Senior or Principal Policy Researcher (Startups and Entrepreneurship)

Nesta Principal Researcher
Location London, United Kingdom
Application deadline 2 September 2018
Contract type Permanent
Hours Full-time
Salary GBP35,000-50,000 depending on experience, plus benefits
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Are you someone with a genuine passion for innovation and entrepreneurships and an awareness of policy making processes at local, national or European level? If so, join Nesta as a Senior or Principal Policy Researcher to help develop and deliver our exciting programme of work on start-ups and entrepreneurship, particularly relating to technology-based young firms.

Nesta is a global innovation foundation. We back new ideas to tackle the big challenges of our time. Our mission is to spark and shape new ideas that improve how the world works for everyone. We use our knowledge, networks, funding and skills – working in partnership with others, including governments, businesses and charities. We are a UK charity but work all over the world, supported by a financial endowment. It is valued by the government, businesses and academics for its robustly-researched, actionable ideas. In recognition of this, the charity was recently awarded Independent Research Organisation (IRO) status.

Nesta believes that entrepreneurs are agents of innovation. We are therefore keen to encourage and support entrepreneurship – and to see more, better-quality, young firms start and scale. Nesta’s startups team achieves this by research, analysis and policy influence – such as investigating the components of startup ecosystems (as with our European Digital City Index); understanding the effectiveness of support mechanisms (as with ongoing work on accelerators); and promoting supportive policies at local, national and international levels (e.g. our ‘Idea Bank’).

About the role

This is an important role within the wider Research, Analysis & Policy team, and is expected to have significant impact. One of the projects you will lead is the policy and research component of the Startup Europe Partnership (SEP2.0). This initiative aims to help startups to scale across Europe, by identifying obstacles to scaling, mapping startup-corporate collaborations, and promoting good practice via publications and other means.

Key roles and responsibilities

You will work as part of a team to design, lead and deliver various research projects relating to startups and entrepreneurship. Other tasks may include: writing policy briefings, research reports and blogging on Nesta’s website; speaking to the media about Nesta’s policy proposals relating to startups and entrepreneurship; diffusing our findings among policy and academic audiences, including through presentations at conferences and to civil servants; working closely with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and international stakeholders such as the European Commission, OECD and WEF.

Experience and skills

We’re looking for someone who can show evidence of thought-leadership and bring a unique perspective which influences others and steers external debate. With strong postgraduate experience in a relevant subject (Innovation Studies, Economics, Management, Science Policy), or equivalent experience, you’ll have good knowledge of relevant academic literature on entrepreneurship, to ensure that our research is relevant and connected with existing debates. You’ll have experience in the design, development and production of research proposals, and the management of technically-complex, multi-stakeholder projects and a demonstrable track record in producing high quality, high impact research outputs in relevant fields. Your strong communication and written skills will include technical papers, reports for non-technical audiences and social media/blogs.

Other useful importation

Closing date: 23:45, 2nd September 2018.
First interviews will take place on week commencing 17th September 2018

To apply please visit our website.