Business Innovation Manager

Bury College are now welcoming applications for a Business Innovation Manager.

The Business Innovation Manager will be the project lead for Bury College’s part of the FE Innovation Fund project and will involve taking responsibility for leading a small team to lead on the direct engagement of local businesses and delivery of relevant business innovation activities. The successful candidate will be a self-starter who can demonstrate a history of successful project delivery and building engagement between employers and education.

This is a new post to Bury College funded by the Greater Manchester FE Innovation Programme via Innovate UK. Bury College are working in collaboration with the pilot programme and other colleges within the GM region to explore how FE Colleges can support businesses to innovate by facilitating access to expertise, skills, facilities and knowledge.

This is a fixed term role until 31st March 2025 with plans to review and extend depending on the continued success of the programme.

Key duties of this role will include

• Acting as business account manager to businesses engaged with the project
• Leading on outreach and employer engagement work to develop and support awareness raising activities of the FE Innovation Fund across the local business ecosystem, including the aims and objectives of the fund (adoption and diffusion of innovations)
• Change the perception of FE within the innovation ecosystem, as sources of innovation support, including by leading on developing innovation support available to local businesses, and carrying out consultative and innovation diagnostic activities with local businesses to identify potential areas for innovation
• Spending time with those businesses who engage with the project to lead them on their innovation journey (relationship / trust building / collaborative activities / knowledge transfer / training and support)
• Lead on provision of ongoing professional support and signposting/referrals as necessary
• Contribute to project-related monitoring, evaluation, impact and evidence gathering requirements
• Contribute towards the establishment of a Greater Manchester FE ‘Business Innovation Advisor’ Network to enable peer learning and support as this area grows for FE
• Carry out other duties from time to time within the general scope of the post as required by line manager

About Us

Bury College is a Further Education College offering a wide range of courses to over 5,000 full time students and over 5,650 part time students each year.

Dedicated to providing the communities we serve with a broad choice of learning options, Bury College offers a range of A Level courses, vocational programmes, and apprenticeships. In addition to this, we have higher level courses available at Bury College University Centre, as well as courses for adults.

And the benefits of working for us?

• 28 days annual leave (pro rata) plus bank holidays and Christmas closure
• Local Authority Pension Fund
• Flexible working
• Family Friendly Policy
• Special Leave of Absence
• Paid leave for religious festivals
• Sabbaticals
• Comprehensive induction and on-going training
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Occupational Health Service
• Onsite gym
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Onsite nursery
• Free onsite parking available

NB: Shortlisted candidates may be invited to interview before the closing date. This is a fixed term role until 31st March 2025 with plans to extend depending on the continued success of the programme.

Bury College is committed to ensuring equality of opportunity, celebrating diversity, safeguarding its learners and expects all staff to share these commitments.

We are a friendly, forward-looking college where staff are valued and supported to achieve their potential. You will have access to a free on-site gym, all weather football pitches, on site nursery, generous annual leave entitlement and a cycle to work scheme.

Please note that new guidance in Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022 requires us to carry out an online search as part of our due diligence on shortlisted candidates. This to enable us to identify any incidents or issues which have happened and are publicly available online which we might want to explore at interview. Once shortlisting has taken place, this search will be carried out for all candidates who will attend an interview.