STEM Innovation Hub Manager

This role is employed by the University of Derby but operates in partnership with the multi-regional and cross-institutional Climate Scaling Collaborative (CSC). It is supported by a £5m Research England funded initiative involving five universities led by Imperial College London, that aims to transform innovative UK-based climate start-ups into world-leading scale-ups.

As STEM Innovation Hub Manager, you will work to provide exceptional leadership with the core purpose of the role to help identify and connect participants and key stakeholders involved in the scale-up of sustainable start-ups. You will identify and enable access to the key aspects of support structure (e.g. investment or funding sources, regulatory, testing, certification and accreditation support, technical advice and expertise from facilities across the UK Climate Scaling Collaborative network), using your initiative and networking skills to support businesses in meeting scale-up challenges and removing barriers for innovation.

You will foster collaboration and engagement across the UK-wide partnership between Imperial College London and the Universities of Cranfield, Derby, Exeter, Leeds and Nottingham, supporting the start-ups by sourcing advice and access to the facilities across partnership knowledge-base support ecosystem. This would involve initial diagnostics, identifying barriers and setting up support plans and the support structure processes that address start-ups ambitions and capabilities. You will standardise this process and provide tailored support plans for each business to achieve following:

• Advising in terms of progressing innovations through complexities of technological, regulatory, testing and certification frameworks in order to scale up their businesses;
• De-risking of investments – support with the investment, grants and loan applications.   

With responsibility for meeting a set of KPIs linked to accelerator activities (predominantly climate innovation related), you will thus undertake a wide range of activities from working with regional UK innovators to managing a portfolio of individual projects and delivering on reporting requirements.

About You

You will be educated to degree level in a subject related to the post role, or have equivalent experience, and have demonstrable involvement with support for technical innovation and scale up, as well as proven ability in successful project management and in effective communication with diverse teams.

You will be personable and have the ability to communicate effectively with a range of different people. You should be committed to equality and diversity and providing a first class customer service to customers. You will have the ability to build positive relationships and quickly gain the trust and confidence of key stakeholders across the project.

You will be self-motivated with the confidence to work independently and willingness to take on new responsibilities. You will have the ability to build relationships and gain the confidence, respect and co-operation of senior figures both within the organisation and externally.

You will have an understanding of the challenges faced by deep tech innovators as they scale, ideally within the sectors of climate and sustainability, and have experience in business development, partnerships, consulting, or similar client-facing activities with a proven ability to work effectively with diverse stakeholders, from founders to investors to build trust and secure engagement.

Key Contact

For further information and informal enquiries regarding the role, please contact Dr Boris Ceranic, Project Lead via b.ceranic@derby.ac.uk

For enquiries regarding your application and for sponsorship eligibility, please contact the recruitment team via recruitment@derby.ac.uk

For more information and to apply on-line, please click the above “Apply” button.

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