Senior Innovation Consultant

If you are passionate about technologies and helping innovative organisations succeed, we could have the perfect job for you. Building on the continued growth and success of the business, we are looking for a Senior Innovation Consultant and Grant Writer to join our experienced consultancy team in the UK.

Operating across all functions of PNO’s core consultancy business, this is a client facing role that will involve:

• Working with clients to qualify their ideas for alignment to available funding programmes and the proactive scanning of new grant opportunities for strategic projects. This will extend across a range of industry sectors including ICT, energy, environment, transport, chemistry, biotechnology and health, and depending on the background of the successful candidate, there will be opportunity to specialize in a particular technology domain.
• Once an opportunity for funding has been identified, conduct primary research including market analysis and literature/patent searches to qualify the competitive landscape and true innovation of a particular idea.
  • Working directly with the client to prepare high quality grant applications. This will include innovation project scoping, the compilation of information required for the submission, and writing of the grant proposal covering all aspects of information required by a grantor body from the analysis of the business and market opportunity available, the advancement beyond current technologies offered, the innovation, route to market strategy and impact.
• Working with the client to prepare documents for the grant agreement, reports and claims to comply with the Grantor body requirements.
• The ideal candidate will have the desire to develop their own future client base within the UK. Subject to success in the initial advertised position, this could include attending industry events to promote PNO’s services through to the development of relationships with multipliers such as Venture Capital companies, tech incubators and accelerators, IP attorneys and industry networks

• Scientific university degree, Masters and/or PhD.
• Attributes: flexible team player, creative, hands-on, entrepreneurial, ambitious, go-getter, professional communicator, drive and energy, and the ability to work effectively under pressure towards deadlines.
• English written and oral skills with a proven ability to write professional technical documents with clarity, efficiency, and flair, whether that be in the form of reports or as part of a dissertation, is critical.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Knowledge of the UK’s innovation funding landscape would be desirable as would an understanding of the challenges in commercialising innovations.
• Experience in strategic consultancy or technology transfer role would be preferred.
• Due to business expansion in the energy sector with government drive towards Net Zero, a qualification in an energy-related field (e.g., batteries and energy storage, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, and energy systems) is of particular interest.
• Affinity and preferably experience with commercial account management and networking skills would be a plus.
• Available to travel within the UK and Europe on occasions would be a plus.

PNO Consultants Limited are the UK operation of the PNO Group – Europe’s largest innovation and funding consultancy. Our team of consultants have extensive experience of all principal national and European funding programmes to support start-ups, established SME’s, large enterprises and universities across all research disciplines and sectors (including ICT, energy, environment, transport, chemistry, biotechnology and health). The aim is to identify and secure grant funding for the development of innovative products, processes and services, which address key societal, environmental and economic challenges. This includes schemes managed by Grantor Bodies such as Innovate UK and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) as well as European programmes such as Horizon Europe.