Salary: £68,525
Hours: Full Time / Part Time (Min 0.8 FTE)
Contract Type: Open Ended
Location: Polaris House, Swindon
Grade: G
Closing Date: Wednesday 18 June 2025
Job Overview:
The Local Innovation Partnership Fund aims to drive regional economic growth by investing in innovation clusters—collaborative, place-based ecosystems that bring together strong local leadership, research institutions, and businesses with entrepreneurial capacity.
These ecosystems thrive in city regions or similar economic geographies, where the concentration of talent, infrastructure, and governance supports innovation diffusion and job creation. The initiative encourages cross-boundary collaboration to maximise regional impact and resilience and is used to promote regional economic growth, innovation, and resilience by leveraging the interconnectedness of urban and suburban areas.
As a key member of the UKRI Place team, you will lead the development and delivery of a strategic engagement approach across UKRI and across the UK’s diverse economic geographies. Your role will focus on deepening and broadening the programme’s engagement with a wide spectrum of stakeholders—including UKRI councils, central and local government, civic leaders, research institutions, and industry partners. You will establish robust mechanisms for information exchange and develop high-level, impactful communications that clearly articulateUKRI’s unique and critical role in delivering effective, impactful place-based investments.
Key Responsibilities:
* To support the successful delivery of the UKRI Place Programme, you will lead and manage a range of strategic connectivity and engagement activities.
* You will develop and maintain strategic relationships with colleagues across UKRI and in regions/places overseeing our network of regional partnerships, promoting and leveraging co-funding opportunities to meet UKRI’s ambition of world-class places. This network will play a critical role in the successful delivery of the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund (LIPF). These responsibilities are central to advancing LIPF’s mission to foster regional innovation and economic growth. You will play a key role in shaping and executing a strategic engagement approach that builds meaningful, long-term relationships with stakeholders and aligns with national policy priorities.
* Identify and build strategic relationships with priority regions with high-potential clusters.
* Strengthen engagement with devolved funding bodies incl. via data sharing agreements
* Facilitate collaboration with local Research Organisations, businesses and policymakers.
* Represent ‘regional voices’ back into UKRI.
* Support regions to engage with UKRI and access appropriate investments.
* Build capacity in local eco-systems through skills, leadership, and network development.
* Facilitate collaboration and information sharing (best practice, lessons learnt) within and between through UKRI’s convening powers for example via a Place Forum – leveraging UKRI’s breadth of expertise including our broad evaluation material.
* Facilitate co-creation of proposals, linking places with relevant Subject Matter Experts.
* You will lead the development and implementation of a strategic engagement strategy for the UKRI Place Programme with a strong focus on the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund (LIPF), ensuring alignment with UKRI’s mission and wider government objectives to drive regional economic growth. This will involve designing innovative and inclusive approaches to engage stakeholders across diverse economic geographies, with a focus on collaborative, place-based ecosystems that bring together strong local leadership, research institutions, and businesses with entrepreneurial capacity, and facilitate co-creation of proposals, linking places with relevant Subject Matter Experts.
* You will be the primary strategic lead for engagement within LIPF, responsible for establishing effective ways of working that are responsive to a dynamic policy and research environment. This includes identifying risks, developing solutions, and ensuring delivery of impactful outcomes.
* You will cultivate and manage collaborative relationships with engagement and communications teams across UKRI, government departments, and regional partners. By coordinating efforts and sharing intelligence, you will ensure a coherent and consistent engagement approach that amplifies the visibility and impact of LIPF. Your work will help align partner activities with the programme’s strategic goals, enabling a unified narrative and maximising the value of collective expertise and resources.
* You will represent LIPF in both internal and external settings, building and maintaining strong networks with key stakeholders including local leaders, research institutions, and industry partners. You will ensure these stakeholders are well-informed and aligned with the programme’s vision, strategy, and impact. In addition, you will provide strategic advice and support to senior leaders—such as the LIPF Programme Director and other UKRI executives—on high-profile, time-sensitive, or sensitive engagement activities, helping to position LIPF as a central driver of place-based innovation and inclusive economic growth.
Key Relationships:
As well as growing a new networks and communities of stakeholders, you will also need to develop and maintain relationships with:
* UKRI’s Executive Champion for Place, Director for UKRI Place Programme and UKRI Place Team
* Wider UKRI and government communications and engagement teams
* Council Place Delivery Leads and colleagues working on place focused investments including on UKRI’s campuses.
* UKRI Executive Chairs
* Oversight Board
* DSIT policy teams
* Regional leadership, research institutions, and businesses
Person Specification:
(S) – Shortlisting Criteria (I) – Interview Criteria (S & I) - Shortlisting Criteria & Interview Criteria
Essential
* Degree level qualification (S)
* Demonstrable strategic vision to own and advance a coordinated and coherent engagement strategy. (I)
* Proven ability of leading in an engagement or communications role in a complex environment. (S & I)
* Strong understanding of innovation ecosystems, clusters, and the drivers for unlocking innovation-led growth (S & I)
* Strong knowledge of the UK research and innovation landscape, understanding of the context in which UKRI operates and knowledge of the way in which government, commercial, and third-sector organisations function.(S & I)
* Ability to build, manage, and sustain effective relationships with diverse stakeholders, including internal teams and external political organisations.(S & I)
* Proficiency in preparing and delivering strategic briefings and advice to senior leaders and crafting high-level communications (S & I)
* Strong understanding of place-based investment and innovation ecosystems, including cross-departmental coordination and regional development priorities. (S & I)
* Strong knowledge of the UK research and innovation landscape, understanding of the context in which UKRI operates and knowledge of the way in which government, commercial, and third-sector organisations function. (S & I)
* Experience of balancing competing priorities and working to deadlines in a fast-paced and changing policy context. (S & I)
Desirable
* A passion for, and commitment to, the importance of meaningful public engagement in science, and the drive to close the gap with how this work is valued and embedded across research and innovation activities. (I)
* Experience of using research to address policy challenges, working collaboratively with relevant policy, government, industry or other stakeholders.(S & I)
Application Guidance:
How to evidence the criteria:
You are encouraged to use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) in the cover letter to evidence your ability to meet the ‘person specification’ criteria in the job description. Cover letters should be no more than two sides of A4 (minimum font size 11). For examples of the STAR method, please visit: The STAR method | National Careers Service ’.
About UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
UKRI launched in April 2018, UKRI is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Our organisation brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England, which is responsible for supporting research and knowledge exchange at higher education institutions in England, and the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK. Together we build an independent organisation with a strong voice and vision to ensure the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation. More information can be found atwww.ukri.org.
Choosing to come to work at UKRI means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme, excellent holiday entitlement, access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme. For more details, visit Benefits of working for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
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.
How we support EDI in the workforce
At UKRI, we believe that everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be provided with equal opportunities to thrive and succeed in an environment that enables them to do so. We also value diversity of thought and experience within inclusive groups, organisations and the wider community. For further information, please visit ‘How we support EDI in the workforce’.
Disability Confident Employer
As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy/ies. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.
How to apply
Online applications only preferred for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for UKRI and the role. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted covering letter and CV and not the ‘experience’ section of the application.
UKRI seeks to ensure it creates and maintains a system of openness, fairness and inclusion – a collaborative, trusted environment, which is attractive to and accessible to everyone who is interested in developing their career with us.
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