This role will initially be as a maternity leave replacement in the Foodtech, Agtech and Biotech practice, with a strong interest in finding the right candidate to continue their career at RIG after maternity leave cover

About Rapid Innovation Group

At Rapid Innovation Group (RIG) we accelerate the adoption of transformative technologies for a better world.  

We believe that many of the solutions to the greatest climate, environmental, agricultural, and human health challenges the world faces, lie with existing technology. These technologies can only make a meaningful impact if they achieve widespread use, becoming the norm in a market that is looking to benefit from a new opportunity, or is adapting in the face of new regulation, diminishing social licence, or outright existential threats. It is at this junction where we act, working with visionary entrepreneurs, high-impact technology companies, and forward-thinking corporates to catalyse the early adoption of outstanding technology.

Why join us?

RIG offers the opportunity to work on the strategic and execution challenges facing some of the most promising technology companies in the sustainable technology ecosystem. We provide the experience of working closely with entrepreneurs and CEOs, private and institutional investors, and a wide variety of commercial and non-commercial actors to enable client success across a wide variety of technologies.    

Working at pace in small teams, we emphasise intellectual curiosity, fast development and high levels of responsibility. We look to complement our learning and development programmes with continuous development via our apprenticeship-based learning model. We recognise there is no ‘one size fits all’ role and will support you in crafting your unique career journey at RIG around your skills and interests.    

We are a group of diverse, sociable, high-calibre individuals who are motivated by high risk, high reward business. We look to foster an inclusive, collegial, non-hierarchical culture where the best ideas always surface, regardless of their source and where seniority comes from success, not tenure.

What do we do?

We partner with tomorrow’s innovators, working to commercialise novel deep tech in the areas of Food, Agriculture, Biotechnology, Energy, Materials, and Industrial Decarbonisation. We work closely with the senior management teams of early-stage businesses to develop optimal go-to-market strategies and business models, and to ensure the delivery of commercial success.

We work with businesses for several years, helping to achieve the inflection points of early growth by designing and securing strategic and commercial agreements with first customers and partners. With finance being a core enabler of any effective commercialisation strategy, we also work with our clients to secure the investment to support their scaling journey, from pre-seed to Series B stages.

What we look for

We are looking for independently minded, driven individuals who are intellectually curious, have a strong entrepreneurial streak and share our sense of purpose.   

We want to work with people who are excited by the challenge of working with venture companies, interested both in their technological solutions and in building relationships, applying a high degree of emotional intelligence. Like our client portfolio, our talent pool is diverse and international in both composition and outlook.  

RIG’s clients do not hire us to do easy jobs: they partner with us to tackle difficult challenges, and working for aggressive, growth stage companies can be demanding as well as rewarding. Initial failure often feeds eventual success, and this cycle requires resilience and the ability to adapt quickly. It is this pace and variety in our work that attracts bright and highly ambitious people to achieve their goals with us.  

This role is as an Engagement Director in the Foodtech, Agtech and Biotech practice.  Engagement Directors at RIG manage at least one engagement team to deliver impact to two or more clients. The role will support the growth of RIG by bringing in client fees and client upsides.  The role can be broken down into the 5 key areas in ‘Responsibilities’ below.

Impact Driven Project Execution

• Plan, manage, and execute programmes of work as agreed with clients
• Ensure the maintenance of plans, programmes of work, and other tools on client work
• Influence and challenge clients appropriate to the situation in order to realise optimal value

Strategy formulation

• Lead design, development, and implementation of strategy formulation for clients
• Guide client through strategy formulation
• Effectively and creatively apply different business models and deal structures

Commercial Execution

• Drive client deals from lead to contract close in accordance with a client’s commercial process. This can either be in supporting or leading roles, depending on the capability of the client. You will be supported to develop and grow deal making skills by the RIG team.
• Lead or support winning new clients, including sourcing potential new clients and eventually, leading plan creation, presentation to potential clients and conversations to close

Knowledge, Research, Analysis and Insight

• Design and lead market engagement and application discovery and validation
• Internal and external presentation of insights, recommendations, and actions on an ongoing basis
• Use quantitative analysis in a problem-solving capacity
• Tracking and keeping up to date with technology advances in your practice’s area of expertise e.g.,
  • Developing expertise in a subject matter relevant to the team
  • Developing a network
  • Attending a selection of relevant events
  • Creating content, such as blogs, aligned with the Practice’s strategy

People management

• Build and manage a team
• Build, leads and owns long term client relationships
• Appropriately delegating responsibility to your team to deliver projects effectively, and providing the necessary structure for team growth
• Being a professional role model for the members of your team; championing RIG best practice and methodologies
• Investing in the professional development of your team
• Providing a supportive environment in which ideas can be tabled and constructively challenged

Essential:

• 5+ years professional experience
• Relationship management: Proven ability to manage and grow client/customer relationships
• Team management: Experience in managing a team to deliver programmes of work (including managing senior leaders)
• Commercial Skillset: Experience in Sales and/or Business Development, ideally in an early-stage business
• Communication: Strong verbal, written, non-verbal and listening skills
• Organisation: Well-organised with a demonstrated ability to ‘get stuff done’
• Ambitious and entrepreneurial: Strong drive to build and develop their area of expertise and in future build a valuable client proposition around this

Beneficial:

• Knowledge of, passion for and/or a scientific background in one or more areas related to RIG’s core expertise (foodtech, agriculture, biotech preferred). In the absence of this, would expect a candidate to exhibit clear motivation and interest in working in sustainability.