Business & Impact Manager

Salary: £34,866 - £36,924  per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 10 December 2024

The Role

Addressing real industry challenges with tailored cutting edge Edge AI solutions, this is not just a concept, but the vision behind the collaborative strategic initiative that is the National Edge AI Hub.

Your role as Business and Impact Manager will lead on fostering and maintaining long term industry and sector relationships. You will both manage and expand the portfolio of strategic commercial contacts and service as their primary liaison in order to execute partnership initiatives.

To be successful in this role you should have demonstrable experience of stakeholder management and excellent networking skills within technology sector. You should be resilient with commercial aptitude for success with outstanding interpersonal skills and influencing qualities..  You will need to present with passion the clear vision the drive behind the Hub and take a key role interfacing both internally and externally in order to support the initiatives of the project. You should be confident in delivering to timescales, working within set objectives while managing work load ensuring pace with an outcome focused approach. This collaborative project aims to support a robust and interconnected AI vision linking researchers, innovators and practioners. This is both an exciting and career developing opportunity, that requires an enthusiastic approach to enhancing your own development with opportunity to undertake training, along with learning new skills.

A degree of flexibility and the ability to travel for the role, both nationally and internationally (including some evening, weekend, and multiple day trips) will be essential. This will be balanced through the University’s flexible working arrangements and practices.

If you think this might be a good fit for you, we’d love to hear from you!

For an informal chat about the role, please get in touch with Karen Allenby, Head of Partnerships (karen.allenby@newcastle.ac.uk) and Savvas Papagiannidis, Research Impact Director for the National Edge AI Hub (savvas.papagiannidis@newcastle.ac.uk)

 This is a fixed term position for 12 months, expected start date Jan/Feb 2025, with online interviews sheduled for 9th January 2025.

To apply please upload your CV and cover letter. Your cover letter should be a supporting statement outlining how you meet the essential criteria for the role, please evidence examples.

Key Accountabilities

• Support the Hub Director, Hub Manager and Research Impact Director in achieving the Hub’s vision.
• Manage and deliver the Hub’s Edge AI solutions portfolio: Work closely with partners to understand their needs and objectives, aligning them with the Hub’s capabilities and research outcomes. Support stakeholders to define and deliver a diverse set of problems and solutions to address industry needs
• Partner Engagement: Identify, develop, and maintain long-term relationships with new and existing industry partners and sector specialists. Serve as the main point of contact for all commercial partners
• Relationship Management: Manage a portfolio of industry contacts, ensuring regular communication and the nurturing of relationships to support long-term collaboration
• Collaboration Facilitation: Facilitate collaboration across academic and industry partners to enhance our impact in the field of Edge Computing, Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity
• Project Support and Coordination: Assist partners in the deployment of research outcomes and, with the Hub Manager, ensure Hub projects are delivered effectively and meet partners’ expectations, identifying and escalating issues as they arise
• Commercial Strategy Development: Contribute to the development of strategic plans for partner engagement, focusing on maximising the impact and relevance of the Hub’s research activities
• Reporting and Communication: Provide regular updates to the Hub Manager and other stakeholders about partnership activities, progress, and outcomes. Prepare detailed reports on the status of partner engagement and project deployment
• Event Management and Representation: Organise events and meetings between the Hub and its partners to foster stronger relationships in conjunction with the Hub Manager and the Research Impact Director. Represent the Hub at industry events, conferences, and meetings to enhance visibility and promote its research capabilities
• Interface internally: Work with internal teams and services across the University to maximise utilisation and impact of relevant in-house expertise from, for example, Marketing & Communications, Legal, Research, Commercial services
• Any other duties commensurate with the role and grade as required to achieve the Hub’s vision

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience 

Essential

• Proven experience of managing and delivering services in the technology sector 
• Strong networking and stakeholder management skills, with a track record of building and maintaining long-term partnerships
• Experience of managing complex business objectives to successful completion, including ability to work independently, navigating complex organisational structures
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills capable of influencing and working effectively with academia, industry, and government entities
• Strong leadership skills with a track record of problem-solving and decision-making
• Robust organisational skills and the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously
• Proficient in business management and CRM tools
• Copywriting for B2B marketing purposes and proficient basic web editing

Desirable

• Knowledge of Artificial Intelligence, Edge Computing, and Cyber Security
• Understanding of the research and development process in an academic or technology-focused environment
• Knowledge of trusted research and IP governance frameworAttributes and Behaviour

Thinking Strategically

• Demonstrate strategic thinking with the ability to anticipate future industry needs, trends, and opportunities
• Excellent analytical skills, understands and makes sense of complex or conflicting data and different perspectives of stakeholders 

 
Communicating 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in academic and business contexts with the ability to communicate effectively at all levels and produce and present information effectively, in a concise and clear manner.
• Attention to detail

Team Working

• Building and maintaining a strong network of colleagues and contacts to achieve delivery of objectives 
• Willing to help others and share workloads, working collaborately with others and flexibly when required

Planning and organising 

• Effective at planning and organising a heavy and complex workload, often to tight deadlines
• Able to set own priorities, in conjunction with team and project objectives, knowing when to seek wider input

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to degree level (Business, Management, or a related field), or equivalent training and extensive experience at a level commensurate with the role

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 27774

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