Lead Inventor - Invent
| Department: | Inventing |
|---|---|
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posted: | 08 May 2018 |
Description
Tackle the world’s most exciting innovation projects - develop solutions for real-world growth businesses at uniquely creative consultancy.
?What If! drives human - powered experimentation engines, partnering with businesses to solve their most difficult problems in an innovative way. We’re currently looking for Lead Inventors to lead innovation projects, blending a creative approach to solving problems with real commercial grounding. You need to possess strategic acumen, be an insight savvy storyteller, and an idea generator with fabulous facilitation skills. If you’re a talented consultant who has often been frustrated in your quest to push boundaries of creative solutions - we would love to hear from you.
About ?What If!
For over 25 years,?What If! has partnered with organisations hungry for growth. We invent new products, brands, services, and business models, and we help our partners build their in-house innovation capabilities. The company has a very strong culture that is best summarised by our 5 values - impact, audacity, passion, love, and adventure.
We believe that the world's most challenging issues can be solved by people, innovation and connections, and every year our global company works with around 200 different companies, across multiple sectors, in over 40 countries worldwide giving us the opportunity to do this.
The Team
Our commercial impact has come from doubling down on the people side of innovation - the values, behaviours, skills, mindsets and spirit - that make the difference between a smart idea on paper and a living, thriving business.
We’ve been bringing our whole selves to work, collaborating, working from home and eating cereal together for years. Respect and support come as standard. We are friends.
Bringing your whole self to work means you can take your whole self home again - most nights. We don’t do lengthy on site client engagements so we get to hang out with our friends, family and each other.
Our people are smart and ambitious and also humble - strong opinions lightly held is how we sum it up. Lifelong learners are the people who do well here.
As an Inventing Lead at ?What If!, you will…
● Lead innovation projects, going beyond smart strategy documents to develop real-world solutions positioned for growth.
● Identify the opportunities that help clients win the game, whilst evolving and fundamentally disrupting their ways of working. You’ll do this by being brave and taking the non-linear leaps required to really innovate.
● Develop deep, senior relationships, taking a co-founder mentality to act as a steady partner to our clients through the uncertainties of growth and change.
Requirements
You’ll thrive in this role if you have…
The Basics
- Business experience in consulting, strategy, innovation, or change management (behavioural as well as structural) as well as a hands-on role building strategy and operations solutions in a startup.
- You have experience leading innovation initiatives, including expertise in design thinking, consumer insight and user experience in both corporate and consulting environments.
- A proven track record of building client relationships and creating change in a commercial environment.
And the magic touch...
- Lead Inventors need to be idea generators: you are constantly curious about the world and must be able to draw on your experience and also our own ?What If! tools and techniques to solve innovation challenges.
- Fast-thinking, nimble, adaptable and thrive in a fast-moving environment - always open to new ideas with the ability to recognise the business value of ideas.
- Possess the demeanour, business maturity, intellect and integrity required to establish immediate credibility with key stakeholders within the company and motivate your team in a way which lets them play to their strengths.
- Possess strong verbal and written communication skills and be masters in the art of persuasion to strategically get your point across.
- Entrepreneurial spirit and a restless heart.
- Head and heart in balance - deeply human in understanding people problems and commercially sharp with advice.
- Never the finished article: we’re for life-long learners only.
Benefits
- 30 days holiday
- Private Medical Insurance (BUPA)
- Life Assurance (4 x salary)
- Pension (up to 5% matched contribution)
- Dental Insurance (you pay 50% we pay 50%)
- Travel Insurance (for you + those travelling with you)
- Company Doctor
- Cycle to Work scheme
- Corporate Gym Membership - Fitness First
- Season Ticket Loan