Applications must be submitted by;
02-07-2024
Innovation Lead – Healthy Lives
The role is for the Healthy Lives Team in Innovate UK’s Healthy Living and Agriculture Domain.
*Please note this advert will close at on Monday 1st July 2024.
Watch our video “Why Join Innovate UK?” here.
Title: Innovation Lead – Healthy Lives
Band: Innovate UK Band 3 (UKRI Ts & Cs)*
Salary: £47,000 - £55,000 gross per annum**
Reports to: Deputy Director Healthy Lives / Deputy Director Healthy Ageing Challenge
Location: Field based
Contract: Permanent
*Subject to UKRI Pay & Reward Policy
**This post also includes up to 10% Performance Related Pay per annum
Innovate UK recognises the importance of work-life balance and we will be happy to discuss any requests for flexible working arrangements.
Context:
Innovate UK recently grouped its sector-focused innovation activities into three Domains. The Healthy Living and Agriculture Domain’s role is to drive business growth by inspiring and unlocking innovations that make life better. Within the Domain there are four teams covering Agri-Food Systems, Future Medicines, Health Technology and Healthy Lives.
The Healthy Lives Team’s focus is wellbeing across the life course, supporting innovations that promote living a long and fulfilling life, maintaining health and wellbeing in both mind and body. It builds on the work of the Healthy Ageing Challenge. The Healthy Lives Team is expected to work across a wide range of business sectors, including life science, social care, community healthcare, housing, assistive technologies, mental health, occupational health, sports & leisure, food & nutrition, charities and the investment community.
The focus of this role is on the development and delivery of future investments in the Healthy Lives portfolio. The details are currently subject to a Government Spending Review and may include further design-led innovations, scaling of social ventures and support for the Innovate UK investment in the Government’s Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission.
We particularly welcome female applicants as women are under-represented within Innovate UK in this type of role.
Job Purpose:
The Innovation Lead is responsible for facilitating the design, delivery and realising the benefits of projects and programmes involving the development, scale up and adoption of innovation by businesses, including social enterprises. This includes contributing to the development of future strategic initiatives in this fast-moving area.
The post-holder will be expected to work closely with the grant recipients, Monitoring Service Providers and external stakeholders across a wide range of business sectors, academia, the NHS, Local Authorities, Devolved Administrations and UK Government.
Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:
1. Manage delivery of grant funding programmes as part of the Healthy Lives portfolio through the design of calls, management of competition processes and oversight of delivery by engaging with Monitoring Service providers and through direct engagement with project leads and participants to deliver their objectives, identifying and resolving issues as they arise
2. Where required, manage delivery of external support programmes by the design, delivery and ongoing management of outsourced support
3. Contribute to the development and promotion of the Healthy Lives strategy based on a good understanding of relevant industries and technologies, and wider research and innovation infrastructure and investment landscape
4. Build strong relationships with relevant bodies and networks such as businesses, trade associations, Catapults, government departments and agencies, private investors, 3rd sector bodies, regulatory bodies and research organisations
5. Devise and deliver a programme of profile-raising activities aimed at engaging key stakeholders including business, Government, UKRI Research Councils, the investment community and end-users, to increase the visibility and impact of the investments
6. Work with Communications team to compile case studies and promotional content and materials
7. Support the benefits management strategy including capturing and analysing evidence of impact
8. Support knowledge dissemination within the Domain and between external organisations
9. Work across the HLA domain to support other programmes and share learning and information
This is not an exhaustive list and the post-holder might be expected to undertake any other duties across the wider directorate, commensurate with the Band and level of responsibility of this post, for which the post holder has the necessary experience and/or training.
Person Specification:
This position requires a person with the capability and stature to effectively engage with senior individuals from business, the NHS, Local Authorities, academia and Government departments, who can proficiently manage multiple projects and competing priorities and work efficiently within a complex stakeholder environment. The role holder will need to be competent at managing and analysing multiple data sources and be able to communicate a clear and compelling vision of what needs to be done. A good team player, willing to share knowledge with others and to learn from them. Able to self-start when needed.
Qualifications:
10. Degree in a scientific subject, ideally relevant to healthy lives
Experience:
Essential -
11. Up-to-date and broad-based knowledge of research and innovation in a field relevant to Healthy Lives – which includes but is not limited to assistive technologies, digital health, smart home, AI, Dementia
12. Understanding of the commercial exploitation through new product discovery, development, marketing or manufacturing
13. Experience of innovation funding and an appreciation of the importance of translating outcomes for commercial exploitation
14. A track record of effectively managing concurrent complex projects and prioritising a high workload to meet tight deadlines
15. Experience of business development or stakeholder management, engaging with individuals from diverse organisations at a senior level, effectively influencing and forging productive relationships
16. Proven ability to develop strategic plans and evidence of successfully implementing large or complex initiatives
Desirable –
17. Experience of applying inclusive design principles to co-produce solutions to a problem or challenge in a commercial or social enterprise environment. This may include experience of running ‘living labs’
18. Commercial background with an interest in business competitiveness and technology delivery, including an appreciation of issues for both for-profit and community interest/social venture organisations
19. Experience of working across technology fields or established industry sector boundaries and an understanding of the wider industrial landscape in the UK
20. Experience in a relevant target sector in the UK
Skills:
21. Excellent interpersonal and team working skills
22. Strong influencing, negotiation and relationship-building skills
23. A self-starter, able to work on own initiative whilst in close co-ordination with the wider team
24. Proven team working skills, including across remote locations
25. Proven analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to think strategically, quickly understand new and complex issues and propose solutions
26. Excellent written and oral communication and presentation skills
27. The ability to respond calmly under pressure and to make impartial and well-considered judgments in complex situations
Competencies:
All team members demonstrate compatibility with and capability against our Core Competencies such as:
Thinking and Problem Solving – Stakeholder management – Communication skills – Influencing – Self-awareness/self-management – Strategic awareness – Working with others– Project management
Travel Requirements:
There will a requirement to travel, mostly national, and there is some flexibility in this. Innovate UK staff make extensive use of telepresence tools for meetings to minimise unnecessary travel.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:
Innovate UK is a diverse workforce of people. We believe that encouraging these differences and drawing the best from them will build a productive environment in which everyone feels valued, where talents are fully utilised and in which organisational goals are met. Underpinning this is a belief that it is a fundamental right for everyone to be treated equally, with fairness, respect and dignity. We will act directly and use our influence to ensure that this right is promoted and upheld; we encourage applications from all those who meet the criteria set out in our role profiles.
Equal Opportunities:
We are an equal opportunities employer, committed to employing any person who meets the criteria for our roles. When undertaking recruitment, we may require applicants to undertake certain tests or assessments, some of which will be online and others may be in-person. If you have a disability, health condition or specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia then you may be entitled to support with undertaking this type of assessment exercise. Where you feel that reasonable adjustments are required to support you, we ask that you advise your recruitment point of contact in a timely fashion, providing further information. In confidence, Innovate UK will then review your application for adjustments and provide support as required.
UK Research and Innovation:
Employee Benefits:
We offer a benefits package crafted to provide an excellent work/life balance. This includes 30 days’ annual leave, public and privilege days, flexible working hours, an exceptional defined benefit pension scheme, and access to a variety of support networks and discount schemes.
Flexible Working:
We understand the importance of work-life balance and are happy to discuss the possibility of flexible working with applicants.
Pre-employment Screening:
To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a comprehensive pre-employment check on successful applicants as part of the recruitment process.
The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.
UKRI supports research in areas that include animal health, agriculture and food security, and bioscience for health which includes research on animals, genetic modification and stem cell research. Whilst you may not have direct involvement in this type of research, you should consider how this aligns with your personal values or beliefs. To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a full and comprehensive pre-employment check as a crucial part of the recruitment process on all individuals that are offered a position with UKRI. This will include a security check and an extreme organisations affiliation check.
Applications must be submitted by;
02-07-2024