your CV and Academic Transcripts (which should list the modules with grades you've obtained on your degree)
2. Your Cover Letter (no more than 1 page long). Your covering letter should briefly describe your skills, motivation and interest in the role.

CV and cover letter files must be up to 15MB to upload.

Benefits

• Free buffet lunch provided daily
• Casual dress code
• Innovation and consultancy training
• True multidisciplinary working and collaboration
• Closely integrated into project teams
• Fully accessible office and adaptations to interview - tell us about your needs
• Free parking and bike racks monitored by CCTV

For more information on our benefits please visit our website: https://www.innoviatech.com/insight/the-benefits-of-working-at-innovia/

Reasonable adjustments

If you are invited to an interview, please let us know if you have any special requirements to support you with by emailing us at hr@innoviatech.com

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Our commitment

We are committed to creating a supportive and inclusive workplace, are actively seeking to improve the diversity of our teams and welcome applications from under-represented groups. We treat people equitably regardless of their age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, religion, or political views. We especially encourage applications from people who are members of protected groups.