At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead innovative programmes, manage stakeholders, and drive impactful outcomes for entrepreneurs and startups.
- Company: Join Plexal, a dynamic innovation hub empowering the UK's tech landscape.
- Benefits: Enjoy a competitive salary, annual bonuses, private healthcare, and generous holiday allowance.
- Other info: Flexible work environment with opportunities for personal and professional growth.
- Why this job: Make a real difference by supporting innovators and shaping the future of technology.
- Qualifications: Experience in programme delivery and strong stakeholder management skills required.
The predicted salary is between 65000 - 80000 £ per year.
The Role's Purpose
The Innovation Lead will work collaboratively with the Innovation Services team to design, deliver and continuously improve high-impact programmes that support innovators, entrepreneurs, startups, SMEs and individuals to access new opportunities, skills, networks and growth pathways.
The role is responsible for leading programme delivery, managing stakeholders and partners, and ensuring programmes achieve their objectives, outcomes and commercial targets.
Alongside programme delivery responsibilities, the role will act as a regional Account Manager For the North East, building and managing relationships with employers, ecosystem partners, public sector stakeholders and industry networks.
The post holder will identify opportunities for collaboration, support participant and customer outcomes, gather market intelligence and help ensure programmes remain relevant, impactful and responsive to regional and sector needs.
What You'll Do
- Programme Delivery and Stakeholder Management
- Lead the delivery of innovation programmes and assigned workstreams, ensuring activities are delivered on time, to budget and against agreed outcomes.
- Coordinate delivery across clients, partners, suppliers, mentors, employers, innovators and wider stakeholders to ensure a high-quality experience and programme impact.
- Monitor programme performance, risks, budgets and KPIs, implementing corrective actions where required.
- Use participant, client and stakeholder feedback, data and delivery insights to continuously improve programme performance and outcomes.
- Account Management and Ecosystem Development
- Act as a regional and sector account manager, building and maintaining relationships with employers, industry partners, universities, investors, public sector organisations and innovation ecosystem stakeholders.
- Develop and manage stakeholder engagement plans that support programme objectives, participant opportunities and long-term partnership development.
- Represent Plexal and programme activity at events, workshops, networking activities and stakeholder forums.
- Gather market intelligence and ecosystem insights to identify opportunities, risks, emerging trends and future programme development opportunities.
- Community, Network and Partnership Building
- Support the development and management of mentor, expert, partner and alumni networks that strengthen programme delivery and participant outcomes.
- Facilitate connections between participants, partners, employers and wider ecosystem stakeholders.
- Identify opportunities to increase engagement, retention, collaboration and long-term community impact.
- Opportunity and Business Development
- Support engagement with employers, partners and stakeholders to identify opportunities for programme participants, innovators and businesses.
- Work with internal teams and delivery partners to develop pathways into funding, investment, commercial opportunities, skills development, employment or business growth support, as relevant to programme objectives.
- Maintain accurate stakeholder, activity and outcome records using CRM and programme management systems.
- Partner and Delivery Management
- Manage day-to-day partner relationships, ensuring delivery commitments, performance expectations and reporting requirements are met.
- Coordinate activity across consortium and delivery partners to ensure a consistent, high-quality experience for programme beneficiaries and stakeholders.
- Support programme reporting through accurate record keeping, evidence collection and performance tracking.
- Commercial and Performance Management
- Support delivery against programme budgets, contractual outcomes and resource plans.
- Monitor programme performance and contribute to forecasting, reporting, evaluation and continuous improvement activities.
- Ensure delivery complies with contractual, safeguarding, equality, data protection and organisational requirements.
- Your Experience
- Experience delivering innovation, entrepreneurship, business support, skills, employability, accelerator, incubator or ecosystem development programmes.
- Strong stakeholder management, partnership-building and account management experience.
- Experience working with a diverse range of stakeholders including startups, SMEs, corporates, universities, investors, public sector organisations and delivery partners.
- Experience managing programme delivery, coordinating multiple workstreams and delivering against KPIs and contractual commitments.
- Strong organisational, communication and relationship-management skills.
- Experience using CRM, project management and reporting systems to manage stakeholders, activities and programme performance.
- Commmercial awareness and experience managing budgets, resources, suppliers or partner relationships.
- Ability to analyse data, identify insights and use evidence to improve programme delivery and outcomes.
Who You Are
- Higher education degree or relevant experience.
- This role may require some national travel for delivery of projects and travel to all Plexal sites.
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.
Pre-existing SC welcome.
For more information about clearance eligibility, please see https://www. gov. uk/government/organisations/united-kingdom-security-vetting
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: £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, Tf L, The Alan Turing Institute and the University of Oxford.
Innovation Lead, Programmes, North East in Manchester employer: Plexal
Plexal is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic and fast-paced work environment that empowers innovators in the National Security sector. With a strong commitment to work-life balance, diverse perspectives, and employee growth opportunities, Plexal provides competitive benefits including a generous pension scheme, private healthcare, and an annual bonus scheme. Located in London, employees have the unique advantage of collaborating with leading government and industry partners, making a tangible impact on the UK's technology capabilities and national security.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Innovation Lead, Programmes, North East in Manchester
✨Leverage Innovation Hubs
Tap into local innovation hubs and research centres. These places often host events and workshops where you can meet like-minded people and industry leaders. Plus, they might have job openings that aren't widely advertised, so keep your ears open!
✨Showcase Your Projects
Turn your past innovation projects into compelling stories. Create a portfolio showcasing your creativity and problem-solving skills. This can give hiring managers a real flavour of what you can bring to the table at companies like Plexal.
✨Connect at Industry Conferences
Make it a point to attend industry conferences and seminars focused on R&D and innovation management. These events are fantastic for networking and often have job boards or career fairs where you can connect directly with firms looking for talent.
✨Use Your University’s Resources
If you're fresh out of university, don't forget to tap into your institution's career services. They often have exclusive partnerships with companies seeking new talent in R&D, especially for full-time roles. It's a good shortcut to landing a gig at places like Plexal.
We think you need these skills to ace Innovation Lead, Programmes, North East in Manchester
Some tips for your application 🫡
Showcase Your Creative Thinking:In innovation and R&D management, it's all about thinking outside the box. Make sure your CV highlights any projects or experiences that showcase your creative problem-solving skills. Use specific examples to illustrate how you've developed and implemented innovative ideas in previous roles.
Tailor Your Experience to R&D:When you're crafting your CV, focus on your experience in research and development. Highlight any relevant projects you've worked on, including methodologies used and results achieved. This will show us at Plexal that you understand the R&D process and can contribute meaningfully to our projects.
Let Your Passion Shine in the Cover Letter:For a full-time role like this, your cover letter should reflect your genuine passion for innovation and development. Share your excitement about the opportunity to work at Plexal and touch on how your goals align with our mission. This helps us see your motivation for wanting to join our team!
Quantify Your Achievements:Numbers speak volumes in R&D! Whenever possible, quantify your achievements in your CV. Whether it’s a percentage improvement in project outcomes, the budget size you’ve managed, or the number of successful products you've launched, these figures will help paint a clearer picture of your impact and capabilities.
How to prepare for a job interview at Plexal
✨Show Off Your Innovative Thinking
In an Innovation R&D Management role at Plexal, they're going to want to see how you approach problem-solving. Be ready to discuss previous projects where you introduced a new idea or process. Highlight your ability to think outside the box and provide examples where your innovations drove significant results.
✨Familiarity with Tools and Technologies
Make sure you're clued up on the latest tools and technologies related to innovation management, such as project management software and data analysis platforms. Being able to discuss specific tools you’ve used or have experience with will show Plexal that you’re ready to hit the ground running.
✨Demonstrate Collaboration Skills
Since this is a full-time gig, emphasising your teamwork skills will be essential. In innovation, collaboration often sparks the best ideas, so be ready to talk about how you've worked effectively within cross-functional teams in your past roles. Have concrete examples at the ready!
✨Prepare for Scenario-Based Questions
Expect some scenario-based questions in your interview that reflect real challenges you might face in the role. £At Plexal, they might want to see how you handle tight deadlines or manage conflicting ideas within a team. Prepare some responses that demonstrate your critical thinking and decisiveness in high-pressure situations.
