We are recruiting for an Interim Head of New Ventures

About Nesta

We are Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good. We design, test and scale solutions to society’s biggest problems. Our three missions are to give every child a fair start, help people live healthy lives, and create a sustainable future where the economy works for both people and the planet. 

For over 20 years, we have worked to support, encourage and inspire innovation. We work in three roles: as an innovation partner working with frontline organisations to design and test new solutions, as a venture builder supporting new and early stage businesses, and as a system shaper creating the conditions for innovation. 

Harnessing the rigour of science and the creativity of design, we work relentlessly to change millions of lives for the better. Find out more at nesta.org.uk.  

How will an interim Head of New Ventures contribute to Nesta’s success? 

Your role as interim Head of New Ventures is to help deliver - together with our external partner -  a world-class impact venture studio. The studio builds new businesses that have the potential to change the game in our three innovation missions: ‘A Fairer Start’, focused on closing the attainment gap amongst pre school age children, ‘A Healthy Life’, focused on creating a healthier food environment, and ‘A Sustainable Future’, focused on reducing carbon emissions in the home. During your time in the role you will support the build of new businesses in A Healthy Life and work with our existing portfolio of ventures in A Sustainable Future, doing everything you can to ensure their ongoing success, drawing on Nesta’s and our partner’s knowledge, networks and resources. 

The role 

As interim Head of New Ventures, you’ll take over the day-to-day running of the Mission Studio partnership, working closely with Nesta’s Chief Strategy Officer and our external partner to bring our venture-building ambitions to life. You’ll work with Mission and Practice teams across Nesta to identify where innovation in the form of new ventures can change the game, and you’ll help give these new ventures the best possible start by helping bring the best of Nesta and the external partner to bear on the development and launch of these ventures. You’ll play a pivotal role in channeling insights from Nesta’s cutting-edge research and experimentation in each mission area into the venture-building process, providing access to Nesta’s insights and networks, and potentially giving access to early users to refine solutions or smoothing the way to market. 

The Venture Studio is part of our Strategy Department, and as such you will work closely with other teams in the department under the supervision of the CSO. These teams are the Discovery Hub, which helps keep Nesta at the cutting edge of innovation and find new and better ways of achieving our goals, and the Strategy Unit which exists to help ensure Nesta ultimately delivers on its 2030 strategy, bringing our strategy to life and pushing organisational performance forward.

The successful candidate will have direct experience in a fast-paced entrepreneurial setting, and in building and working in strategic partnerships. They will be organised, analytical, proactive, flexible, and a trusted partner. They will be driven by the belief in the potential of new ventures to generate economic and social impact at scale - creating value for users, communities and shareholders alike. 

Your responsibilities

You’ll be accountable for making sure our venture building partnership continues to thrive. 

Those running the portfolio ventures are ultimately accountable for the business outcomes of the ventures we build, but you’ll be deeply invested in the problems they are trying to solve and in giving them the best possible advantage through their connection to wider Nesta, setting them on the best possible trajectory.

You will:

• Manage the Mission Studio partnership day-to-day, cultivating and managing key relationships with senior stakeholders externally and within Nesta. You’ll be Nesta’s primary point of contact for the partnership, working closely with the CSO to shape and ensure its success.

• Maximise the value of the partnership for Nesta, ensuring the best and most relevant insights from Nesta’s work inform the choice of ventures built, that Nesta’s assets (knowledge, insights, capabilities) are used to add value to the ventures, and that venture building informs our Mission work in turn. 

• Build effective networks and touch points, within Nesta and externally (investors, industry, funders), to help ensure the long term success of our ventures.

• Monitor indicators of success for the studio on an ongoing basis, and build ongoing buy-in and support for the studio among key stakeholders.

• Proactively capture and codify learnings from the partnership in a structured way, systematically and sustainably building Nesta’s knowledge and experience of venture building.

• Act as the primary source of knowledge and a focal point for the studio within Nesta, ensuring effective internal and external communications about the studio (in partnership with the Comms team).

• Support the Nesta CSO and wider team with ongoing plans to build out the next iteration of the studio for launch in mid-late 2024, including setting up new processes, assisting with hiring, conducting analysis, benchmarking to other 

• Proactively work with the Nesta comms team to ensure studio venture’s work is captured and amplified through our channels.

• Role model a culture of being impact-led, inquisitive, inclusive and incisive. Act with purpose, pace, transparency and integrity.

• Contribute to the delivery of our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion goals. Specifically, deliver and build upon our Venture Studio commitments, actively share insights between Nesta and ventures, and support the culture we seek to foster at Nesta. 

The person

• Demonstrable time spent in an entrepreneurial setting whether as an entrepreneur yourself, in impact investment, venture capital or through working with venture studios, incubators or accelerators. 

• Strong commercial acumen, with an understanding of the likely drivers of success in a newly-formed for-profit venture.

• Experience in pursuing social impact in a professional setting.

• Comfort and knowledge of working in an iterative way in rapidly-changing environments. 

• A great networker with strong partnership-building skills, you are able to build trusted and effective partnership with a range of actors and diverse teams, developing collaborations with long-lasting value.

• Highly organised and proactive, you are a ‘doer’ who can flex between working autonomously and collaboratively, and routinely delivers on tight deadlines. You thrive when working in pursuit of an ambitious vision, even if the path there isn’t yet clear. 

• A strong conceptual thinker who can identify shades of gray in a problem without being paralysed by the complexity. Able to identify options and quickly build momentum around a preferred path forward, and can switch quickly from the detail to the big picture and back.

• An excellent communicator, both written and verbally, and can facilitate effectively to get the best insights from diverse stakeholders. You habitually synthesise insights and thoughts effectively, getting to the heart of the matter quickly and concisely.

• Committed to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and demonstrated ability to foster a positive and inclusive working environment.

• Desirable: experience in a venture studio, an impact-focused accelerator, and/or a background in management consulting

• Desirable: knowledge in a field related to one of the following fields - health; climate change; early years.

• Desirable: foundational understanding of one or more of Nesta’s innovation methods - data science, behavioural science, design, research and experimentation, arts & culture.

What we offer

Salary: £72,500-£82,000 plus array of benefits, including private medical insurance, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave, eyecare vouchers and more  

Location: This role is based in our London offices, hybrid working arrangement with a minimum of two days in the office

Term: Maternity cover until September 2024

Start date: December 2023 or sooner (office closed during the festive season)

Hours: This is a full-time role but we offer a range of flexible working arrangements and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do. 

Reports to: Chief Strategy Officer

Making an application 

To apply for this role, please submit your application before 8:00am on 25th October 2023. 

Interviews will take place w/c 30th October 2023.

At Nesta, we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results. 

We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop. 

This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful. 

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, compressed or part-time hours, job shares and other arrangements.   

Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.