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Business Leader -International

Salary: £85,000- £95,000 per annum FTE + Benefits

Status: Permanent /Full-time strongly preferable (requests for part-time/flexible working arrangements are welcome)

Context

At the Energy Systems Catapult, we work with industry, Government, academia and innovators to devise innovative solutions to some of the toughest challenges facing our energy sector. Our vision is for an affordable, secure, and clean energy system that works for people, communities, and businesses; a system that is enabled and supported by the market to deliver the innovation, products and services required to meet the UK’s economic and carbon ambitions, and position UK innovators as leaders on the world stage.    

Our mission is to drive innovation and help open new markets in the energy system at the pace and scale required to achieve the combined goals of maximising UK productivity and delivering a low carbon energy system. We pursue our mission at the Energy Systems Catapult by accelerating technology- and service-based solutions and working with Government to address the market mechanisms and business models required to enable these solutions.

We have six external-facing ‘Platforms’ through which we coordinate the business development and delivery of our client-facing projects. These Platforms are: “Homes”, “Sites”, “Place”, “Whole System and Networks”, “Innovator Support” and “International” – see https://es.catapult.org.uk/ and ‘What we do’. We work with our colleagues across the Capabilities directorate, CTO team and support functions to deliver our work and capture and share our impact.

We are currently recruiting for a new Business Leader for the International Platform. Our International activities provide significant opportunities to amplify our impact: by helping leading UK innovators to scale through export markets; by accessing global learning and best practice on decarbonisation challenges and bringing it back to the UK; and by developing innovative solutions for practitioners regardless of location.

Do you have the vision, network and skills to drive this important platform forwards and make a key difference to UK innovators and the globally important goal of Net Zero? We are looking for an exceptional Business Leader to play a key role in growing our dynamic and successful International team. You will work with the executive and extended leadership teams to set the strategy for our International Platform, win new work, lead engagement with clients and deliver ground-breaking projects.

This Platform aligns most strongly to our first BHAG: “UK Companies supported by ESC are global leaders in energy innovation”. We do this by supporting innovators, SMEs and businesses to develop, test and commercialise new products, services and business models as appropriate; and for the International Platform, support them to understand and access relevant export markets.

As ESC embarks on the next 5-year cycle for the International Platform, we have revisited our strategy to ensure it is in-line with our core mission of helping UK SMEs commercialise and scale, whilst diversifying funding beyond UK public.

Specific accountabilities and responsibilities for the International Business Leader:

• Be consistently UK SME-led and principally focus on opportunities that offer either a direct way for UK SMEs to scale or enable routes to markets to open.
• Consider and pursue opportunities for international learning, to inform our thought leadership, priorities/focus and future asset development. This includes potential collaboration in global collaborations where beneficial (e.g., Mission Innovation, ISGAN)
• Focus majority of efforts on a smaller number (3-4) of target countries with strong potential for UK innovation aligned with ESC BHAGs, and which we can easily access through partnerships, and who are easy and relevant to do business with (e.g., via strong connections or with similar markets, policy and regulatory environments). We are also aiming to increase our understanding of countries UK SMEs want to target.
• Create and maintain strong relationships with relevant UK government officials, both domestically and overseas, to ensure ESC is regarded as a key and expert delivery partner for programmes.
• Continue to provide support for SMEs accessing international opportunities, primarily externally funded and ideally with external partners.
• Develop strong relationships with and work closely with other ESC Platforms and business units to understand which Catapult assets are suitable for international applications; to develop strategic services for target customers; and to ensure insights are captured from our international activity.
• Increase our focus on targeting ‘non-UK’ funding (e.g., private sector) aligned to our revenue diversification goals, whilst continuing to win UK-funded overseas programmes aligned to the principles above.

The accountabilities below would sit with you as the Platform Business leader, although delivery of parts is expected to be driven through your teams and wider ESC colleagues as appropriate.

1. Platform Leadership – accountable for developing the following for your Platform:

• Vision and goals – defining 3–5-year objectives and outcomes for Innovator Support activities at ESC.
• Market propositions – developing compelling propositions for our Innovator Support, articulating our unique differentiation from other Incubator/Accelerator providers.
• Business Development – proposals (either tendered or consultative), driving high standards of bid quality and innovative propositions.
• Commercial pricing and cost recovery – ensuring all proposals are developed and costed appropriately based on the opportunity.
• Partnerships and Networks – identifying strategic and delivery partnerships relevant to the Platform/ESC

2. Direct and Matrix Team Leadership and Management

3. Capturing and Reporting Impact through case studies and KPIs.

4. Marketing and Communications across all Internal and External websites and channels

5. Business Planning and Implementation, Outputs and Outcomes - defining annual revenue targets, cost budgets, resource requirements and associated asset & product development, and thought leadership related activities required to support delivery of your Platform vision.

6. Managing projects and delivering work to clients

What credentials are we ideally looking for?

Qualifications and experience sought:

• First and foremost, we are looking for a dynamic, energised business leader who is passionate about making a difference and empowering and enabling direct and wider team members to be part of that change.
• Experience and proven track record of working Internationally – whether through research, consultancy or Government-funded programmes/organisations
• Established relevant client and partner networks.
• Extensive consultancy experience with both public and private sector clients.
• Proven track record in identifying, securing and delivering new opportunities, from lead generation and proposal preparation through to project delivery.
• Strong technical, commercial and project delivery background.
• Ability to identify and provide strategic direction in key new growth areas.
• Track record as a highly effective communicator, able to write well, present and facilitate workshops effectively and deliver high quality outputs.
• Educated to degree level or equivalent.

We look for everyone at the Energy Systems Catapult to:

• Have the drive and mindset to always learn, facilitating us to move from ‘good to great’.
• Have strong presentation and communication skills.
• Have the ability to conceptualise new ideas, think differently and encourage a creative culture.
• Have the ability to excel in a rapidly growing, fast-paced organisational environment.
• Have an appetite to take ownership of work and manage this effectively and efficiently.
• Be persuasive and approachable, able to successfully manage relations with clients, colleagues and other stakeholders.
• Be open to change and adapt well to setbacks or pressurised situations.
• Be enquiring, with desire to challenge the status quo.
• Be supportive, positive and constructive.

Next Step

Energy System Catapult’s team is three hundred strong and is diverse, friendly and super passionate about making a real impact, we also recognise how important a positive work/life balance is for our employees. 

So, if you would like to make a real difference, love a challenge, excited by the opportunity to do worthwhile work … we look forward to your application.

Please note , for those applicants shortlisted, initial interviews will take place on Tuesday 8^th April 2025 and Wednesday 9^th April 2025

Second interviews with the EXEC will take place on Tuesday 22^nd  and Wednesday 23^rd April 2025

Would you like to Apply?

The closing date for applications is Friday 28th March 2025 

Please note that at this time we are unable to provide UK visa sponsorship.

We welcome applications from all, including those who may be returning to work, those wishing to work flexibly for any reason, and those who may need additional support.

Energy Systems Catapult undertakes innovative and exciting work that will help shape the future of energy, with this in mind we encourage candidates to submit their applications as early as possible, as we do reserve the right to remove this advert or close it to further applications at any point during the recruitment process.

(Strictly No Agencies).

"We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of race, sex, disability, religion and belief, sexual orientation, or status regarding gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity."

Privacy Statement

Purpose of the Privacy Statement

The purpose of this Privacy Statement is to make you aware of how and why your personal data will be used during any recruitment process and how long it will usually be retained for.  This statement provides you with certain information that must be provided under the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (GDPR).

In the recruitment process we, Energy Systems Catapult Limited, are a “Data Controller”. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal data about you.

The Energy Systems Catapult Limited is located at Cannon House 7th Floor, 18 Priory Queensway, Birmingham, West Midlands, England, B4 6BS and can be contacted by email at: dataprotectionoffice@es.catapult.org.uk. 

Data Protection Principles

We will comply with data protection law and principles, which means that your data will be:

Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way;
Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes;
Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes;
Accurate and kept up to date;
Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about;
Kept securely. 

The Kind of Personal Data we hold about you

In connection with your application for work with us, we will collect, store and use the following categories of personal information about you:

The information you have provided in our application form;
The information you have provided to us in your curriculum vitae and covering letter;
Any information you provide to us during an interview;
Any other information provided by you as part of the recruitment process. 
We may ask you for information to allow us to monitor our equal opportunities and diversity performance in recruitment. Also, if you inform us that you have a disability we will keep this information on record to allow us to make reasonable adjustments as needed. 

How we will use your Personal Data

We will use the personal data we collect about you to:

Assess your skills, qualifications and suitability for the role;
Carry out background and reference checks, where applicable;
Communicate with you about the recruitment process;
Keep records relating to our hiring processes;
Manage recruitment related activities, which includes setting up and conducting interviews and tests for applicants, evaluating and assessing the results thereto, and as is otherwise needed in the recruitment and hiring processes;
Comply with legal or regulatory requirements.
We will also use information about any disability you may have to consider whether we need to provide appropriate adjustments during the recruitment process.

Such processing is lawful as it is necessary for our legitimate purpose in seeking to attract, evaluate, and select applicants for employment. 

Data Sharing: Greenhouse Software Inc

Your personal data will be shared with Greenhouse Software, Inc., a cloud services provider located in the United States of America and engaged by us to help manage our recruitment and hiring process. Accordingly, if you are located outside of the United States, your personal data will be transferred to the United States once you submit it through this site. This transfer will be subject to appropriate additional safeguards under the Privacy Shield so as to comply with EU law. 

Data Retention

We will retain your personal data for a period of 12 months after we have communicated to you our decision about whether to appoint you to the role. We retain your personal data for that period so that we can show, in the event of a legal claim, that we have not discriminated against candidates on prohibited grounds and that we have conducted the recruitment exercise in a fair and transparent way. After this period, we will securely destroy your personal data in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. 

Your Rights in Connection with Personal Data

Under the GDPR you have the right to request access to your personal data, to request that your personal data be rectified or erased, and to request that processing of your personal data be restricted or transferred.

When you apply for this role, and tick the confirmation box below, you have provided consent for us to process your personal data for the purpose of the recruitment exercise. You have the right to withdraw your consent for processing for that purpose at any time. Withdrawal of consent to process your data may mean that we cannot continue with your application to us.

If you wish to exercise the rights granted to you under GDPR please contact: dataprotectionoffice@es.catapult.org.uk.