At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead innovation by connecting with restaurants and turning challenges into actionable insights.
- Company: Join sunday, a fast-growing tech company revolutionising restaurant payments.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, stock options, flexible work, and comprehensive health insurance.
- Other info: Opportunity for rapid growth and leadership roles in a dynamic startup environment.
- Why this job: Be a driving force in shaping the future of restaurant payments and operations.
- Qualifications: Entrepreneurial mindset, strong communication skills, and experience in fast-paced environments.
The predicted salary is between 58540 - 71548 £ per year.
About Us
sunday is building the fastest, simplest way to pay in restaurants. With a quick scan of a QR code, diners can pay, tip, and leave in about 10 seconds. We believe great products should feel obvious, not complicated, and we focus relentlessly on keeping things simple while earning trust from restaurants and guests at every interaction. Today, sunday powers payments in thousands of restaurants across the US, UK, and France, helping operators turn tables faster, increase tips, and unlock valuable insights. We push ourselves to go beyond what’s expected, building with ownership, moving fast, and scaling with ambition as we tackle our biggest growth opportunity in the US.
About the Role
As an Innovation & Strategy Lead at sunday, your ultimate goal is to bridge the gap between what happens in the field and how we build our product. This isn't a desk job: you'll be out there, close to restaurants, clients, and staff, turning real-world friction into actionable insights and shipping solutions fast. You’ll report directly to the CEO, with a dotted line to the Chief of Staff, which means you’ll have access to the most senior levels of the company and the full mandate to make things happen across every team. This role is a rare opportunity for a deeply entrepreneurial person who loves being in the field, hates bureaucracy, and wants to be a driving force behind how sunday evolves operationally. Whether you join as an end-of-studies intern or a full-time hire, you’ll own real problems from day one, and you’ll be expected to solve them. The best performers will have the opportunity to lead an Ops Excellence team or take ownership of a full Product line. Join early, grow fast, and shape the journey!
Key Responsibilities
- Own field immersion: Spend the majority of your time in restaurants, with clients and restaurant staff, building a ground-level understanding of adoption challenges and real-world friction points.
- Track and prioritize action: Maintain a clear, up-to-date view of all ongoing and pending field actions, noting what falls through the cracks and what should be prioritized.
- Identify problems and ship solutions: Proactively spot operational issues and don't just flag them, design a plan and execute it, leveraging the right people and resources across the company you’ll have access to.
- Turn proximity into knowledge: Convert what you observe in the field into structured insights that feed product, ops, and commercial decisions at the highest level.
- Be the CEO's eyes and ears: Keep Victor informed on all relevant field dynamics, emerging trends, and blockers, make sure nothing important gets lost in translation.
- Iterate fast, break things, innovate: Test ideas quickly, learn from what doesn't work, and never let perfect be the enemy of progress.
- Drive field insights and travel across France, the UK, and the US!
About You
Must-haves:
- You are deeply entrepreneurial: you see a problem and your first instinct is to fix it, not report it.
- You have a relentless bias for action: you move fast, follow through, and get things done without waiting for perfect conditions.
- You are an exceptional communicator: you can synthesize complex, ambiguous situations into clear takeaways for a CEO or a waiter alike.
- You are field-oriented and thrive in client-facing environments: you are energized by being on-site, not behind a screen.
- You seek for granular insights: your first reflex is to dive deeper to understand.
- You leverage AI to the highest degree in the problems you solve.
- Up to 8 years of experience in fast-paced environments: Top tier consulting, High growth series A-C start-ups, Banking etc.
Nice-to-haves:
- Experience in project management or team management.
- A background in startups, operations-heavy roles, founding companies.
- Familiarity with the hospitality or restaurant industry.
What we Offer
- Competitive salary + Stock Options
- A great office in the heart of London with a balance of in-person and remote work
- Free Vacation Policy
- 100% Employer-Covered Health Insurance
sunday is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, creed, color, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, gender, ethnicity, religion, national origin, ancestry, nationality, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, genetic information, or on any other basis prohibited by law (except where an attribute is a bona fide occupational qualification).
Innovation and Strategy Lead in London employer: sunday
At sunday, we pride ourselves on fostering a dynamic and innovative work culture that empowers our employees to take ownership and drive meaningful change. As a Senior Go-to-Market Engineer, you'll have the opportunity to work at the forefront of technology in a fast-paced environment, with access to competitive salaries, stock options, and comprehensive health benefits. Our commitment to employee growth is evident through our mentorship programmes and the chance to shape the future of our revenue operations as we expand globally.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Innovation and Strategy Lead in London
✨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 sunday.
✨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 sunday.
We think you need these skills to ace Innovation and Strategy Lead in London
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 sunday 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 sunday 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 sunday
✨Show Off Your Innovative Thinking
In an Innovation R&D Management role at sunday, 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 sunday 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 sunday, 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.
