Head of Innovation - OFGEM SIF Programme Vacancy for Head of Innovation – Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund Programme

The Head of Innovation will be a member of the senior leadership team of the SIF, supporting the Programme Director, working in an agile and collaborative way across Innovate UK, OFGEM, energy network organisations, innovative businesses, government and other key stakeholders required to deliver a successful programme.
This is a leadership role, working with senior technical and policy directors within Ofgem and energy networks to drive strategic change and scale the infrastructure required for net zero for 2050.
The role holder will operate within the Innovate UK Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund Team which is part of the Net Zero domain.
Innovation is a core pillar of the Price Control governing how GB energy networks deliver services for the consumer and transition to a decarbonised energy system. Delivery of the SIF is a key enabler of this innovation, and the role of Head of Innovation plays a critical function in maximising the impact for people, business and planet.
The role holder is responsible for managing a team of around 7 with energy systems expertise, overseeing a portfolio of dozens of nationally significant demonstrator projects, and working with adjacent teams to coordinate the extraction and dissemination learning to influence key decision makers and the future direction of the energy sector.
We particularly welcome female applicants as women are under-represented within Innovate UK in this type of role.
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.
Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:
+ Directly line managing a team of around 7 people with expertise in energy innovation, the GB regulated energy networks, and the energy sector policy landscape.
+ Effectively overseeing a substantial portfolio of energy innovation projects, including leading the assessment and decision-making activities on continued funding of those projects.
+ Working with the Head of Delivery to ensure all funding is managed and delivered to the highest quality standards and teams work collaboratively to achieve this.
+ Building and managing strong relationships with senior stakeholders in energy networks, small and large businesses, government, and academia. With the ability to invite, manage and negotiate challenge from those stakeholders.
+ Working with the Head of Insights and Impacts to continually set up and deliver operational processes that enable the extraction and dissemination of key learnings and findings.
+ Working with the Head of Delivery and Head of Insights and Impacts to build processes and tools which allow efficient delivery of data through programme operations, which can be used to generate strategic insights.
+ Working with the Strategic Innovation Fund Programme Director and other organisational leadership to structure future strategy informed by data and sectoral engagement.
+ Proactively engage and collaborate with key stakeholders to communicate and leverage SIF's findings, to guide and evolve the network innovation ecosystem, expediting the progression towards Net Zero.
+ Development of functions and processes for better management, analysis, and use of evaluation and benefits data both internally and externally.
+ Using your experience and depth of energy systems knowledge to support review and input to Ofgem on the structure and definition of future energy network price control mechanisms.
+ As part of the programme senior leadership team, representing Ofgem SIF programme in key public forums, providing expert representation in key government forums, and communicating effectively in conferences and events.
+ Working with the Commercial team to better leverage finance to support SIF project delivery and scale up.
+ Developing and delivering activities to achieve better funding alignment with public funders of innovation to simplify the funding landscape for innovators and increase strategic impact of the fund.
+ Shaping activities to support business as usual rollout and scale up of SIF innovations
+ Use knowledge developed through SIF projects to influence and inform key sectoral initiatives including Clean Power 2030, Mission Control, future government Spending Review proposals, and the developing functions of the newly established National Energy System Operator.
+ Structuring strategic communication of programme and project insights to maximise influence and raise the profile of innovations.
+ Continually developing your learning, taking international best practice for delivering and achieving impact through publicly funded innovation programmes.
This is not an exhaustive list and you might be encouraged to undertake any other duties across the wider directorate, commensurate with the Band and level of responsibility of this post, for which the post holder has the key experience and/or training., To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a comprehensive pre-employment check on successful applicants as part of the recruitment process.
The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.
UKRI supports research in areas that include animal health, agriculture and food security, and bioscience for health which includes research on animals, genetic modification and stem cell research. Whilst you may not have direct involvement in this type of research, you should consider how this aligns with your personal values or beliefs. To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a full and comprehensive pre-employment check as a crucial part of the recruitment process on all individuals that are offered a position with UKRI. This will include a security check and an extreme organisations affiliation check.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
+ UK nationals
+ nationals of the Republic of Ireland
+ nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
+ nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
+ nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
+ individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
+ Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

+ 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.

The Strategic Innovation fund (SIF) is a £450m partnership between Ofgem and Innovate UK focussed on innovation with the GB energy networks. It has a vision to deliver net zero at lowest cost to consumers and to make the UK the best place in the world to be both an energy consumer, and energy entrepreneur. Our mission is to support consumers, businesses and the planet via cost reductions, CO2 savings and new products and services.
The SIF's strategy focuses on setting strategic direction for innovation challenges, delivering world leading national scale demonstration projects, and commercializing their outcomes. This is executed through an annual cycle of setting challenges, ideation, incubation, and acceleration of strategic projects.

Alongside your salary of £60,000, Innovate UK contributes £17,382 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Employee Benefits:
We offer a benefits package crafted to provide an excellent work/life balance. This includes 30 days’ annual leave, 10.5 public and privilege days, flexible working hours, an exceptional defined benefit pension scheme, and access to a variety of support networks and discount schemes.
Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Flexible Working:
We understand the importance of work-life balance, and are happy to discuss the possibility of flexible working with applicants.