Senior Advisor - International

Salary: 65k-75k per annum FTE Benefits

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

About Energy Systems Catapult

Energy Systems Catapult is an independent research and technology organisation. Our mission is to accelerate net zero energy innovation.

Launched in 2015 by Innovate UK the Catapult has built a team of more than 250 people with a range of technical engineering consumer commercial incubation digital and policy draw on sector-leading test facilities modelling tools and data collected from our back catalogue of more than 500 research projects.

We use that whole energy system capability to support innovative companies small and large to test trial and scale their new products and services. Our impact comes when those innovators attract new customers new investment and new grants so they can thrive in the future energy system.

Based in Birmingham the Catapult is part of a network of nine world-leading technology and innovation centres established by Innovate UK. The Catapult Network fosters collaboration between industry government research organisations academia and many others to transform great ideas into valuable products and services.

We believe that innovation often stems from connecting different areas and ideas and that working together in person can be an important enabler for that. We therefore expect people to be in the Birmingham office 40 days/year (roughly one day per week).

Context

The Catapults International Platform helps innovators to open routes to market overseas and tackle business growth challenges. We do this by applying the Catapults own capabilities to help SMEs address systemic barriers for energy innovation in combination with tailored business growth assistance through access to a broad network of existing incubators accelerators and external support initiatives both in the UK and in target countries abroad. We aim to connect UK innovators to overseas markets and create bilateral and multilateral initiatives that open markets for innovation. We also share UK experience and best practice to support overseas organisations and countries in their transition to low-carbon pathways.

The International Platform is looking for an exceptional Senior Advisor to join our successful team helping to support and build out our international work. As a Senior Advisor you will report into the Business Lead - International and lead on many of our international business development and project delivery activities.

You will help define strategy win new work lead engagement with countries clients and sector stakeholders and lead delivery of ground-breaking projects. You will help to build the Catapults reputation and network in target markets position us to win new funding deliver new projects and maximise the impact of our work for UK innovators. In addition you will help us capture learning opportunities for the UK and the Catapult to support domestic decarbonisation goals.

Responsibilities

Business Development & Strategy

• Lead or support engagement in building strong influential relationships with new clients relevant energy stakeholders and colleagues across the Catapult. This will include: securing new business opportunities overseas promoting the Catapults offerings and working across wider internal teams to create joint offerings
• Lead or support the development of strategy defining the added value and differentiation in the space to help prioritise activity and alignment with commercial and strategic positions in the market
• Lead or support the development of offerings and value-propositions that align with the team strategy
• Lead or support research and market analyses of international markets and stakeholder mapping/targeting ensuring information flows into the wider international team and business as appropriate
• Build sector insight to drive innovation (in technical scope and delivery techniques) across our international work
• Use structured discovery and needs assessment techniques to identify systemic pain points and root causes in partner or client markets feeding insights into bespoke solution design and innovation strategy
• Design integrated solutions by aligning customer needs systemic barriers and the Catapults portfolio of capabilities
• Translate complex technical and policy insights into commercially relevant clearly articulated value propositions and project offerings tailored to client priorities
• Work with internal teams to cost structure and present modular or scalable solution offerings that align with both the Catapults innovation priorities and the client needs
• Lead or facilitate co-design sessions with external stakeholders to ensure alignment of proposed solutions with market needs in target geographies

Delivering impact managing projects and delivering work to clients

• Lead or support successful development and delivery of multiple externally funded projects at one time managing relationships with third parties. This will involve ensuring successful scoping contract negotiation understanding of customer needs and requirements effective resource and budget management client satisfaction and quality assurance
• Develop or contribute towards wider strategies for future work and follow-on impacts including consistently considering opportunities for UK innovators/innovation and managing key stakeholder relationships during project delivery
• Direct teams to ensure that projects are managed correctly support team members to thrive and coach them to further develop and work closely with the wider team to maintain resource plans for opportunity pipelines
• Support quality assurance of outputs and insights being reported/presented to stakeholders
• Apply a clear commercial awareness across activities including directing engagements with clients to ensure impact is maximised within available resources and opportunities for follow-on work are identified
• Establish feedback mechanisms with clients and partners during delivery to refine solution architecture and strengthen learning loops for replication and scaling

What credentialsare we ideally looking for

Qualifications

• Degree or postgraduate degree in business economics management strategy engineering or other relevant discipline. An MBA is highly desirable

Experience

• Extensive experience in innovation consulting and business development in clean energy systems or related areas.
• Strong consultancy experience with public and especially private sector clients ideally within an international context
• Strong track record of raising funds from private and philanthropic donors as well as public institutions
• Ability to prioritise activities based on impact commercial value and strategic alignment and to act in a leadership role influencing direction and investment
• Proven track record in identifying securing and delivering new opportunities from lead generation and proposal preparation through to project delivery with a focus on consultative selling approaches
• Demonstrated ability to engage stakeholders using consultative techniques to gather market intelligence uncover latent needs and co-develop tailored high-impact innovation solutions
• Proven experience of selling complex multi-stakeholder solutions to the private sector including responsibility for contract negotiation deal structuring and commercial agreement development
• Experience in market and stakeholder analysis and the ability to turn insights into actionable strategies offers or innovation pathways
• Strong capability in solution architecture translating market gaps and customer pain points into integrated technical and commercial propositions leveraging in-house capabilities and external partnerships
• Experience of business and consulting development within other countries and successful track record of managing international collaborative activities overseas
• Demonstrated application of systems thinking and whole-system approaches to problem-solving ideally in the energy or climate innovation space
• An understanding of public funding processes and experience in bid preparation consortium building and alignment with funder priorities
• Expertise in the energy sector and a sound understanding of the innovation and decarbonisation landscape in the UK and globally
• Strong technical commercial and project delivery background including an ability to manage complex multi-party projects and consortia
• Ability to produce high quality outputs including reports presentations and thought leadership materials and to communicate complex ideas to non-experts and senior stakeholders
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to facilitate workshops present with impact and build trust with diverse audiences
• Strong knowledge of and/or professional engagement with the Indian or Brazilian innovation and energy landscape
• Proficiency in foreign languages particularly Indian languages or Portuguese

Behaviours

• An energetic person who is self-motivated purpose-led and impact-driven
• Demonstrates curiosity strategic thinking and commercial acumen balancing insight-driven analysis outcome-focused delivery and value-conscious decision-making
• Operates with empathy collaboration and cultural intelligence building trust across diverse stakeholders through effective communication adaptability and diplomatic engagement

Employee Benefits:

Annual leave 28 days plus bank holidays (FTE) Buy/Sell holidays Buy/sell holiday maximum 1 week based on contracted hours Pension 2 for 1 contribution via salary sacrifice scheme up to 10% Discretionary bonus scheme Recognition scheme to celebrate above and beyond EV Scheme Salary sacrifice Cycle2work Salary sacrifice Life assurance 4 x salary Health Cash Back Plan Retail and gym discounts Employee Assistance Programme 24/7 phoneline and 6 free counselling sessions Snacks and drinks Annual company off-site event.

Flexible working options for eligible employees (Sabbatical/Compressed/Staggered/Flexible hours) Working within a hybrid office attendance model with the expectation of being in the office at least 1 day a week and:

Maternity Leave (100% 13 weeks / 50% 13 weeks/SP 13 weeks/Unpaid leave for 13 weeks)

Adoption Leave (100% 13 weeks/50% 13 weeks/SP 13 weeks/Unpaid leave for 13 weeks)

Paternity Leave (100% 2 weeks)

Shared Parental Leave (100% 10 weeks/50% 13 weeks/SP 13 weeks)

Would you like to Apply

The closing date for applications is Sunday 27th July 2025

Please note that at this time we areunableto 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:

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: