Innovation Programs Lead & North East Account Manager

Here East; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary: £65,000 - £80,000

Annual bonus scheme

Private pension (up to 10%)

Private healthcare & life cover

25 days holiday + bank holidays

Volunteering day

Job summary

Plexal in the UK seeks an Innovation Lead to design, deliver and improve high-impact programmes for innovators, startups, SMEs and individuals. You will lead programme delivery, manage stakeholders and ensure commercial targets are met.

You will also act as a regional account manager across the North, build relationships with employers and partners, and identify collaboration opportunities while gathering market intelligence to keep programmes relevant and impactful.

Qualifications

• Experience delivering innovation, entrepreneurship, business support, skills, employability, accelerator, incubator or ecosystem development programmes.
• Strong stakeholder management, partnership-building and account management experience.
• Experience working with startups, SMEs, corporates, universities, investors and public sector organisations.
• Experience managing programme delivery, coordinating multiple workstreams and delivering KPIs and contractual commitments.
• Strong organisational, communication and relationship-management skills.
• Experience using CRM, project management and reporting systems to manage stakeholders and activities.
• Commercial awareness and experience managing budgets, resources, suppliers or partner relationships.
• Ability to analyse data, identify insights and use evidence to improve programme delivery and outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead the delivery of innovation programmes and assigned workstreams, ensuring activities are delivered on time, to budget and against agreed outcomes.
• Coordinate delivery across clients, partners, suppliers, mentors, employers, innovators and wider stakeholders to ensure a high-quality experience and programme impact.
• Monitor programme performance, risks, budgets and KPIs, implementing corrective actions where required.
• Use participant, client and stakeholder feedback, data and delivery insights to continuously improve programme performance and outcomes.
• Act as a regional and sector account manager, building and maintaining relationships with employers, industry partners, universities, investors and public sector organisations.
• Develop stakeholder engagement plans that support programme objectives and long-term partnership development.
• Represent Plexal and programme activity at events, workshops and forums.
• Gather market intelligence and ecosystem insights to identify opportunities, risks and future programme development.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Account management

Data analysis

CRM systems

Project management

Communication

Education

Higher education degree

Tools

CRM systems

Project management tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Plexal in the UK seeks an Innovation Lead to design, deliver and improve high-impact programmes for innovators, startups, SMEs and individuals. You will lead programme delivery, manage stakeholders and ensure commercial targets are met.

You will also act as a regional account manager across the North, build relationships with employers and partners, and identify collaboration opportunities while gathering market intelligence to keep programmes relevant and impactful.