The Challenge:

Would you like to be at the heart of developing innovative and transformative ideas? Are you interested in being part of a team that identifies how space technology can address UK and global societal challenges? Do you want a position which will make a real difference? If so, you may be who we’re looking for!

We are currently seeking an Academic Engagement Lead to work in our National Capabilities and Clusters Team. Working both independently and collaboratively, you will lead on the mapping of the UK’s academic capabilities, both within the space sector and related disciplines.

This will involve the collection and processing of data that you have acquired from academic and research organisations. Through these activities, and by implementing your excellent stakeholder engagement skills, you will develop robust relationships that can be shared across the organisation and be used to facilitate industry connections.

Reporting into the Knowledge Exchange Manager, your work will help business and academia to connect, forging opportunities for collaborative research and development projects between these stakeholder groups.

Through this role you will develop a deep understanding of UK academic capabilities and create a first-of-its-kind tool to interrogate this information, which delivers against the ambitions of the National Space Strategy.

This role is a hybrid position based in our Harwell office. There may be occasional travel across the UK.

Skills & Experience required:

•  Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

• Excellent stakeholder engagement skills, including an ability to tailor your content to your audience.

• Comfortable developing accurate content and presenting to internal and external parties.

• Experience of building and managing relationships with the academic community and/or a sector research base, including for example: Business Partnership/Enterprise Teams, Tech Transfer Officers, and Knowledge Exchange Managers.

• Knowledge and insight of building and shaping an environment where academia and industry work effectively together delivering innovation.

• A high level of individual drive and ambition and an ability to work independently as well as with others

• Skilled at tracking and reporting with a proactive approach to managing multiple, competing priorities.

• An ability to analyse large volumes of quantitative information as well as an ability to analyse data and create tailored reports with quantitative and qualitative data.

• An ability to consider the big picture, and advocate for the ongoing, dynamic work of the organisation during stakeholder interactions.

You know you have been successful when…

• You have engaged with university and research organisation staff and have developed relationships across the UK academic ecosystem.

• You have developed the Academic Expertise Portal. This is populated and maintained with up-to-date with the UK’s academic capabilities, both within the space sector and related disciplines.

• You have identified opportunities for academic-industry collaborative relationships, and have facilitated appropriate connections to enable potential collaborations.

• You have tracked, measured and reported progress against targets.

• You have presented your work internally and externally, and engaged with both academia and industry to promote the Academic Expertise Portal.

How we work:

We strive to create a high trust environment that enables team members to bring their whole selves to work – this helps to create the foundations of an innovation culture. Our shared values are critical to this:

• We care - for our people, our partners, and our planet.

• We connect - and engage with people and ideas.

• We learn - and grow, as people and as an industry

Underpinning this is our belief in great teams, our combined efforts will always deliver outcomes beyond that of any individual providing we are honest through debate, experiment and reflect, and create shared resolutions in support of our purpose. Live these values, work to our principles, take ownership to deliver, and we are certain you will thrive with us.

 Important notice for applicants: We use tools to detect plagiarism and the use of AI or chatbots for applicant answers. If plagiarism, AI use (such as ChatGPT) or similar software are found to have been used in your application you will not be considered for this or future roles within the Satellite Applications Catapult

At Satellite Applications Catapult, we're committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workforce. We welcome candidates from all corners of the globe, but due to legal and logistical considerations, we want to be transparent about the potential visa-related challenges that could arise. Our ability to offer sponsorship will depend on the level of interest for our roles and salary level.