Interim (Senior) Strategy Manager

£58,500 - £72,800 (offers are typically made towards the bottom of the band) plus excellent benefits.

We are recruiting for an Interim (Senior) Strategy Manager (12 month fixed term contract; parental leave cover).

Overview

Are you a proactive, analytical and collaborative problem-solver with experience in strategy, either through a top management consultancy, or an internal strategy role? Are you looking for an exciting and highly rewarding new career opportunity in social impact, at the intersection of government, civil society and the private sector? Are you energised by Nesta’s vision and the potential to have an impact on millions of lives? If so, Nesta is looking for a Strategy Manager / Senior Strategy Manager (12 month fixed-term contract) to become a core member of our small, tight-knit Strategy Unit and play an important role in helping shape Nesta’s strategic direction and ultimately achieve its missions, which represent some of society’s biggest challenges.

About Nesta

We are Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good. We design, test and scale solutions to society’s biggest problems. Our three missions are to give every child a fair start in life, help people live healthy lives, and create a sustainable future where the economy works for both people and the planet. For over 20 years, we have worked to support, encourage and inspire innovation. We work in three roles: as an innovation partner working with organisations to design, test and scale new solutions, as a venture builder supporting new and early stage businesses, and as a system shaper influencing policy, regulation, attitudes and incentives. Harnessing the rigour of science and the creativity of design, we work relentlessly to change millions of lives for the better. Find out more at nesta.org.uk.

How you’ll contribute to Nesta’s success

Nesta’s strategy sets out an exciting and ambitious goal. Our vision is that by 2030, Nesta will have significantly improved the lives of millions of people through our three missions. The Strategy Unit plays a key role defining Nesta’s strategic direction and translating the intent of Nesta’s strategy into action. The team also works closely with others to build a shared understanding of Nesta’s overall impact and progress towards our strategic goals. And the team takes on special projects to help identify and solve issues of strategic importance and capture emerging opportunities. The Strategy Unit collaborates closely with others to achieve our missions and deliver social impact, drawing connections between different parts of Nesta and providing deep experience in strategy and structured problem-solving. The team regularly engages and shares findings / recommendations with the CEO, Executive Team and Nesta’s Board of Trustees. The work is fast-paced, sometimes with short, competing deadlines. The Strategy Unit is led by the Head of Strategy and is part of a wider Department led by the Director of Strategy and Delivery, which also includes the PMO team. The Strategy Unit and PMO work closely together to ensure Nesta’s strategic intent is lived out in practice.

The Role

Working in close collaboration with colleagues in the Strategy Unit and beyond, the Strategy Manager / Senior Strategy Manager’s responsibilities may include:

• Driving future strategic reviews: Playing a central role in shaping Nesta’s long-term strategic direction, including by leading preparatory research and supporting the delivery of future strategic reviews.
• Project leadership: Scoping and leading discrete strategic projects (ranging from a few weeks to several months) to accelerate progress towards our mission goals or address challenges, for example by helping to drive forward mission big bet opportunities or optimise organisational performance. This will involve taking ownership of the project, defining and structuring complex questions, driving forward high-quality analysis with a level of depth and rigour commensurate with the size and importance of the problem, synthesising the key insights, making clear and actionable recommendations, and effectively managing stakeholders.
• Delivering corporate routines: Leading corporate routines to measure our impact, assess progress towards our mission goals, identify opportunities and challenges, and ensure alignment on forward priorities.
• Stakeholder management and influence: Building trusted relationships across Nesta’s mission teams and other parts of the organisation.
• Team capability building: Supporting the Head of Strategy to maximise the impact of the Strategy Unit, including by coaching and mentoring other members of the Strategy Unit in structured, hypothesis-driven problem-solving, prioritisation, and effective stakeholder management.

The vision for the Strategy Unit is a small team who work in a proactive, structured, and fast-paced way to support Nesta to be the best organisation it can be. The team do this by providing an informed perspective on key strategic questions, working centrally to have a cross-cutting, high-level view of the whole organisation, asking the right questions at the right times, and being action oriented to proactively support others to find and implement solutions. As a core member of the team you will play an important role in helping the organisation develop, and ultimately to achieve its Missions.

The Person

Essential skills and experience

• Strategy experience: You have several years or more of strategy experience, gained either through management consultancy or through an internal strategy role. You are able to effectively apply your experience and knowledge of strategy to Nesta’s specific context.
• Problem‑solving and insight: You have experience leading projects to resolve complex, multifaceted problems with multiple senior stakeholders and no obvious answer. You are able to scope an ambiguous problem, break it down into logically distinct pieces and work in a hypothesis driven way to resolve it. You are able to bring together research, analysis, stakeholder input and judgement to produce clear insights and recommendations.
• Analytical skills: You have strong analytical skills, both qualitative and quantitative. This includes competence with spreadsheets and financial analysis. You are able to draw relevant and accurate conclusions based on this analysis.
• Project management and ownership: You default to taking ownership and are able to drive projects forward proactively and reliably to reach answers. You have a demonstrated ability to effectively balance that with bringing others along and seeking the input / guidance required to reach a quality conclusion.
• Efficiency: You are able to work in an 80/20 way, identifying the 20% of work that will generate 80% of the answer, and you can quickly and accurately right‑size a piece of work, neither over‑nor under‑investing in proportion to its relative significance. You make abstract ideas concrete quickly and love to prototype and test before committing significant effort.
• Stakeholder engagement: You are a natural relationship‑builder and see engaging others in your work as a core part of your skillset. You are able to engage a variety of stakeholders, anticipating their needs and concerns, facilitating efficient and value‑adding inputs, and proactively bringing them along with your emerging findings. You can manage up effectively, keeping senior stakeholders informed and bringing them in at the right time.
• Communication skills: You are an exceptionally clear communicator with experience delivering high‑quality written and verbal outputs and a demonstrated ability to synthesise complex issues into clear and concise messages for a senior audience. You can articulate clear and compelling arguments both through slides and longer‑form written documents.
• Creativity: You are open to new ways of working and thinking and bring open‑mindedness and intellectual curiosity to your work and to the team. You are able to switch modes effectively and sensitively, knowing when to open up a conversation with bold and unusual ideas and when to narrow down to generate focus and momentum.

Desirable skills and experience

• A grounding in one or more of the following: Nesta’s mission areas (early years, health, sustainability); Nesta’s roles / methods (behavioural science, data science, venture building, policy etc.); emerging technology (e.g. generative AI, quantum computing); the (social) innovation sector.
• Experience working in a purpose-driven organisation.
• Experience in leading and facilitating strategic discussions at Executive or Board level.

What we offer

Salary: £58,500 - £72,800 (offers are typically made towards the bottom of the band) plus array of benefits, including health cash plans, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave, eyecare vouchers and more.

Location: Blackfriars, Central London - hybrid working arrangement, with a minimum of two days working from the office.

Term: 12-month Fixed Term Contract, parental leave cover.

Hours: This is a full‑time role but we offer a range of flexible working arrangements and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do.

At Nesta, we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results. We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop. This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful. We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, compressed or part‑time hours, job shares and other arrangements. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.