Senior Innovation Manager

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Macmillan Cancer Support provided pay range

This range is provided by Macmillan Cancer Support. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

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Senior Innovation Manager (Services)

Contract Type: Permanent

Full time: 34.5 hours, we are open to a conversation about how you work these hours

Location: Hybrid between home and our London Office (approx. 1 day a month in office), we are open to applicants based anywhere in the UK

Are you an innovation professional with a passion for human‑centred services design?

Do you thrive on turning insight into impact and leading innovation from concept to delivery? If so, this is your opportunity to shape the future of cancer support services at one of the UK’s most respected charities.

About us

At Macmillan you\’ll find talented people working together to do whatever it takes to support people living with cancer – and we’re committed to driving a revolution in cancer care for the future.

We reach millions of people every year, from our Macmillan nurses supporting people with cancer across the UK today, to our work on pioneering innovations that are revolutionising diagnosis and treatment for the future. With your help, we’ll transform cancer care for good.

About the role

We’re looking for a Senior Innovation Manager to lead the development and delivery of Macmillan’s services innovation pipeline. You’ll work end‑to‑end on new cancer support projects – from insight and co‑creation through to pilot and scale – ensuring we meet the emotional, practical and physical needs of people living with cancer.

You’ll collaborate across teams and with external partners to identify opportunities, test new concepts, and deliver impactful cancer services innovations. With a strong focus on user‑centred design and agile ways of working, you’ll help us build a diverse, insight‑driven innovation portfolio that delivers measurable impact.

Key responsibilities

• Apply customer insight and market scanning to inform innovation priorities
• Lead the planning and delivery of service innovation pilots, including KPIs, evaluation frameworks, and stakeholder engagement
• Manage external innovation partners and agencies across priority areas
• Plan and deliver co‑creation workshops and embed user voice in the development of new products or services
• Develop investment cases for new services and support strategic decision‑making on scale or cessation
• Maintain innovation risk registers and collaborate with Finance, Legal and Audit on the contracting of services
• Deliver internal and external communications to support innovation narratives and launches
• Be an active member of the team and build excellent relationships across the organisation

About you

The successful candidate will demonstrate the following skills and experience:

• Proven experience in service design and delivery, with understanding of behavioural insight and human‑centred design
• Strong understanding of agile methodologies and co‑creation techniques
• A track record of leading innovation projects from concept to launch, with measurable impact
• Excellent stakeholder management and project leadership across complex projects
• Resilience, curiosity and a flexible approach to product development
• Experience with digital product development, impact measurement, and investment or business case creation (desirable)
• Understanding of legal, finance and risk processes in innovation contexts (desirable)

In return, we offer a range of benefits including:

• 25 days holiday plus flexible bank holiday options, increasing by 1 day every year of service up to 30 days
• Pension matched up to 7.5%
• 120+ learning and development offers, with access to external professional qualifications
• Flexible working patterns, such as compressed hours, flexibility to work earlier or later around our core working hours of 10am‑4pm
• Holiday buying and selling scheme, life insurance, free wills, retail discounts and much more

Recruitment process

Interview dates: Virtual Interviews will be held on the weeks commencing 24th November and 1st December (exact dates TBC).

To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed.

So we can support you to be at your best during the application or interview process, please contact Macmillan TA Team TATeam@macmillan.org.uk for advice and reasonable adjustments.

We welcome applications from everyone who meet the criteria and strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under‑represented at Macmillan. Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy here along with our internal employee representation body, ‘Our Voice’ and 8 Employee Network groups help us promote fairness and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people.