Innovation jobs in United States

Team: Innovation Team

Location: Scottow Enterprise Park and any other HIL run site where the team works.

Salary: £35,000 - £38,000 depending on experience

Job Purpose

Hethel Innovation is looking for an Innovation Advisor to support businesses to scale and grow, with a particular focus on businesses based at Scottow Enterprise Park. This role will be responsible for delivering support projects with businesses on site, engaging with tenants and supporting the delivery of the Innovation Team’s strategy.

The right candidate will be driven to support businesses to grow through the application of innovative support methods and not afraid to create new delivery plans, strategies and projects that ultimately support businesses in our network. They will be part of a small high performing team with a proactive attitude to problem solving and a desire to support businesses, continuously improving our approach to service delivery.

In return for your commitment and drive, you will receive the following:

• Competitive salary.
• 26 days annual leave (excluding bank holidays).
• Company pension scheme – in line with auto enrolment.
• Career progression and personal development opportunities.
• Being part of a ‘team’ as opposed to just being a number.

Why Hethel Innovation

Our company is built by staff who have a shared ambition – to be a game changer for business. Every single person employed by Hethel Innovation has a direct impact on allowing us to deliver our vision to be the driving force for SME innovation. Our team make things happen.

We are open – we are approachable and flexible, working together with compassion, transparency, and respect.

We are bold – we take ownership, are proactive, are passionate. We are fearless in our thinking, actions, and approach.

We see beyond – we care about development, inclusion, and collaboration. We are creative and curious, focusing on the future.

We are excited by making a difference to businesses – whether that is through the business communities we curate, the support and advice or connections we provide, or the high-quality space we manage and operate at our growing network of innovation sites (Hethel Engineering Centre, Scottow Enterprise Park, Broadland Food Centre and more).

We are in a really exciting period of growth. Our 5-year strategy sets out the roadmap for this growth and our ambition to have a great impact on businesses and supporting their success.

We’re inclusive and want our teams to be made up of people from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. If you think that you have the mindset, skills, and motivations to be a central part of delivering on our strategy, we would love to speak to you.

About You

• You want to be part of a small high performing team.
• You are curious, you love to learn and have a real interest in business growth.
• You are ready to think outside the box; problem solving is exciting for you and you relish the opportunity to develop solutions to overcome challenges.
• You are comfortable with the uncomfortable – you stand your ground in high pressure situations and communicate clearly.
• You see beyond the challenge in front of you.
• You make things happen – you identify opportunities and act on them.
• You aren’t scared of failure but see it as a learning opportunity and have actively changed your approach to situations from previous experience.
• You are independent and autonomous. You have the confidence and skill to develop your own pipeline of projects and manage your workload effectively.
• Asking for help doesn’t scare you. You are able to pick up new projects and develop them on your own and able to identify when you need additional support and actively seek it.
• You celebrate the success of others. A win for those you are supporting (either business clients or your team) is a win for you.
• You love to engage with others, collaborating with multiple stakeholders on projects.
• You perform at your best when you are managing multiple projects at one time.
• You are motivated by meeting commercial goals and enjoy proactively planning how to meet them.

Principal Duties

• Provide 121 support to businesses in the scale-up landscape, working closely with your clients, adapting to their needs.
• Proactively identify new ways to support the businesses you work with – for example, developing new tools and training for businesses to engage with.
• Deliver and facilitate interactive workshops and Hethel Innovation Design Sprints, supporting our clients to develop their business strategies, company structures, project management styles, leadership capabilities and marketing and branding strategies.
• Regularly meet with Hethel Innovation members at Scottow Enterprise Park to discuss any support or tenancy needs.
• Work closely with the Scottow Enterprise Park site team and events and marketing coordinator to ensure that the business engagement activities delivered on site meet the needs of the businesses you are working with.
• Lead the delivery of business engagement activity at Scottow Enterprise Park, such as developing the Scottow Clean Energy Hub on site, working with others in the Innovation team to develop Clean Teach East – an East of England Clean Energy cluster.
• Engage with local stakeholders including education establishments, think tanks, local councils, and other government bodies.
• Represent Hethel Innovation and the region on a national and international scale at events and meetings, developing relationships with key partners in our region.
• Conduct desk-based research and write industry articles reporting on key trends in multiple sectors of interest, which businesses in our network can use to steer them towards opportunities for new product development and strategic outlook.

Responsibilities

• Work to high standards to ensure the delivery of our innovation support service to the satisfaction of your line manager.
• Be an integral member of our Innovation Team, taking shared responsibility for securing income and meeting our commercial targets that allow us to develop new support services.
• Complete work to a high standard and to set timescales.
• Work collaboratively and in partnership with outside partners to achieve planned outcomes.
• Communicate across teams as required, working collaboratively with Sales, Site Teams and Finance.
• Maintain effective working relationships with HIL teams and clients.
• Work to agreed project plans including scope, milestones, and deadlines.
• Support the development of new revenue streams for the company, taking a lead on creating and delivering new innovation services.
• Develop an extensive network of support providers and act as an “honest broker,” connecting businesses with those in the ecosystem who could support their growth.
• Carry out other duties appropriate to the nature and grade of the post, as directed by the line manager.

Qualifications

Essential:

• Bachelor’s degree – business related or relevant industry experience.

Desirable:

• Sales training.
• Business qualifications.
• Marketing qualifications.
• Engineering or science degree or equivalent qualification.

Experience

Essential:

• Running and facilitating large meetings and groups.
• Project management experience, working closely with a set of targets and objectives and delivering them on time.
• Sales and/or customer experience.

Desirable:

• Experience in previous roles that support sustainability and clean tech innovations.
• Experience running cluster networks or special interest groups.
• Coaching or consultancy experience.
• Agile / Scrum experience.
• Experience coaching and/or mentoring.
• Experience in previous roles in advanced manufacturing and engineering.

Skills/Knowledge

Essential:

• Extensive knowledge of SME growth strategies and the ability to advise and support SMEs.
• Self-motivated and result driven, with a focus on delivering high-quality work.
• Capable of working independently, creating a pipeline of tasks that will allow you to reach your overarching objectives.
• Being comfortable and confident leading events and chairing meetings, providing high quality presentations, and training.
• Interest in business strategy and business growth.

Desirable:

• Design thinking and the Lean Start-up Method.
• Knowledge of Agile Project Management and how it applies to businesses.
• An interest in entrepreneurship and innovation.
• Understanding of business clusters and their development.
• Good awareness of funding options available to businesses.
• Interest in advanced manufacturing and engineering and able to hold technical conversations with businesses from these backgrounds.
• Interest in sustainability.

General Information

• The job description details the main outcomes of the job and will be updated if these outcomes change.
• All work performed/duties undertaken must be carried out in accordance with relevant HIL policies and procedures, within legislation, and about the needs of our customers and the diverse community we serve.
• Job holders will be expected to understand what is meant by safeguarding vulnerable groups (children, young people, and adults) and how to raise concerns.
• Job holders will be expected to be flexible in their duties and carry out any other duties commensurate with the grade and falling within the general scope of the job, as requested by management.