Innovation Consultant - #1801310

The Role's Purpose

The Innovation Consultant will play a key role in delivering Plexal-led innovation programmes and working with our consulting team. We are currently recruiting in all competency areas, and so are interested to hear from Researchers, Management Consultants, Programme Delivery experts, Ecosystem convenors, Technology enthusiasts, Data Scientists and Solution Architects.

What You'll Do

• Shape insights about the future of technology sectors,
• Lead the creation of high impact deliverables,
• Help clients make decisions on their technology strategy,
• Define and manage solutions that work including pilots and new venture design,
• Engage with innovators to understand their needs, challenges and the interventions that will support their growth,
• Pull together consortiums of world-leading talent to better solve mission-critical challenges,
• Work on the design and delivery of world-class innovation and challenge-led programmes,
• Manage inputs across several workstreams,
• Proactively manage regular interaction, communication, and collaboration with external stakeholders,
• Lead specific areas of business development by responding to public sector bids and leading bespoke proposals.
  
  

Your Skills

• Able to interpret technology policy, understand how technology works, define use cases map security and privacy implications, and shape tangible next steps,
• Highly organised with a good understanding of innovation, collaboration and project management practices, tools, and methodologies,
• Analytical, with the ability to think critically and to understand, interpret and articulate complex concepts,
• A structured, concise communicator who can confidently use key tools including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as project management and brainstorming tools,
• Competent at taking responsibility for producing high-quality deliverables and presentations for senior external audiences
  
  

Your Experience

• Experienced working within two or more of the following: a large innovation function, a leading consultancy, tech startup or accelerator,
• Able to demonstrate strategic awareness across technology markets and sectors and provide an outside-in perspective to clients when it comes to emerging market needs, trends, opportunities, and technologies,
• Educated to a Bachelor-degree level or equivalent
• SC or DV clearance desired
  
  

Who You Are

• Personally resilient, with the ability to stay focused on the overall objective, responding to challenges in a calm and measured way,
• A highly effective communicator with strong interpersonal skills, the ability to interact with a range of stakeholder groups, including startups and corporate clients, while also understanding the practicalities of working in a small and growing company,
• Excellent at listening, facilitating, and influencing, including influencing senior leaders and external stakeholders, and negotiating to achieve desired outcomes,
• Energised by the challenges and opportunities presented by working for a high-growth company,
• Passionate about the development of cybersecurity and other areas of emerging technology.
  
  

Why us?

Plexal’s Values

Mission: We inherit the mission of UK government and deliver it in an agile and creative fashion.

Collaboration: We believe in the power of working together.

Equality: We strengthen ourselves as a team by embracing the different.

Care: People are at the heart of what we do; we care about our customers, members and colleagues.

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: £50,000 - 60,000 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 company solving society's challenges through collaboration with government, startups and industry. The business is closing the gap between organisations – small and large, local and global, private and public – and working towards a common goal: using science and technology to deliver national security and prosperity. It was founded in 2017 as the innovation centre at Here East and is owned by clients of specialist real estate investment advisory company Delancey.

Providing bespoke consultancy services and state-of-the-art workspaces for over 1,000 innovators, Plexal sources the right partners from our ecosystem of 15,000 connections. It supports entrepreneurs, startups and scaleups building emerging technologies and operates across multiple sectors including cyber, healthcare, intelligence and defence, government, public safety, financial services and telecoms.

Expanding on its existing presence in London and Manchester, Plexal acquired a majority shareholding in Hub8 – the Cheltenham network of co-working spaces for cyber-tech, digital and creative startups and SMEs. This is part of an ongoing mission to build the UK’s most connected cyber ecosystem, with GCHQ’s more than 70-year heritage in Cheltenham.

Plexal delivers projects for key government departments and global tech companies including the National Cyber Security Centre, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Amazon Web Services and IBM. The NCSC For Startups alumni of over 60 companies has collectively raised over £430m and created over 700 jobs, while 72 cyber startups that have gone through Plexal’s LORCA accelerators have collectively raised over £300m, generated more than £68m in revenue and hired over 800 people.