STEM Innovation Hub Manager

College of Science and Engineering

You will work to provide exceptional leadership with the core purpose of the role to help identify and connect participants and key stakeholders involved in the scale-up of sustainable start-ups. 

Job details

Responsible to

Project Lead

Location

Markeaton Street, Derby Campus

Closing date

Wednesday 26 March 2025

Salary

£50,000 to £55,000 per annum

Job grade

Leadership – E

Reference

0047-25

Contract type

Fixed term contract until 31/03/2028

Post type

Full-time

Adaptive working type

Hybrid
This role will be based on site, primarily in the named location with the opportunity to work remotely available in line with our Adaptive Working Framework.

We have one simple promise – to make a positive impact. Through our ground-breaking research, teaching excellence and commitment to sustainable living, we are changing lives for the better.

The University of Derby is a modern university with a modern outlook. Everything we do is driven by delivering excellence and opportunities for our students, our staff and our region.

We have some of the best university facilities in the UK and achieve outstanding results for our teaching and research and have been awarded Gold in the prestigious Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 – making it one of the top universities in the country recognised for its outstanding student experience and student outcomes.

Financially strong and seriously ambitious we offer our employees an inclusive culture that centres itself around staff wellbeing, where you can be confident you will receive all the help and encouragement you need to build a rewarding career with lots of opportunities to enhance your skills.

Our College of Science and Engineering is made up of the School of Science, School of Computing, School of Sport and Exercise Science, and School of Engineering. We are the University’s STEM College, in a city with a strong STEM heritage that hosts some of the world's leading STEM companies, and in a region with STEM at the centre of its economic growth plan.

This role is employed by the University of Derby but operates in partnership with the multi-regional and cross-institutional Climate Scaling Collaborative (CSC). It is supported by a £5m Research England funded initiative involving five universities led by Imperial College London, that aims to transform innovative UK-based climate start-ups into world-leading scale-ups.

As STEM Innovation Hub Manager, you will work to provide exceptional leadership with the core purpose of the role to help identify and connect participants and key stakeholders involved in the scale-up of sustainable start-ups. You will identify and enable access to the key aspects of support structure (e.g. investment or funding sources, regulatory, testing, certification and accreditation support, technical advice and expertise from facilities across the UK Climate Scaling Collaborative network), using your initiative and networking skills to support businesses in meeting scale-up challenges and removing barriers for innovation.

You will foster collaboration and engagement across the UK-wide partnership between Imperial College London and the Universities of Cranfield, Derby, Exeter, Leeds and Nottingham, supporting the start-ups by sourcing advice and access to the facilities across partnership knowledge-base support ecosystem. This would involve initial diagnostics, identifying barriers and setting up support plans and the support structure processes that address start-ups ambitions and capabilities. You will standardise this process and provide tailored support plans for each business to achieve following:

  • Advising in terms of progressing innovations through complexities of technological, regulatory, testing and certification frameworks in order to scale up their businesses;
  • De-risking of investments – support with the investment, grants and loan applications.   

With responsibility for meeting a set of KPIs linked to accelerator activities (predominantly climate innovation related), you will thus undertake a wide range of activities from working with regional UK innovators to managing a portfolio of individual projects and delivering on reporting requirements.

You will be educated to degree level in a subject related to the post role, or have equivalent experience, and have demonstrable involvement with support for technical innovation and scale up, as well as proven ability in successful project management and in effective communication with diverse teams.

You will be personable and have the ability to communicate effectively with a range of different people. You should be committed to equality and diversity and providing a first class customer service to customers. You will have the ability to build positive relationships and quickly gain the trust and confidence of key stakeholders across the project.

You will be self-motivated with the confidence to work independently and willingness to take on new responsibilities. You will have the ability to build relationships and gain the confidence, respect and co-operation of senior figures both within the organisation and externally.

You will have an understanding of the challenges faced by deep tech innovators as they scale, ideally within the sectors of climate and sustainability, and have experience in business development, partnerships, consulting, or similar client-facing activities with a proven ability to work effectively with diverse stakeholders, from founders to investors to build trust and secure engagement.

You will have a strong, independently driven delivery focus, with the ability to manage multiple programme initiatives to completion through well-developed organisation, coordination and facilitation skills.

Due to the nature of this role, there will be the need to travel and work between University and external sites in a cost effective and timely manner, therefore a full UK Driving Licence is required.

  1. Mapping organisations and investors who have the potential to support the scaling up of cleantech companies e.g. companies who can be clients, manufacturers, supply chain partners etc.
  2. Develop relationships with these stakeholders to garner and encourage their interest.
  3. Assessing the ways in which those entities are most likely to engage with the consortium and the startups on the programme and beyond.
  4. Map regional specialities, with a specific focus on the university as anchor institution, source or research and talent etc.
  5. Champion opportunities related to the climate scale up collaborative with those stakeholders.
  6. Work with stakeholders to develop a longer-term vision for a regional climate scale up support hub, identifying steps to strengthen the approach.
  7. Deliver regional events to stimulate the ecosystem.
  8. Work with the wider climate scaling collaborative and other regional hub development managers to create an effective network, and mechanisms to enable the movement of scale ups and related opportunities across parts of the UK.
  9. Work closely with the Fundraising Manager and development colleagues in their institutions to explore the potential paths to sustainability.
  10. Co-develop tools with the ecosystem and other project team members to empower the network and drive successful outcomes.
  11. Establish a network of experts and facilities.
  12. Participant recruitment, requirement definition and diagnostics.
  13. Scale-up process and financial management.
  14. Navigating Climate Policy and Regulation.
  15. Engagement with key stakeholders.
  16. Committee and meeting representation.

Essential Criteria

Qualifications

  • Degree in a subject related to the role or equivalent qualification and/or relevant experience

Experience

  • Demonstrable experience in successfully supporting technical innovation from initial seed funding to a scale up stage, as well as proven ability in successful project management and in effective communication with diverse teams
  • Experience of developing new business opportunities through enterprise and commercial networks
  • Experience in business development, partnerships, consulting, or similar client-facing activities
  • Experience in building sustainable relationships with external groups, clients and companies and the ability to up-sell opportunities
  • Experience of managing projects of similar nature and complexity at the same time
  • Experience of liaising with internal and external stakeholders in respect of project resources and delivery
  • Experience of managing project budgets
  • Experience of robust change control processes
  • Experience of tracking projects through plans to suit the audience and need
  • Experience of working with and maintaining robust, evolving, and supportive project organisations

Skills, knowledge & abilities

  • Understanding of investment and funding sources relevant to this type of project
  • Knowledge of the regulatory, certification and accreditation landscape relating to climate scaling
  • Strong negotiating skills and the ability to forge new business contacts
  • Ability to build positive relationships and quickly gain the trust and confidence of key stakeholders across the business and project
  • Excellent communication skills, written and verbal, with the ability to communicate effectively with a range of people
  • Excellent proposal writing and presentation skills
  • High level interpersonal, influencing and networking skills
  • Good working knowledge and understanding of project management tools
  • Excellent IT skills, in MS Office productivity tools, including use of Microsoft SharePoint and Teams as a repository for project documentation and delivering meetings/workshops
  • Diligent, accurate, and committed to delivering high quality outputs
  • Excellent organisational, time and management skills, with the ability to co-ordinate and manage multiple tasks, whilst also having the flexibility to respond effectively to changing demands and priorities
  • Ability to take a proactive approach to work displaying tenacity and curiosity
  • Strong, results-focused, with the ability to engage, enthuse and inspire team members
  • Excellent and proven customer liaison and service skills, providing a first-class customer service to customers
  • Committed to equality and diversity

Business requirements

  • Some requirements to work occasionally outside of normal office hours
  • Willingness and flexibility to travel and work between University and external sites in a cost effective and timely manner
  • Full UK Driving Licence
  • Generous annual leave entitlement of 42 days inclusive of bank holidays and concessionary days (pro rata)
  • Local Government Pension Scheme
  • Suite of holistic wellbeing benefits and support including family-friendly policies, generous sick pay provision and comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
  • Access to a variety of staff discounts at high street retailers
  • Discounted onsite gym
  • Discounted access to Devonshire Spa
  • Access to employer-funded Private Health Insurance
  • Holiday purchase
  • Cycle to Work scheme
  • A flexible working environment
  • A commitment to personal and professional development

Find out more about rewards and benefitsFind out more about rewards and benefits

For further information and informal enquiries regarding the role, please contact Dr Boris Ceranic, Project Lead via b.ceranic@derby.ac.uk

For enquiries regarding your application and for sponsorship eligibility, please contact the recruitment team via recruitment@derby.ac.uk.

Visa Sponsorship Eligibility

This role is eligible for sponsorship by the University, however, your individual circumstances must meet the criteria set out by UKVI; this includes meeting the English Language requirement and earning a salary that meets the highest of either the going rate for the SOC code or the minimum salary threshold for the Skilled Worker route (£38,700 per annum).

If the role is eligible, but the offered salary is less that the going rate for the role, you may still be able to apply for a Skilled Worker visa if:

  • Your job is on the Immigration Salary List

  • You’re under 26, studying or a recent graduate, or in professional training

  • You have a PhD level qualification that’s relevant to your job

  • The role you are applying for is a postdoctoral position

Please note that the University cannot confirm your eligibility for sponsorship until an offer is made and your individual circumstances have been considered.

For more information, visit Applying from Overseas.

 

Equity, diversity and inclusion

The University of Derby is committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion, regardless of age, disability, trans status, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief (or none), sex and sexual orientation.

We are Disability Confident Employers, demonstrating our commitment to disability inclusion, and invite applicants to highlight adjustments they may require to ensure equitable participation in our recruitment processes.

Further, we are committed to ensuring an environment which is trans and non-binary-inclusive for all our staff, students, partners, and visitors, and continuously review our policies, guidance and training.

When applying to join the University, you can choose your preferred title, including the gender-neutral title 'Mx'. We also ask our candidates if they would like to share their preferred pronouns. This is voluntary but demonstrates our commitment to inclusivity for trans and non-binary candidates. Once employed, you can add pronouns and preferred names onto our system.

The University of Derby undertakes anonymised shortlisting during the staff recruitment process. This means that, when shortlisting, panel members will not be able to see an applicant’s name and will see an applicant number instead. This demonstrates the practical steps we are taking to remove barriers to recruitment by minimising the possible impact of our unconscious bias.

However you identify, we actively celebrate the knowledge, experience and talents each person brings. Our students come from a wide range of backgrounds; therefore we are particularly interested to hear from applicants who will help our leaders and teams be more reflective of our student population.

For more information on equity, diversity and inclusion at the University of Derby, please visit our website.

 

A university that celebrates you

Environmental Sustainability

At the University of Derby, we are passionate about embedding sustainability into everything that we do. We aim to bring environmental sustainability into all aspects of the University, including teaching, research and operational activities. In line with the University's strategic framework, we expect all our staff to embed sustainability into their working practices and support the University's objective to reach net zero carbon by 2040.

 

Environment and sustainability

Seize the opportunity to shape the future, apply now.

How to apply

You can apply by submitting an online application. Once you have signed in or registered with us you will be able to begin your application. If you are creating an account for the first time, please ensure you provide an email address that you access regularly as this will be our main means of contacting you regarding your application.

The University reserves the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

If you require any assistance, including the provision of any documentation in an alternative format, please contact the Recruitment team at recruitment@derby.ac.uk.

Please note all applications must be submitted online by Midnight GMT on the closing date of the vacancy.

Further details

Download STEM Innovation Hub Manager job descriptionDownload STEM Innovation Hub Manager job description

The University of Derby is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all our staff, students and children. At the University of Derby, safeguarding is everybody's concern.

Please find our Safeguarding pages including our Safeguarding Policy.