Innovation Lead in Cheltenham

The Innovation Programme Lead will work collaboratively with the Innovation Services team to design, curate and deliver high impact innovation programmes that provide startup innovators with access to world‑class insight and expertise. The role is busy, fast‑paced, complex, and will require a highly‑organised approach to manage the multiple tasks simultaneously.

What You’ll Do

• Design and deliver innovation programmes such as startup accelerators, bootcamps, and hackathons
• Manage the team (virtually and in‑person) delivering the programmes
• Provide business support and mentoring entrepreneurs
• Engage and manage senior stakeholders (clients, delivery partners)
• Manage programme schedules and deliveries to agreed workplan
• Manage financials to meet or beat budget performance
• Ensure high‑quality standards of delivery to delight customers and partners
• Identify new ideas and themes from market intelligence and develop potential follow‑on or new innovation programmes
• Coordinate regional activation activity, including events, roundtables, employer engagement sessions, insight gathering, referral pathways, and partnership development
• Translate local ecosystem intelligence into programme design, delivery decisions and continuous improvement, ensuring national programmes are adapted appropriately to regional strengths and sector clusters

Due to the nature of this position, our work, and our client engagements, you must be willing and eligible to achieve a minimum of SC clearance. To qualify for SC clearance, you must be a British Citizen or have resided in the UK for the last 5 years with no extensive periods outside of the UK. Pre‑existing SC welcome. For more information about clearance eligibility, please see

Your Skills

• A deep understanding of product development processes, commercialisation, startup growth strategies and technology incubation
• Problem‑solving skills that can quickly identify issues and find solutions, often in high‑pressure situations
• Flexibility and an openness to change of direction and thinking on your feet effectively
• Advanced knowledge of Excel, PowerPoint and Word
• Relationship‑building skills, with the ability to build and engage networks to deliver business outcomes
• Skilled in identifying emerging themes and working to create market‑facing solutions to meet the demands

Your Experience

• Proven experience working with or in a technology, innovation, venture or startup environment
• Previous experience of mentoring startups and innovators
• Programme management expertise, with solid organisational skills and a structured approach to delivery
• Experience of managing programme budgets, suppliers and other third‑party relationships
• Experience with managing complex relationships and stakeholders

Benefits

• Salary: £65,000 - £80,000 depending on skills and experience
• Annual bonus scheme
• A generous pension scheme (with a company contribution of up to 10%)
• Private healthcare, life assurance and critical illness cover
• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays
• Volunteering day

Plexal is an equal opportunities employer and we actively encourage applicants from individuals from all backgrounds. We are a Disability Committed employer and are willing to make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

About us

Plexal is the innovation and growth company helping to strengthen the UK’s technology capabilities through collaboration. With teams in London, Manchester and Cheltenham, we work closely with government, industry, startups and academia to drive economic growth and reinforce national security. Founded by Delancey in 2017, Plexal delivers four core services: creating workspaces for innovators, running innovation programmes and consultancy, building regional tech clusters, and helping SMEs scale strategically. By closing the gap between early‑stage and established organisations – across the public and private sectors at home and abroad – we’ve impacted over 1,200 businesses, added £731m to the UK economy and helped create 9,400 jobs. Headquartered at Here East on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Plexal partners with organisations including the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the National Cyber Security Centre, Airbus, Amazon, Barclays Eagle Labs, Google Cloud, TfL, The Alan Turing Institute and the University of Oxford.

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