Do you want to work with the most innovative, high growth, ambitious SME businesses?
Do you have credible experience at a senior level within an innovative growing business and/or setting up your own high growth innovative business?
Do you have experience of raising investment, or being an investor?
If the answer is yes, the role of Finance and Innovation Expert could be for you!
This role specialises in supporting clients to become Investment Ready. You will work with Exemplas to deliver the Innovate UK Business Growth (previously Innovate UK EDGE) service, you will act as strategic coach, mentor, critical friend and champion to a portfolio of exceedingly demanding high growth SME clients, supporting them to make a significant contribution to improve the UK economy.
About the role
In this role you will deliver the Innovate UK Business Growth service to provide innovation and business advice to a portfolio of SME high growth scaling clients.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Acting as a strategic coach and mentor to clients to support them in developing their own long-term growth and innovation commercialisation plans;
- Providing an account management function for the delivery of innovation growth support services to enable clients to enhance their innovation management capacity;
- Using holistic analysis tools to review client needs and provide tailored coaching and mentoring support; including advice on suitability of funding and support services from Innovate UK and other business support providers;
- Focusing on supporting the most ambitious, high-growth potential innovative SMEs to benefit from national and global opportunities;
- Providing information and guidance on intellectual property matters, signposting or referring to professional support as required.
- Supporting the development of team colleagues in your specialist area of Access to Finance/Invest Readiness
About you
We are looking for someone with business experience at a senior level and/or experience of setting up and running their own high growth business, who has strategic and management or consultancy experience in Accessing Finance, the commercialising of ideas, including IP, establishing sales channels.
You will need to demonstrate experience or knowledge of:
- The investor community/landscape in the East of England and nationally;
- Raising investment, or being an investor;
- Assessing risk through analysis of business plans, financial accounts, and other supporting information;
- Interpreting outputs of business diagnostic and benchmarking tools to develop action plans;
- Understanding of IPR and IP commercialisation strategies together with an understanding of business finance and access to finance;
- Critical appraisal of bids for innovation funding;
- Understanding of the business support landscape together with funding and support available through Innovate UK.
What do we offer?
This is a full-time role permanent contract. The role is peripatetic and requires travel around the East of England and East Midlands region to visit clients.
- The salary of up to £52,000 per annum for the right candidate;
- Car allowance of £3,840 per annum (pro rata for part-time);
- Broadband allowance
- A generous, up to 10.5% non-contributory pension scheme (conditional upon being enrolled and remaining in the scheme for the duration of employment)
- Ill-health income protection (conditional upon meeting the scheme rules)
- Life assurance (Death in Service) scheme underwritten under the pension scheme regulations (conditional upon meeting the scheme rules)
- 26 days holiday (rising to 28 after 2 years’ service, pro rata for part time)
- A flexible and supportive working culture including access to mental health first aiders
- Wellbeing services for employees including access to discounts, workshops, employee assistance programme, Doctorline and more
- Modern, open space and technology enabled working environment
- Flexible benefits including holiday-buy scheme, eye care vouchers, annual flu vaccination, Uno buses discount , discounted gym membership and a cycle-to-work scheme.
We endeavour to make roles flexible. While this role is advertised as full time, we will consider requests to undertake the work on a flexible part-time basis, so please feel free to talk about what flexibility means to you at your initial phone interview.
We are committed to equality of opportunity for all and value diversity in our workforce. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.
About us
We are one of the UK’s foremost business support organisations and for over 25 years, we have provided business advisory services to more than 500,000 small to medium sized businesses on behalf of Government and Private sector organisations. As part of our expert team, you can expect to be empowered to be the best you can and share our company values of Openness (I am keen and willing to engage), Inspiration (I want to be the best that I can be), Conviction (We win, or lose, together) and Accountability (I will take responsibility and ownership). As a business we recognise that giving a superior service to our clients depends on making the most of our people and we aim to give our teams challenging opportunities, recognition for achievement, job enrichment and the maximum flexibility we can.
The fine print
- Please note we are not a Home Office visa sponsorship licence holder and therefore you must be currently eligible to live and work in the UK to apply for this role.
- Please read our recruitment privacy notice available on Exemplas website for information about how we process your personal data.