Company: NHS

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Job Description:

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Innovation Manager

The closing date is 21 April 2026

The Innovation Department is expanding to meet the growing service demand and meet the requirements of a modern healthcare workforce. There is a 10-year innovation strategy aimed at improving the services we offer.

An Innovation Manager is key to strategy implementation and will be responsible for its function and delivery. The role will involve communication across the UHT group, promoting an innovation culture, protecting and managing Trust Intellectual Property assets, taking part in process overview and creating reports for Key Performance Indicator data.

They will facilitate, develop and support an innovation and enterprise related project activity (including industrial engagement, knowledge exchange, commercial collaborations, consultancy, as well as IP management and exploitation).

They will provide effective leadership for the innovation workforce across UHT and directly line manage the Innovation Portfolio Manager and any other coordinators. They will need to network with academic institutions and industry, to support grant applications and collaborative working.

They will provide specialist advice, training and education in the application of Intellectual Property Rights within the Trust.

The post will be based across North Tees and Hartlepool and South Tees NHS Foundation Trusts as part of the University Hospitals Tees group.

Main duties of the job

Working with the Director of Innovation they will lead and manage the innovation strategies to support the delivery of innovation across UHT.

Work closely with a wide range of staff across the Trusts to ensure that performance targets are met.

Engage with the professional management structures of each Trust within Clinical Service Units to contribute to the operational integration of innovation as part of a change in culture.

Work autonomously on a broad range of matters and make decisions on the day-to-day management of the service and service developments whilst also being directly accountable to the Director of Innovation.

Contribute to organisational meetings in relation to the delivery of the Innovation service across UHT.

Actively engage with the commercial partners, Academic institutions and other external organisations as appropriate representing the Innovation Department at a regional (or national) level as required.

Be actively involved with the recruitment of innovation staff within the service.

Be instrumental in the development of a comprehensive programme to grow innovation competencies across UHT.

Support the Director of Innovation as Information Asset Owner (IAO), in the management of all information assets of the department which are held on the Trusts Information Asset Register (IAR).

About us

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust offers leadership and improvement training to all new staff to the Trust; this training programme has been designed to support our leaders in developing their understanding of leadership and management skills. You will be expected to attend the leadership development programme, and the Quality Improvement Programme that the Trust delivers. This programme aims to:

Explore leadership within the NHS
Promote Trust Values and Behaviours
Develop your Leadership effectiveness and skills
Practitioner level in quality improvement, equipping you with the skills to champion, lead and complete quality improvement within your role

After you complete this four and a half days of training you will be able to explore further leadership and improvement training opportunities, we offer further in-house courses dependent upon your role and bite‑size programmes and leadership apprenticeships at level 3, 5 and 7.

Job responsibilities

Please see the full job description and person specification document(s) attached for main responsibilities of the role.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Holds or working towards a Masters qualification in a management related discipline or other equivalent experience.
Evidence of continuous professional development.
Current and valid Good Clinical Practice Training (GCP).

Experience

Significant experience of working within a research management, innovation or commercial environment.
Experience and can demonstrable knowledge project activity, with knowledge industrial engagement, knowledge exchange, commercial collaborations, contracts, project funding and IP management.
Experience of NHS and research / innovation budgetary management.
Experience of appraisal, staff development, clinical supervision / re‑validation of nursing staff.
Experience of managing teams.
Ability to produce reports for senior level reporting and analyse data.
Specialist knowledge of intellectual property and associated contract management.

Knowledge

Knowledge of current national systems and structures for the approval, management and monitoring of innovation in the NHS.
Highly developed specialist knowledge of innovation staffing, infrastructure and funding models.
Knowledge of local and national innovation performance targets.
Excellent proven communication and interpersonal skills (written and oral).
Excellent proven leadership skills.
Ability to critically analyse complex data systems and processes.
Advanced organisational skills and ability to prioritise workload and meet tight deadlines.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

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