The roles

Reporting to: CEO

Supporting teams: Finance, People, IT, Commercial and Legal, Impact and Evaluation, Governance and Facilities           

Reporting into our Chief Executive Officer, this role is responsible for ensuring that we have the right services supporting the Catapult and that the quality of those services are high, supporting leaders who are experts in their area to maximise their impact. You will also support the strategic direction of the company by critically assessing, managing and developing the company’s financial and impact performance.

As the CFOO, you are….

 Responsible for financial advice and direction – You will provide advice on all financial and impact matters to the CEO and EMT to support the company’s strategy. This includes understanding and mitigating financial elements of the company’s risks, including state aid, grant recognition and cashflow. 

• Accountable for internal service delivery – You will ensure all services are of high quality and continually developing their offering to the company. You will enable the leaders of those services to deliver excellent value for money and seek feedback to help further development.
• Developing impact and people measures – You will move beyond the required financial reporting to develop a holistic methodology of reporting our organisational achievements suitable for both an internal and external audience. You will work with the relevant leads to elevate and embed new reporting practices.
• Supporting our People team – You will support our People team to ensure colleagues are well supported, effectively managed and developed to ensure our success.
• Managing risk – you will be accountable for the risk management process of or organisation, supporting our jouney to mature and refine our risk appetite while at the same time adding complex dimensions such as considering the implications and required changes needed for specific MoD contracts.
• Sponsor for ISO needs – You will support the business by ensuring appropriate ISO accreditations are considered and selected in the best interests of the organisation and the work we undertake.
• Coordinating – You will actively nurture the operational matrix, identifying conflicts and weaknesses that have the potential to impact the overall purpose and effectiveness of the design

You will also…

• Be a Executive member of the Board and Act as company secretary undertaking statutory reporting duties
• As a member of the organisations Executive Management Team contribute to corporate decision making including allocation of people and capital to ensure successful delivery of SAC strategy.
• Managing to budget and proactive identification of budget need
• Supporting the process of evaluation and ensuring lessons are learnt post-delivery and impact, translating these into organisational improvements
• Work with other Catapults in the Network to ensure effective collaboration
• Connecting the catapult with the customer and partner organisations in needs to work with to be successful

We expect that you would have the following skills and experience…

• Experience leading and developing inclusive high performing, multi-disciplinary teams
• Experience of operational leadership in a complex multidimensional environment, ideally in science, defence, government or technology organisations.
• Experience of impact and evaluation reporting and development
• Strong commercial experience and a deep understanding of public funding dynamics and requirements. Experience of strategic finance and growth capital is highly-desirable.
• A highly credible leader who is an expert communicator with a strong network
• Highly effective collaborator who is adept at working in complex matrix organisations
• Expert influencer with strong analytical skills with ability to rapidly change and adapt as needed
• Effective team player with excellent interpersonal, communications, public speaking, and presentation skills.
• Excellent analytical and abstract reasoning skills, plus excellent organisational skills. 
• A relevant accountancy qualification

You know you have been successful when…

The relevant functions have aligned to create a financially sustainable, high impact, people first and well supported organisation that is visible internally and can be evidenced externally

How we work….

We strive to create a high trust, high performance and inclusive 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.

This job description set outs the skills and experience we think are needed to be able to perform in this job. However, if you believe you can deliver in this role then we want to hear from you.

Reporting to: CEO

Reporting into our Chief Executive Officer, this is a highly networked, functional delivery role that requires an ability to understand our Missions plans, support their development and develop the technical capabilities to deliver on them now and into the future. The role requires a skilled manager and leader with strong budgetary skills, an excellent collaborator who can challenge, persuade and be persuaded, with a depth of technical knowledge that would allow them to understand and deliver a wide range of technical capabilities and competence for our Catapult.

Key Responsibilities:

As the CTO, you are….

• Responsible for delivery – You, with your Team Leads, will design and supply a range of technical capabilities to deliver our four missions, Sustainable Earth, Connected Earth, Autonomous Earth and Beyond Earth. You will understand the technical needs of the Missions and how these can be best met effectively and efficiently, including through well managed partners.
• Accountable for quality – You will ensure technical deliverables are well managed and of appropriate quality. Working with Mission teams and colleagues in delivery you will ensure appropriate processes are established and followed to ensure effective delivery.
• Shaping and Leading – You will lead and develop the organisation’s Technical Strategy to ensure the Catapult is in the best place to meet the technical challenges of tomorrow. You will personally own the strategy and ensure it is understood and bought into by colleagues and wider stakeholders.
• Managing and supporting your People – You will develop a high-performing Technology function through effective management of Team Leads and by supporting the development of staff within those teams. You will work with the Mission Leads to ensure performance management is holistic and proactive – constantly seeking feedback and responding to needs.  You will set a high standards and act as a “servant” leader to ensure your team is supported to be successful.
• Coordinating – You will actively nurture the operational matrix, identifying conflicts and weaknesses that have the potential to impact the overall purpose and effectiveness of the design

You will also be involved in…

• As a member of the organisations Executive Management Team contribute to corporate decision making including defining strategy and objectives and allocation of people and capital to ensure successful delivery of SAC strategy.
• Managing to budget and proactive identification of budget need
• Ensuring the bid process properly captures the technical cost of delivery
• Supporting lessons learnt post-delivery of outcomes and translating these into organisational improvements
• Ensuring our experts have time to innovate and space to be creative
• Work with other Catapults in the Network to ensure effective collaboration

Connecting the catapult with the customer and partner organisations in needs to work with to be successful

We expect that you would have the following skills and experience…

• Experience of building, leading and developing high performing, multi-disciplinary teams
• An expert in your field with a breadth of technical knowledge and experience to be able to design and develop organisational technical capability.
• A highly credible leader who is an expert communicator with a strong network
• Highly effective collaborator who is adept at working in complex matrix organisations
• Deep experience in delivering through partners and as part of collaborative projects
• Expert influencer with ability to rapidly change and adapt as needed

You know you have been successful when…

Your teams are fully, expertly and efficiently deployed in the pursuit of clear Mission Road Maps, with opportunities to develop existing strengths and develop new ones that support our technology strategy.

How we work….

We strive to create a high trust, high performance and inclusive 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.

This job description set outs the skills and experience we think are needed to be able to perform in this job. However, if you believe you can deliver in this role then we want to hear from you.

Reporting to: CEO

The Catapult has organised itself into four Mission areas: Beyond Earth, Connected Earth, Autonomous Earth, and Sustainable Earth. Each Mission is tasked with developing a strategic portfolio of Interventions through which projects and services can be designed and delivered to achieve market impact. To align the Missions to the Market, the Catapult has established four strategic accounts as the focal point for engaging customers across four discrete domains: Defence and Security, Public Sector, Private Sector and Space Sector.

The Chief Commercial and Partnerships Officer is responsible for delivering a high performing commercial team to take us to the next stage of the company’s growth. A primary focus of the role is on driving revenue generation and margin growth from our Strategic Accounts.  They do this by building strategic partnerships with customers, stakeholders and suppliers ensuring alignment and growth for all.  The CCPO will oversee development and implementation of sales and marketing strategies, Account plans, forecasts and Sales KPIs, to achieve corporate revenue and margin targets.  The CCPO will collaborate with other members of the Executive Management Team (EMT) and their respective functions, to align commercial objectives with overall business goals and Mission led market intervention priorities and foster cross-functional teamwork and communication to drive overall business performance.

As the Chief Commercial and Partnerships Officer, you are:

• Responsible for Commercial and Partnerships Strategy – You will develop the company’s Commercial and Partnerships Strategy to harness the Catapult’s position and status as a neutral trusted convenor within the UK Space sector. Providing leadership and guidance to our Strategic Accounts and Missions you will enable them to grow their markets and deliver on their missions. This will involve qualifying new market opportunities, defining market engagement priorities, and creating plans to maximise revenue and market share. You will do this in a way that maximises the positive impact for customers and the sector, making the right strategic partnerships to ensure all benefit from our commercial activities.
• Developing sales and market Intelligence – You will develop sales and market engagement plans with Strategic Account Directors, set targets and objectives, monitor performance, and oversee the implementation of Account sales plans. You will monitor industry trends, competitive landscape, and market dynamics to identify emerging opportunities and potential threats. Gather market intelligence, conduct market research, and use data-driven insights to make informed decisions with Account Directors and Mission leads.
• Leading the creation of partnerships – You will provide thought leadership on business development initiatives and help shape and negotiate strategic alliances or partnerships that drive business growth.

• Responsible for Strategic Finance Investment – Develop and shape the Catapult’s approach to securing external commercial investment for Account and Mission led opportunities. Build the Catapult’s internal capability for identifying and accessing a wide portfolio of different investor funds that meet business needs.

• Supporting Customer relationship management – Enable the building and maintenance of strong relationships with customers and partners. Work closely with the Account sales teams to ensure customer satisfaction, helping to resolve issues, and identifying opportunities for cross-selling or upselling.
• Overseeing pricing and revenue management – shaping pricing strategies, ensuring optimal pricing for projects and services, product and facility development to maximise revenue and maintain competitiveness in the market.  Analyse market trends, conduct pricing research, and monitor pricing effectiveness.
• Create a high performing team – Build a customer focused CCPO team with ownership for the entire sales process from opportunity identification, qualification, order capture, sales revenue and margin retention. You will develop your team in order that they can see, and take advantage of, the opportunities of tomorrow and you will ensure they are excellent collaborators across both our business and the wider sector, seeking and responding to feedback continuously.
• Promoting Space Industry capability – Identifying opportunities for the Space industry to raise the visibility of their products and services for both domestic and international markets. Identify and shape new opportunities for commercialising products and services.

You will also:

• As a member of the organisations Executive Management Team contribute to corporate decision making including defining strategy and objectives as well as the allocation of people and capital to ensure successful delivery of SAC strategy.
• Advocate for the CCPO function internally and be the voice of the customer inside the Catapult. Develop and maintain strong working relationships across the Catapult and wider sector to ensure the smooth transition of winning business into project delivery. Act as internal customer for achieving Account sales revenue and margins from associated Mission led projects.
• Work with the Chief External Affairs Officer to plan and oversee advertising and promotion activities and events that support and promote Catapult market engagements. Ensure the collateral used to support sales activities is appropriate, up to date and available to the Accounts and their BD and sales teams.
• Direct sales forecasting activities, set performance goals, measure the performance of sales efforts and take corrective action as necessary. Manage the CCO budget effectively by reviewing and identifying changes to budget need and forecasting proactively.
• Work with other Catapults to ensure effective cross sector collaboration.

 We expect that you will have the following skills and experience:

• Proven senior management and leadership experience, with strong commercial acumen, and the ability to plan and implement organisational strategies to meet operational objectives and manage performance within financial budgets.
• Excellent track record of delivering through strategic partnerships. Nuanced approach to partnering with understanding of how to ensure win-win relationships.
• A strong track record of human resource management and staff development. Combining excellent leadership, influencing and communications skills, with a strong ability to build long term trusted relationships both internally and externally to the organisation.
• Knowledge/experience of the Space sector and the application of satellite technology, including an understanding of the UK Space supply chain capability.
• Comfortable at operating at a conceptual level with a clear focus on communicating clear value propositions to senior stakeholders and developing creative and client-pleasing solutions for complex business problems.
• A team player, skilled and experienced at working within a matrix organisation, maximising the impact of the skills available from supporting departments and resources.
• Broad knowledge and understanding of the UK Space sector with an ability to communicate and influence effectively with different stakeholders.

 You know you have been successful when…

Your teams are working in a mutually supportive relationship with our Missions and have developed the presence in their domain to articulate our unique offering to existing and new customers, driving space technology and data adoption to grow the UK economy and enable the Catapult to continue to create impact.  Your teams are recognised as growing the space sector for the benefit of all whilst ensuring SAC meets its commercial objectives.

How we work….

We strive to create a high trust, high performance and inclusive 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.

This job description set outs the skills and experience we think are needed to be able to perform in this job. However, if you believe you can deliver in this role then we want to hear from you.