Innovation Lead - Agriculture & Food

Job summary

Context:

The UK Agriculture sector is a broad and highly dispersed industry, spanning horticulture, aquaculture, livestock, food and crops. Agriculture is the bedrock of the UK’s largest manufacturing sector, food and drink, which contributes over £120 billion to the country’s economy. Collaboration and strong relationships across the breadth of the UK’s agricultural industries, research, UKRI and government are critical to driving the much-needed innovations to ensure this industry continues to thrive.

The Agri-food team is responsible for significant innovation funding that includes a substantial managed programme in partnership with DEFRA. Regardless of the funding origin, the Agrifood programmes are focused on driving economic performance and the environmental sustainability of the sector. Developing new funding programmes as well as delivering impact from our current portfolio are key outcomes.

We particularly welcome female applicants as women are under-represented within Innovate UK in this type of role.

Job Purpose:

As an Innovation Lead you will be responsible for developing and delivering a vital range of interventions to support agri-food businesses to innovate and to help grow the UK economy, response to industrial challenges and commercial opportunities

Job description

• Collaborating in the development and promotion of our strategy in Agri-Food based on a good understanding of relevant industries and technologies and wider innovation infrastructure

• Designing, developing, and delivering funding competitions and other business support interventions for the agriculture sector, working effectively with the internal and external stakeholders to achieve a successful outcome, with specific focus on the continuous delivery of the Defra Farming Innovation Programme ADOPT competition pipeline

• Maintaining technical oversight for a portfolio of projects, tracking progress to ensure desired outcomes are achieved and ensuring that project challenges and successes are understood, captured and escalated as necessary

• Supporting funded projects to maximise the impact of our investment

• Developing relationships with business and innovators to create a deep understanding of opportunities from, and barriers to innovation in the sector

• Ensuring that UK activity is set in an international context and recognises regional strengths across the UK

• Working with Innovate UK and UKRI colleagues and networks on decisions made in your specialist area, to ensure they make sense in the context of the broader organisation, strategically and operationally

• Representing Innovate UK at leading industry events, raising awareness of innovation opportunities and successes

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.

Person specification

Shortlisting criteria

(S) – Assessed at shortlisting

(I) – Assessed at interview

(S&I) – Assessed at both shortlisting and interview

Person Specification:

We are looking for someone with commercial awareness who can manage contending priorities and a sophisticated partner environment. You will be able to make sense of multiple data sources, to establish underlying patterns and articulate a clear and compelling vision of what needs to be done. A great teammate, a 'can do' attitude, willing to share knowledge and to learn from others.

Experience & Qualifications:

Essential –

• Degree level in a science engineering or technical field relevant to agriculture or equivalent experience (S)

• In depth technical and/or business knowledge of the agricultural sector, both here in the UK and internationally and up-to-date understanding of developments (S&I)

• First-hand experience of innovation and/or product development in agricultural sectors from working either in or closely with businesses (S&I)

• Breadth of knowledge of the challenges and opportunities for innovations that can positively impact agricultural production and for their widespread adoption (I)

• Excellent stakeholder management experience, including building links while working with senior-level individuals with conflicting demands and priorities (I)

• Ability to strategically assess business and innovation gaps and opportunities – both at the domestic and international level (I)

• Experience of communicating and presenting, conveying clear messages to a range of audiences (S)

• Up-to-date and broad-based knowledge of innovation in a commercial environment (S&I)

Competencies:

All team members demonstrate compatibility with and capability against our Core Competencies such as:

Thinking and Problem Solving – Stakeholder management – Communication skills – Influencing – Self-awareness/self-management – Strategic awareness – Working with others– Project management

Some of the above competencies will be assessed at interview stage, in addition to the criteria’s listed in the person specification.

Travel Requirements:

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.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,589, Innovate UK contributes £16,973 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

1st Interview incl presentation.

Interviews will either take place remotely via Teams or in person face to face.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

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)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

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Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Recruitment Team
• Email : recruitment@ukri.org

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitmement@ukri.org