Incubation Services Manager

The purpose of this role is to manage the delivery of world-class startup incubation support services to student, academic, and selected external startups across Imperial’s rich entrepreneurial eco-system

The over-arching mission of Incubation Services is to provide support to Imperial founders in building and growing their businesses, through access to expertise, networks, talent, specialist training and advice.

These three audiences have differing needs and stages of engagement which you will support: from managing Imperial’s contribution to the GreenTech Legal Collaborative (providing over £1m pro bono legal support per year to startups and spinouts) to a range of operating tools for founders,  to developing new support services and networks for later stage startups, whilst collaborating closely with the Incubation Services Manager (Technology) who leads our flagship coaching and mentoring services, the Imperial Venture Mentoring Service (IVMS) and Experts-in-Residence (XiR). This role will be responsible for levelling-up Imperial’s existing support services and creating a customer service-driven culture that places Imperial incubation startup success at the heart of everything we do.

 You will be a member of the Incubation Services Team, in the Imperial Enterprise Lab , which has a remit across the College to provide services for staff, students, alumni and companies based in Imperial’s White City Incubator.

Since 2013, Imperial student startups have raised over £500m in grant and venture capital, and now provide employment for over 5,000 FTE. With over 340 incorporated ventures (and more not yet at incorporation stage) there isn’t space to list all of the impactful startups we have helped build, but you can read some success stories here .

Since 2019, over 40 IP staff spinout companies have been created, each one based on distinctive technology. They have raised over £80m and provide employment for over 500 FTE.

• Lead the management and development of the Green Tech Legal Collaborative


• Lead the management and development of the Innovation Coaching service that was piloted in 2022-23


• Lead on the development of critical operating tools including our Peer Recommended Supplier List, Resources webpages and Company Milestones Checklist

• Build close working relationships with the Faculty of Natural Sciences (FoNS) and Faculty of Medicine (FoM) IPC teams, attending monthly meetings to ensure the commercialisation needs of IPC and senior academics are built-in to the development of any new Incubation support services.


• Working closely with the Startups and Investments team, support the development of improved funding support services and opportunities for later stage Imperial incubation startups including investment showcases.


• Line manage the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Manager (Health Technologies Capability Connector HTCC) and work with the Partnership Manager (HTCC) and Head of Incubation Services to meet the objectives of the HTTC.

Education

• A undergraduate level degree
• Evidence of appropriate continuous professional development

Experience and Knowledge

• Experience in line management, with the ability to lead, influence, motivate, and manage conflict.
• Experience of working in the area of innovation, entrepreneurship and business support at a level suitable to facilitate credibility and positive relations with staff, startups and external partners
• Project management experience at a level conducive to delivering a high-quality professional development programme in a world-class institutional setting

Skills & Abilities

• Strong relationship building skills especially at senior levels

• Excellent organisational coordination and facilitation skills with ability to prioritise, multi-task and manage time effectively to meet tight deadlines with a strong, independently driven delivery focus

• Proactive and able to work with little supervision while keeping senior stakeholders informed on progress (as appropriate)

Important note

Diverse teams really are the best teams. We know that candidates (especially women, research tells us) may be put off applying for a job unless they can tick every box. So if you are excited about working with us and think you can do much of what we are looking for but aren’t sure if you are 100% there yet… why not give it a whirl?

Please do make the most of the opportunity to provide a supporting statement to demonstrate how your experience and aspirations make you a strong candidate for the role.

Salary: £53,927 - £64,935

Contract Type: Permanent

 Interviews are scheduled for 18 & 19 March 2024

Terms & conditions

We strongly believe in continuous professional development, and (travel permitting) there will be the opportunity to attend conferences and take part in external courses.

 Candidates need to complete an online application.

 You will need to have a DBS check as part of this role.

Should you require any further details on the role please contact: Victoria Nicholl – [email protected]

 We are committed to equality of opportunity, to eliminating discrimination and to creating an inclusive working environment for all. We therefore encourage candidates to apply irrespective of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, gender identity, sex, or sexual orientation. We are an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Disability Confident Leader and a Stonewall Diversity Champion.