Applications must be submitted by;
02-05-2024
Government Levers Executive
The post-holder will support the Senior Government Levers Manager and other team members in developing and rolling out Innovate UK’s suite of new, first of a kind regulations and standards, products and services, and in maintaining the strategic partnerships required to deliver on the ambitions of the Government Levers chapter of our Plan for Action.
*Please note this advert will close at on Wednesday 1st May 2024.
Watch our video “Why Join Innovate UK?” here.
Title: Government Levers Executive
Band: UKRI Band D (UKRI Ts & Cs)
Salary: £34,905 gross per annum
Reports to: Senior Government Levers Manager
Location: Field Based
Contract:Fixed Term (until 31st March 2025)
Innovate UK recognises the importance of work-life balance, and we will be happy to discuss any requests for flexible working arrangements.
Job Purpose:
The post-holder will support the Senior Government Levers Manager and other colleagues in the wider Government Levers team to deliver Innovate UK’s suite of regulations and standards products and services, which include the following:
1. Establishing a network of up to three Regulatory Innovation Hubs, multi-disciplinary networks of policymakers, regulators, business bodies and research institutes to drive joined-up discussions, activities and approaches around the UK regulatory science and innovation agenda in their sector. This includes working closely with internal and external stakeholders to set up an initial expression of interest (EOI) call early in 24/25, followed by a full funding competition delivered later in 24/25
2. Delivering a ‘Standards Challenge Fund’ in partnership with BSI, inviting innovators and SMEs to identify and develop ideas for standards for commercialising new, emerging technologies
3. Engaging closely with policy leaders, regulators and others across the innovation ecosystem to evolve our products and services offer that delivers on the government’s ambitions for a pro-innovation regulatory system. This includes close collaboration to identify opportunities for the co-creation of interventions with the Regulatory Horizons Council, and/or any cross-Whitehall innovation activity being driven by HM Treasury and/or other parts of the “centre” of government.
In addition to supporting their line manager on their primary regulations and standards for innovation work, the successful candidate will also lead on coordinating Innovate UK subject matter expert input to UKRI responses to consultations, select committee inquiries and other government calls for evidence within a framework agreed with the Senior Government Levers Manager, so that Innovate UK is actively influencing and informing the development of UK government policy in areas in which Innovate UK activity is focused.
The post-holder may also be required, as necessary, to support IUK Business Connect (formerly KTN) Stakeholder Relationships in their day-to-day responsibility for pulling together Innovate UK inputs to ministerial briefings and Parliamentary Questions on an ad hoc basis.
The successful candidate will be passionate about innovation and comfortable working in a dynamic environment.
Externally, they will support their line manager and the wider Government Levers team in making sure that Innovate UK plays an active, collaborative role in developing, evolving and promoting its products and services that deliver pro-innovation regulatory and standards systems, in line with the government’s Science and Technology Framework, Standards for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and other related policy statements.
Internally, the role will require you to take a leading role working with colleagues across Innovate UK and UKRI staff to help roll out and embed new programmes such as the Standards Challenge Fund, the Regulatory Hubs programme, and any other interventions developed over the duration of the role, to ensure they deliver operationally. This includes close working with Innovate UK’s Domain, Competitions, Finance, Monitoring and Impact Management teams, as well as relevant IUK Business Connect teams.
Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:
Within a framework agreed with the Senior Government Levers Manager, the post-holder will:
4. Support the Government Levers team in building strong working relationships with strategically important government and public sector partners to deliver on Innovate UK’s regulation and standards activities, and influence wider government activity around regulations and standards
5. Identify and develop opportunities to further develop relationships with organisations with a strong influence on regulation and standards for innovation policy that can help Innovate UK deliver on our Government Levers strategy
6. Maintain Team SharePoint site and other record keeping, ensuring all documentation is held centrally and with appropriate version control in place
7. Make contributions to the continuing strategic development of our regulations and standards activities, including new programme ideas, discussions around programme governance and process improvement
8. Develop metrics, Key Performance Indicators and similar tools that allow programmes to evolve toward successful outcomes, promote continuous improvement, and enable strategic decision making
9. Develop a strong understanding of the portfolio, and actively manage the collection of all data relating to the programme. This includes trend analyses
10. Review all portfolio level reports and overall progress towards programme objectives and feedback to relevant internal parties as required
11. Engage closely with internal and external stakeholders on monitoring and evaluation activities to ensure that reporting on the progress of programmes – including the Regulatory Hub network and Standards Challenge Fund – are completed in a timely fashion
This is not an exhaustive list and the post-holder might be expected to undertake any other duties across the wider directorate, commensurate with the Band and level of responsibility of this post, for which the post holder has the necessary experience and/or training.
Person Specification:
Experience:
Essential –
12. Educated to degree level or have an equivalent qualification or strong experience in a relevant subject area
Desirable –
13. A robust understanding of Innovate UK and its processes
14. Interest/background in innovation, business competitiveness and technology policy/delivery
15. A comprehensive understanding of how Government works
16. Experience of supporting the creation and/or implementation of policy
17. Previous experience of working across broad stakeholder groups
18. Experience of managing a large workload and multiple priorities concurrently
19. Experience of collecting and analysing data, and presenting/communicating findings clearly
Skills:
20. Excellent written and oral communication skills and the ability to produce clear, concise emails and written documents
21. Strong presentation skills
22. Clear, demonstrable relationship management and keen influencing skills, and experience of working with broad stakeholder groups
23. Analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to quickly understand new and complex issues and to apply solutions
24. Strategic thinker, capable of thinking creatively to find solutions
25. Ability to manage sometimes conflicting demands of multiple stakeholders groups
26. The ability to respond calmly under pressure and to make impartial and well-considered judgments in complex situations
27. Tactful with a diplomatic approach
28. Highly developed team working skills
29. Ability to work independently and under pressure on high profile, business critical projects
30. Self-organisation skills and a demonstrable ability to manage and prioritise a workload in order to meet tight deadlines
Qualifications:
Essential –
31. The candidate will be educated to degree level or have an equivalent vocational qualification
Competencies:
All team members demonstrate compatibility with and capability against our Core Competencies such as:
Thinking and Problem Solving – Stakeholder management – Communication skills – Influencing – Self-awareness/self-management – Strategic awareness – Working with others– Project management
Travel Requirements:
There will a requirement to travel, mostly national, and there is some flexibility in this. Innovate UK staff make extensive use of telepresence tools for meetings to minimise unnecessary travel. In general, you will need to work in the Swindon office once a week and may have four to six nights away from home per month on average to attend conferences and events.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:
Innovate UK is a diverse workforce of people. We believe that encouraging these differences and drawing the best from them will build a productive environment in which everyone feels valued, where talents are fully utilised and in which organisational goals are met. Underpinning this is a belief that it is a fundamental right for everyone to be treated equally, with fairness, respect and dignity. We will act directly and use our influence to ensure that this right is promoted and upheld; we encourage applications from all those who meet the criteria set out in our role profiles.
Equal Opportunities:
We are an equal opportunities employer, committed to employing any person who meets the criteria for our roles. When undertaking recruitment, we may require applicants to undertake certain tests or assessments, some of which will be online and others may be in-person. If you have a disability, health condition or specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia then you may be entitled to support with undertaking this type of assessment exercise. Where you feel that reasonable adjustments are required to support you, we ask that you advise your recruitment point of contact in a timely fashion, providing further information. In confidence, Innovate UK will then review your application for adjustments and provide support as required.
UK Research and Innovation:
Employee Benefits:
We offer a benefits package crafted to provide an excellent work/life balance. This includes 30 days’ annual leave, public and privilege days, flexible working hours, an exceptional defined benefit pension scheme, and access to a variety of support networks and discount schemes.
Flexible Working:
We understand the importance of work-life balance and are happy to discuss the possibility of flexible working with applicants.
Pre-employment Screening:
To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a comprehensive pre-employment check on successful applicants as part of the recruitment process.
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.
UKRI supports research in areas that include animal health, agriculture and food security, and bioscience for health which includes research on animals, genetic modification and stem cell research. Whilst you may not have direct involvement in this type of research, you should consider how this aligns with your personal values or beliefs. To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a full and comprehensive pre-employment check as a crucial part of the recruitment process on all individuals that are offered a position with UKRI. This will include a security check and an extreme organisations affiliation check.
Sponsorship:
Applications must be submitted by;
02-05-2024