Innovation Associate in London

The interview process for this role will be conducted as part of an assessment centre. As an Innovation Associate, you will work collaboratively with the Innovation Services team to deliver cross-competency projects. This may include working on programme delivery, research activity, or innovation consulting. You’ll get the opportunity to engage with a diverse array of stakeholders, including startups, scaleups, corporations, government, non-profit organisations, investors and academia. The role is fast paced, varied and complex and will require a highly organised approach to manage multiple tasks simultaneously and a broad range of stakeholder relationships.

What You'll Do

• Managing and delivering bespoke support to SMEs selected for innovation programmes through workshops, masterclasses and events.
• Undertaking quantitative analysis, market research and data collection to stay informed about key technology trends, emerging startups and innovation themes.
• Engaging with SMEs to understand their needs, challenges, and interventions that will support their growth.
• Supporting the design and delivery of innovation programmes and related content at Plexal to engage SMEs, clients, and the wider ecosystem.
• Continuously monitoring the start-up and innovation landscape, seeking out opportunities to engage with promising innovators and entrepreneurs.
• Contribute towards the creation of high-impact deliverables for clients to inform their emerging technology strategies.
• Proactively managing regular interaction, communication and collaboration with external stakeholders.
• Support administrative aspects of innovation project management, such as maintaining project documentation and handling financial queries.

Your Skills

Essential

• Highly organised with an understanding of innovation and collaboration practices.
• Effective planning and prioritisation skills with the ability to keep track of multiple tasks and deliverables.
• Analytical, with the ability to think critically and to understand, interpret and articulate complex concepts and requirements.
• Competent at producing high-quality deliverables and presentations for external audiences.
• Excellent Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint skills.

Your Experience

Essential

• 2 years' experience working in an innovative environment such as an accelerator, incubator, startup, VC, or consultancy.
• Experience with working with multiple stakeholders, such as startups and corporate clients, but also understanding the practicalities of working in a small and growing company.
• Experience in facilitating and delivering external workshops or events to a high standard, both virtually and in-person.

Desirable

• Experience and understanding of innovation processes such as lean startup and design thinking.
• Experience and understanding in ecosystem community building.
• Experience in innovation programme delivery.

Who You Are

Essential

• Higher Education degree, or relevant professional certifications, or equivalent knowledge gained via work experience.
• Comfortable dealing with ambiguity and operating in constantly changing environment.
• Energised by the challenges and opportunities presented working for a high-growth company.
• Excellent communicator with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to interact with diverse stakeholder groups.
• Team player and motivated self-starter who can take initiative with workload and tasks.
• Passionate interest in digital and emerging technologies with a drive to continually learn.

Other Requirements:

• May require business travel across Plexal sites.
• Ability to manage and influence through both face-to-face and virtual team environments.
• You will be asked to undergo Security Clearance (min. requirement: British Citizen or min. of 5-year residency in country, no significant gaps out of UK). Pre-existing SC welcomed.

Why us?

As a start-up, we thrive in a dynamic and fast-paced work environment dedicated to empowering innovators. We embrace individuals who leverage technology and creativity to tackle our greatest challenges head-on. We strongly advocate for maintaining a harmonious work-life balance, our goal is to ensure every member of our team can authentically be themselves and live their best lives. We firmly believe that innovation and creativity flourish when we cultivate a diverse workforce, comprising highly skilled individuals with a wide range of perspectives to contribute.

In return we will offer you:

• Salary: £30,000 - £45,000 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.