Innovation Consultant (Technologist)

Plexal; Reading; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Plexal is seeking an Innovation Consultant to design and grow innovation clusters in Reading. This role involves building relationships with clients, delivering bespoke support programs, and engaging with innovators. The ideal candidate will have experience in technology innovation and a proven ability to handle stakeholder engagement effectively.

Benefits

Annual bonus scheme

Generous pension scheme (up to 10% company contribution)

Private healthcare and life assurance

25 days holiday plus bank holidays

Volunteering day

Qualifications

• Experience in technology innovation, corporate innovation functions, or consulting.
• Demonstrated strategic awareness across technology markets.
• Ability to understand and articulate complex concepts.

Responsibilities

• Design and grow new innovation clusters.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to key clients.
• Manage bespoke business support programmes for startups.

Skills

Organisational skills

Communication

Analytical thinking

Stakeholder management

Education

Higher Education degree or relevant professional certifications

Job description

The Innovation Consultant will play an important role in designing, launching and growing new innovation clusters. This role will be based in Reading to work on a specific project for Plexal, but will integrate with the wider team to support cluster development initiatives, build key partnerships, and help clients realise the full value of place-based innovation ecosystems.

This role will be based in Reading

What You'll Do

• Shape insights about the future of technology sectors and their applications in market, and how Plexal can play a role in their growth
• Create high-impact outputs that help clients make decisions on their emerging technology strategy
• Define how place, programme, ecosystem, investment and insight can create transformational outcomes for key growth sectors and regions
• Serve as a trusted advisor to key clients, building key external relationships
• Engage with innovators to understand their needs, challenges and the interventions that will support their growth
• Coordinate consortia or delivery partnerships to tackle mission-driven innovation opportunities
• Manage and deliver bespoke business support programmes to help scale startups and scale-ups with emerging technology products
• Work on the design and delivery of world-class innovation and challenge-led programmes and other client deliverables
• Lead or contribute to proposals and responses to public sector tenders

Your Skills

• Highly organised with a good understanding of innovation and collaboration practices
• A highly effective communicator with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to interact with a range of stakeholder groups
• Analytical, with the ability to think critically and to understand, interpret and articulate complex concepts
• Able to work with multiple stakeholders, including startups and corporate clients, while also understanding the practicalities of working in a small and growing company

Your Experience

• Experienced in working in technology innovation through a role within a corporate innovation function, strategy or management consultancy, tech startup, accelerator or S&T government organisation
• Able to demonstrate wide-ranging business awareness along with a general level of technical aptitude anda keen interest in cutting-edge applications
• 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
• Higher Education degree, or relevant professional certifications, or equivalent knowledge gained via work experience.
• Experience in innovation, economic development, strategy, consultancy, or technology ecosystem roles

Who You Are

• Comfortable dealing with ambiguity and operating in constantly changing environment
• Energised by the challenges and opportunities presented working for a high-growth company.
• Resilient and calm under pressure, with a solutions-driven approach
• Passionate about building inclusive, impactful innovation ecosystems
• Comfortable working across sectors and with varied stakeholder types

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: £55,000 - 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.

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.