Head of Innovation - OFGEM SIF Programme

Innovate UK recognises the importance of work-life balance, and we will be happy to discuss any requests for flexible working arrangements.

Job Purpose:

This is an exciting opportunity to ensure that SIF funding has maximum impact for consumers, net zero delivery, and the sector. The post will lead a team focused on identifying innovation gaps and setting strategy for funding priorities on an annual basis, governing a multi-£100M portfolio of innovation projects to deliver effectively, and developing new ways to extract valuable learning and insights from across the funded portfolio.

Furthermore, the post will be responsible for working with other SIF teams to scope and deliver strategic activities which will promote successful project delivery, and post-innovation project implementation, commercialization, impact and scale-up., Field-based: There will a requirement to travel, mostly national, and there is some flexibility in this. Innovate UK staff make extensive use of telepresence tools for meetings to minimise unnecessary travel. You may need to work in the London or Swindon offices occasionally, and are likely to have four to six nights away from home per month on average to attend conferences, events and work with internal and external teams.

Essential:

Degree level in relevant science, engineering, STEM management or related discipline (or equivalent experience)

Desirable:

Postgraduate and/or professional qualifications in management or relevant technology area an advantage

Experience:

Essential:

Excellent people management with demonstrable experience of line managing sizeable, multi-disciplinary teams within a technical, policy, and energy context.
Deep technical experience of energy markets, energy network price controls, and OFGEM's regulatory framework.
A thorough understanding of the energy system innovation funding landscape combined with hands on experience of developing and running energy system innovation competitions
A proven track record of developing and delivering large scale collaborative programmes.
Structured Project and/or Programme management experience, within a governance and reporting framework

Desirable:

Delivery of technical economic evaluation frameworks and understanding of market forecast techniques and/or future system modeling approaches
Demonstrated experience of successful working and consensus building with diverse and multiple stakeholders, in a complex environment where stakeholders have varied priorities
Leadership of initiatives which apply a "client-focused" approach, where customer needs are understood and delivered upon to a high standard
Experience of acting in a leadership capacity within a business, regulator, or government setting.
Working in an agile delivery environment, including effective use of lean delivery techniques and agile delivery tools

Skills:

Leadership and influencing skills, developing, motivating and leading teams to achieve their full potential, recognising the changing needs of the business, including managing people in remote locations.
Proven capability to use your knowledge and experience as a thought-leader.
Ability to think, act, and execute strategically.
Influencing, negotiation and relationship-building skills, including with senior stakeholders.
Compelling written and verbal communication skills and an engaging manner.
Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to personally manage difficult and challenging stakeholder relationships.
Ability to concurrently manage a wide range of workstream activities effectively, with excellent line management of a large team.
The ability to be able to effectively review, scrutinise, and contribute to technical economic evaluations and system modelling activities.
Good IT competency across the Microsoft Office suite, including reasonable literacy in Excel based models.