The roles

Report to: Director of Catapult Network

Direct Reports: N/A

Location: This role is home based with an expectation of being in London a minimum 1 day a week but ideally 2. The host Catapult, and employer, will be High Value Manufacturing Catapult which has offices based in Birmingham and London. There will be a requirement for the incumbent to travel nationally to the Catapult centre locations.

Salary: c£50k per annum

Primary Purpose:

This role will support the Catapult Network Office’s mission to enhance stakeholder engagement and awareness of the Innovate UK Catapult Network. This role will focus on promoting the Innovate UK Catapult Network’s collective impact and value in driving innovation and economic growth.

You will develop and implement a comprehensive stakeholder engagement strategy to strengthen relationships and enhance the Innovate UK Catapult Network awareness amongst the innovation and policymaking community.

Main Responsibilities:

Stakeholder Engagement and Awareness

• Work in collaboration with the Catapults and Innovate UK to develop and implement a stakeholder engagement strategy for the Innovate UK Catapult Network, that builds and maintains a comprehensive and prioritised stakeholder map, to strengthen relationships and enhance the awareness of the benefits of the Innovate UK Catapult Network across Government, place-based stakeholders and the wider innovation ecosystem – including representative organisations like AIRTO and EARTO – and business.
• Manage CEO stakeholder engagement, developing the opportunities and organising high-profile events, roundtable meetings and media engagement for relationship development with key ministers, shadow ministers and metro mayors and key stakeholders. To include the preparation and implementation of pre-briefing materials and calls, which include aligned Innovate UK Catapult Network messaging.
• Support the Communications Manager to deliver targeted communication campaigns that highlight the Innovate UK Catapult Network’s impact, success stories and innovation-driven projects to engage the Catapult Network Office’s target audience and key stakeholder groups.

Stakeholder Relationship Management

• Build your own network to support you in leading the relationship management of an engaged stakeholder community of policymakers that are directly responsible for cross-cutting innovation policy and those that influence them, to enhance the Innovate UK Catapult Network visibility.
• Lead the coordination and management of the Government Relations & Policy collaboration group, working with colleagues across the Catapult Network to support the coherence and impact of public affairs activity.
• Develop and implement an efficient relationship management system and regular reporting mechanisms to ensure internal stakeholders (Catapults and Innovate UK) are kept informed on stakeholder engagement activity by the Network Office.

Policy Monitoring and Response

• Monitor and provide updates on relevant innovation policy announcements and developments, working proactively with the Communications Manager to develop briefings that coordinate messaging across the Innovate UK Catapult Network.
• Lead the development of Innovate UK Catapult Network responses to requests for information and input to government, parliamentary and other consultation exercises. Where appropriate, proactively engage the civil servants designing and supporting the government inquiries to provide briefings to Catapults for coordination and alignment in submissions. 
• Support the Catapult Network Office in building a network library of information including case studies and metrics to support responses to enquiries from government and other stakeholders.

Professional Networking and Event Coordination

• Lead the organisation and management of flagship annual events, such as parliamentary receptions, industry conferences and high-profile quarterly events, to showcase the value and capabilities of the Innovate UK Catapult Network.  
• Build the profile of the Innovate UK Catapult Network and relationships through conference attendance, including political party conferences, meeting business and science community groups and key meeting engagements with political stakeholders.
• Coordinate engagement activities and site visits to Catapults in collaboration with Innovate UK and DSIT, via strategic open days, to support local, national and international delegations.

Job Scope

Impact: Lead stakeholder engagement and awareness of the Innovate UK Catapult Network, focussing on promoting collective impact and value in driving innovation and economic growth.

Communication: Enhance the Innovate UK Catapult Network awareness amongst the innovation and policymaking community.

Innovation: Seek to influence transformational change for the benefit of the Innovate UK Catapult Network and the UK’s innovation ecosystem. 

Knowledge: See Person Specification for information re: skills and experience.

This role does not have direct reports however the ability to influence without direct line management “control” is essential given the reach required.

This role will have a national focus and knowledge of regional variance is necessary.

Person Specification:.

Report to: Director of Catapult Network Office

Direct Reports: n/a

Location: This role is home based with the option to work from one of the Catapult centre locations. The host Catapult, and employer, will be High Value Manufacturing Catapult which has offices based in Birmingham and London. There will be a requirement for the incumbent to travel nationally to the Catapult centre locations.

Salary: c£55k per annum

Primary Purpose: As Strategic Collaboration Manager of the Catapult Network Office, this role will support the Catapult Network Office’s mission to enhance strategic collaboration and learning across the Innovate UK Catapult Network. This role will develop a culture of strategic collaboration and innovation, ensuring that Catapults can effectively leverage each other’s strengths to facilitate greater impact in driving innovation. You will lead in building frameworks for efficient knowledge sharing and strategic alignment on impactful initiatives that provide significant value to the Innovate UK Catapult Network.

Main Responsibilities:

Strategic Collaboration

• Develop and implement strategic frameworks to create a cohesive network environment that fosters a culture of continuous learning and knowledge sharing across the Innovate UK Catapult Network.
• Provide strategic guidance and leadership in shared learning and impactful coordinated outcomes, identifying priority areas and generate a live list of opportunities for cross-Catapult collaboration and programmes.
• Develop and build mechanisms to drive and support identified opportunities.
• Keep abreast of developments that impact the innovation landscape to align cross-Catapult initiatives and programmes with national and global priorities.

Strategic cross-Catapult Coordination

• Manage the coordination and delivery of the cross-Catapult strategic collaboration groups, including secretariat support, agenda development and alignment with Innovate UK priorities.
• Develop and monitor the performance of strategic collaboration frameworks, providing regular reports that analyse the effectiveness and support the refinement of strategies for optimal impact to ensure current methods are delivering high-value cross-Catapult outcomes.
• Lead the organisation and management of an annual cross-Catapult conference on a key strategic theme, facilitating Innovate UK Catapult Network learning dissemination and collaboration opportunities.

Relationship Management

• Build and manage relationships with colleagues across the Innovate UK Catapult Network – including the Catapults, Innovate UK, Innovate UK Business Connect and Innovate UK Business Growth – to identify collaboration opportunities and support alignment of priorities.
• Lead the inquiry management for the Catapult Network Office by managing information requests directed to Catapults between the Catapult Network Office and Innovate UK in a structured manner to ensure the process is efficient and effective.

Information and Knowledge Management

• Support the Catapult Network Office in building and maintaining a central information and knowledge repository, including case studies and metrics, to support inquiry management and the development of data-driven reports.
• Working with Innovate UK’s innovation infrastructure team and the impact collaboration group to develop compelling and consistent network-level data sets and case studies.
• Work with the Communications Manager to develop content showcasing collaborative success stories from cross-Catapult collaboration groups and programmes.

Job Scope

Impact: You will lead the development of strategic collaboration, learning and innovation across the Innovate UK Catapult Network, supporting Catapults to effectively leverage each other’s strengths to facilitate greater impact on driving innovation and UK economic growth.

• Directly participate in the establishment of long-term functional or regional strategies in support of the Catapult Network long-term business strategy.
• Work with senior management team to support or implement Catapult Network business strategy.
• Performance of processes and products.
• Indirectly – has an influence on the Catapult Network functional/regional or new product strategies by providing input into the strategy where input is generally provided within the limits of the role.

Communication:  

Building effective relationships with a wide range of colleagues across the Catapult Network and Innovate UK, providing motivation to drive a collaborative culture. You will report status updates and key decisions taken across the strategic collaboration groups to key stakeholders (executive teams, CEOs and Innovate UK).

• Achievement of communication objectives which may be contentious.
• Position communicates with employees of the Catapult groups.

Innovation:

Developing continuous improvement opportunities and utilising different learning techniques and toolkits to foster knowledge sharing and relationship building across the Innovate UK Catapult Network. You will be able to collate, aggregate and disseminate qualitative data to enable cross-Catapult collaboration and initiatives for the benefit of the UK economy.

• Not responsible for developing or guiding new products, services, processes or systems.
• Responsible for considering resource implications when collaborating.
• End to end solutions are considered fully and completely.

Knowledge: See Person Specification for information re: skills and experience.

This role does not have direct reports however the ability to influence without direct line management “control” is essential given the reach required.

This role will have a national focus and knowledge of regional variance is necessary.

Total points: 270

Position Class: 50

Person Specification:

Report to: Director of Catapult Network

Direct Reports: n/a

Location: This role is home based with the option to work from one of the Catapult centre locations. The host Catapult, and employer, will be High Value Manufacturing Catapult which has offices based in Birmingham and London. There will be a requirement for the incumbent to travel nationally to the Catapult centre locations.

Salary: c£55k per annum

Primary Purpose: To work with all nine Catapults to promote the collective impact they are making on people’s lives and the UK economy.  To develop and implement a wide-reaching marketing and communications strategy that promotes the Network’s collective positioning in order to amplify the understanding and recognition of Catapults, as well as extend their collective influence as key delivery partners in the innovation landscape, both nationally and internationally.

Main Responsibilities:

Strategic Collaboration & Campaign Management

• Collaborate with Catapults and Innovate UK to develop and implement marketing and communications strategies that enhance awareness of the benefits of working with the Innovate UK Catapult Network and showcase collaborative success stories by amplifying cross-Catapult programmes.
• Lead the creation and delivery of targeted campaigns that highlight the Innovate UK Catapult Network’s impact, success stories and innovation-driven projects to engage the Catapult Network Office’s target audience and key stakeholder groups.
• Lead and manage the internal communications to the Catapults from the Innovate UK ecosystem (Innovate UK, Innovate UK Business Connect, Innovate UK Business Growth), developing and maintaining strong working relationships with communications and marketing teams in Innovate UK and the Catapults to keep abreast of key updates to be shared efficiently and effectively.
• Manage the coordination and chair regular Catapult Network communication and marketing meetings, ensuring alignment across all network activities.

Brand Management

• Manage the use and updating of the Innovate UK Catapult Network brand across all marketing materials, campaigns and events within Catapults and Innovate UK, ensuring it remains up to date, and it supports the wider innovation agenda, aligning closely with Government and Innovate UK’s brands.
• Keep abreast of developments that impact the innovation landscape to align messages, brand and campaigns with national and global priorities.
• Develop and manage the use of cohesive messaging to ensure consistency across the Innovate UK Catapult Network, supporting the Catapult Network Office with aligned branding and messaging for responses to requests for information and input into government, parliamentary and other consultation exercises.

External Communications

• Define, manage and oversee the production (from setup, strategy, optimisation to reporting), of social media, blogs, podcasts, videos and delivery of events.
• Preparation, drafting and copy writing of content including proof reading and editing for external publications such as case studies, digital media campaigns, thought leadership pieces, news releases, Innovate UK Catapult Network prospectus, etc. ensuring communications are aligned to the Innovate UK Catapult Network messaging.
• Develop and manage the Innovate UK Catapult Network website and online presence with suppliers and manage the relationships with the communications and marketing colleagues across the Catapults and Innovate UK to ensure this is regularly updated.
• Lead on the coordination and management process of the external email inbox for the Catapult Network Office ensuring communications are shared in a timely manner and for enquiries to be managed efficiently and effectively.

Stakeholder & Event Coordination

• Support the Catapult Network Office in the design, promotion and coordination of high-impact events, including the CEO meetings and political roundtables, ensuring participation from stakeholders across the Innovate UK and Catapult ecosystem.
• Support the stakeholder manager in external affairs and political engagement activities as required, to ensure consistency in messaging and effectiveness of communications strategies to maximise engagement of target audience.
• Support the coordination and marketing of Catapult and Innovate UK events across the Innovate UK Catapult Network ecosystem to inform and reach our internal stakeholders as well as engage the Catapult Network Office target audience across our channels.

Performance Monitoring & Reporting

• Develop and monitor the performance of campaigns, providing monthly dashboard reports on key metrics that analyse effectiveness and support the refinement of strategies for optimal impact.
• Develop proactive messaging and strategies for crisis communications to demonstrate Catapults collective impact.
• Build a network library of information including case studies and metrics to support communication activities to enable efficient and effective responses to enquiries from government and other stakeholders.