Innovation Funding & Partnership Manager

TN United Kingdom; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading company as an Innovation Funding & Partnerships Manager, responsible for managing innovation projects and partnerships. This role offers a competitive salary of circa £65,000 and a hybrid working model, with opportunities for career progression and development within a dynamic team focused on enhancing environmental solutions.

Benefits

Generous pension up to 11% company contribution

25 days annual leave

Life assurance equal to 4x salary

Salary sacrifice electric car scheme

Health Cash Plan

Full funded eye tests

Two paid volunteering days a year

Occupational health service

Discounts with over 800 popular retailers

Digital GP service

Study support for job-related qualifications

Competitive maternity leave and flexible return to work options

Cycle to work scheme

Qualifications

• Significant demonstrable experience of developing and delivering innovation partnership projects.
• Knowledge of the innovation lifecycle.
• Experience of working with multiple senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage Ofwat Innovation Fund submissions.
• Facilitate successful project initiation and governance.
• Develop and implement an external funding strategy.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Analytical skills

Critical thinking

Organisational skills

Job description

Closing Date

2025-05-30

Job Title: Innovation Funding & Partnerships Manager

Location: Falmer, West Sussex (Hybrid/Flexible)

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: 37 hours per week

Salary: circa £65,000 (depending on skills and experience)

The Environment & Innovation team is at the forefront of Southern Water’s drive to enhance and protect the environment. Deploying the latest innovative solutions and working in partnership with our customers and stakeholders, the team takes an holistic approach to managing water quality and flow across the region. Currently delivering a £50million portfolio which rapidly expands to over £2 billion over next 10 years. This is a fast-paced team that is now expanding to continue to deliver a larger programme of sustainable and innovative solutions.

Job Overview

1. Responsible for continually developing, owning and managing Ofwat Innovation Fund (OIF) including all submissions.
2. Facilitation of successful OIF project initiation and early stages development e.g. collaboration agreements, set up governance structures and steering groups for handover to stakeholder with oversight of the project to completion.
3. Responsible for owning innovation relationship with key partners including but not limited to SPRING, UKWIR to: Enable the identification of solutions that align to Southern Water strategy and bring in the Innovation Leads where applicable. To enable the delivery of projects that develop and/or test new approaches. To promote collaboration/reduce replication between water companies in the UK.
4. Represent Southern Water at industry-wide innovation meetings and events.
5. Development and implementation of an external funding strategy.

About You

1. Significant demonstrable experience of developing and delivering innovation partnership projects.
2. Knowledge of the innovation lifecycle.
3. Strong interpersonal skills with ability to work towards common goal.
4. Strong analytical and critical thinking skills to translate complex data into viable insights.
5. Experience of working with multiple senior stakeholders across Business, Technology, Operations and Group Functions.
6. Excellent organisational skills.
7. Ability to consistently work with tight deadlines and deliver results.

Package

This role will be full time Monday to Friday with a hybrid approach to working between our Falmer office and home. We are offering a salary of circa £65,000 as well as other benefits including:

• Generous pension up to 11% company contribution
• 25 days annual leave
• Life assurance equal to 4x salary
• Salary sacrifice electric car scheme (after 6 months service)
• Health Cash Plan
• Full funded eye tests
• Two paid volunteering days a year
• Occupational health service
• Discounts with over 800 popular retailers
• Digital GP service
• Study support may be available for job-related qualifications
• Competitive maternity leave and flexible return to work options
• Cycle to work scheme

Join our Environment & Innovation team and see how far your career could progress with a company committed to career progression, training and development opportunities, our customers and the environment.

Does this opportunity excite you but you’re not 100% sure if you meet all the requirements for the role? Or are you concerned that ‘normal’ office hours aren’t possible given your personal circumstances? Whilst we can’t accommodate every flexible working request, we’ll try to find a practical solution. So why not engage with us and find out more about this role?

Our customers are at the heart of everything we do, because delivering water for life is our core purpose. To achieve this, we need 24/7 support in place to resolve incidents quickly and efficiently. All our employees understand the importance of out-of-hours incident support – because when problems appear, fixing them is our top priority. That’s why our people join together and support when and however needed to make sure our customers get the service they deserve. Joining the Southern Water family means you’ll become part of our incident support team. During your interview, your manager will speak to you about any incident support rotas that apply to your position.

Privacy Statement:

Please note: If you are an existing Southern Water employee, you will need to confirm within your application that your Manager is aware of your application.

All applicants must be eligible to live and work in the UK. You will need to provide evidence of eligibility (e.g. a passport or long birth certificate and proof of NI) and current proof of address (dated within the last 3 months), will be required as part of the recruitment process. If you do not meet these criteria, your application will not be considered.

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