Ecosystem Innovation and Growth Specialists - Bristol, United Kingdom - Business West

Business West

Verified Company

Bristol, United Kingdom

3 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

We're Business West and we exist to create long-term prosperity for our businesses and our region. We enable companies to start, grow, innovate and export. We build professional communities. We tackle challenging business issues on behalf of organisations. We lobby, influence and deliver tangible results. We nurture a more productive and inclusive landscape. We connect people, public bodies and private companies, fostering a richer trading environment. We drive business forward.

Sustainability for us means creating an inclusive environment where our businesses can thrive both now and in the years ahead.

In 2021, we became a Certified B Corp. In other words, we meet exacting standards of verified social and environmental performance, balancing profit and purpose.

It makes us uniquely placed to advise the businesses of the future, as well as lending credibility to our message that business can be a force for good.

We are currently looking for two Ecosystem Innovation and Growth Specialists to join our Innovation Team who deliver the Innovate UK EDGE contract for the South West of England.

We're working with our network of partners across the UK to deliver a targeted multi-year, multi-million pound project to support the nation's most innovative and high growth potential businesses.

Funded by Innovate UK, the programme will provide expert bespoke support to those key businesses whose continued success will help speed the UK's economic recovery and deliver significant future growth.

The Benefits

Salary of £40,000 to £45,410.00 per annum depending on experience
BHSF health cash plan scheme
Pension
Life cover (x4 salary)
25 days' holiday plus Bank Holidays (rising to 28 days after three years' service)
Your birthday off
Volunteer up to two days per year
Subscription to Headspace

This is a great opportunity to join a team that helps companies with ambition to grow by introducing innovation into their strategy, culture and management and helps to deliver results.

When you join us, you will discover a collaborative work environment with a great work/life balance, committed to making a positive impact on businesses across the South-West of England.

So, if you are keen to develop your skills and further your career experience, we are waiting to hear from you.

The Role

This role is an opportunity for a high calibre, experienced business professional to directly contribute to driving business innovation and growth in the UK.

The role will provide expert investment readiness support to ambitious high growth potential innovative SMEs in their local ecosystem and support them in accelerating their journey to significantly grow and scale; in particular the role will require experience and knowledge of the strategic funding and finance needs of innovative high growth potential companies in order to help them to become more investment ready, and in a position to harness their growth and scaling potential.

The role will also play an important role in driving the Innovate UK "Place" agenda acting as an interface with accelerators, launchpads, Freeports and/or other regional clusters working alongside both Innovate UK EDGE Innovation and Growth Specialists colleagues and Scale Up Directors, drawing heavily on local and national ecosystem partners.

This is the ideal role for a business advisory professional with a background of supporting SMEs and working in a regional ecosystem to advance their career whilst making a huge difference to businesses across the South West.

Joining our people-focused organisation, you will discover that we understand success comes from having the right people on board. As such, we offer superb support and everything you will need to make a success of this exciting role.

Your Role

As an Ecosystem Specialist working within the Innovate UK EDGE service, you will support some of the most ambitious, innovative SMEs in the South West, and help them to grow and scale.

You will work closely with businesses to help them fully understand the financial options appropriate to support their growth and provide advice and mentoring growth by harnessing the regional ecosystem,

in particular funding and financial institutions and regional actors.

Specifically, you will:

Provide specialist innovation and growth support and advice to SME's on a onetoone basis
Support SME clients to gain an understanding of the innovation and commercial finance ecosystem
Collaborate with the regional ecosystem to form alliances and relationships that will help innovative businesses identify commercial opportunities and sources of finance and support
Upskill clients on best practice related to finance raising

About You
To be considered as an Ecosystem Innovation and Growth Specialist, you will need proven experience of supporting and advising SMEs throughout the business lifecycle and demonstrate a good understanding of relevant funding and finance and the actors invo