Principal Consultant: Sectors, Clusters & Innovation

A practice-building and client leadership role, with a pathway towards Associate Director

Metro Dynamics is looking for an experienced Principal Consultant to help us build the next stage of our Sectors, Clusters & Innovation (SCI) business.

The SCI team works with Combined and Strategic Authorities, government, universities, businesses and sector organisations on questions including sector growth, cluster development, innovation ecosystems and how places turn economic strengths into investment, collaboration and delivery.

We are looking for someone who wants to do more than deliver individual projects. We want someone excited by the opportunity to help build a practice: developing clients and people, improving how we deliver, spotting opportunities and increasingly taking a leadership role in the business.

We are open to people currently in consultancy, those who have previously worked in consultancy and moved into government or another organisation, and people in related organisations who combine strong client/stakeholder leadership with commercial and delivery experience.

The Role

Working closely with the SCI Director, you would increasingly take leadership responsibility for the client delivery side of the SCI business.

You would:

  • Oversee a portfolio of SCI projects, helping Project Managers deliver excellent work, manage clients well and maintain commercial performance;

  • Lead our regular SCI project delivery and resourcing discussions, keeping sight of progress, risks, budgets, capacity and where senior intervention is needed;

  • Act as Project Director and senior client lead on significant commissions;

  • Help develop colleagues who are building their experience of managing and delivering SCI work;

  • Work across Metro Dynamics' Strategy & Policy, Regeneration & Delivery and Evaluation, Impact & Case Making capabilities, assembling the right teams around client problems rather than expecting all expertise to sit within SCI;

  • Identify, shape and convert opportunities, contribute to proposals and pitches and help deepen key client relationships;

  • Help develop our methods, propositions and approach so that strong practice is repeatable across projects; and

  • Work alongside the SCI Director to shape the direction, growth and development of the practice.

Over time, we would expect this person to take increasing responsibility for client delivery, people and commercial leadership, creating a clear development route towards Associate Director.

The Candidate

You will want to help build something, take responsibility and lean into the commercial and intellectual side of our work. You are likely to bring:

  • Significant experience of local and regional economic development, with a strong understanding of how places drive economic growth, productivity and investment. This may have been gained in consultancy, local or combined government, central government or a related economic development organisation.

  • Strong understanding of the UK national and English devolution agenda and the changing role of Combined and Strategic Authorities in driving economic growth, ideally with direct experience of working with or within devolved institutions.

  • A genuine interest in how devolved institutions alongside triple helix partners can shape sectors, clusters, innovation and investment.

  • Strong consulting, advisory or comparable client-facing experience.

  • Experience leading complex projects, teams and senior stakeholder relationships.

  • Good commercial judgement, including managing budgets and margins and an interest in originating and winning work.

  • The confidence to work across government, business, universities and other institutions.

  • Strong judgement and the ability to bring structure to complex or ambiguous client problems.

  • An instinct for developing other people and raising the quality of delivery across a team.

  • Ambition to take on broader business leadership responsibility.

A strong economic development grounding is essential for this role. We are not looking for a general innovation policy or programme specialist: candidates need to understand innovation, sectors and clusters in the context of wider place-based economic growth and be able to advise clients accordingly.

You do not need to be an expert in every aspect of sectors, clusters and innovation. We are more interested in someone with strong judgement, curiosity and relevant experience who can learn quickly, draw on expertise across Metro Dynamics and develop deeper SCI expertise through the role.

Additional specialist expertise, strong personal networks or experience developing new markets would be valuable, but the defining requirement is someone who wants to spot, shape, sell and lead high-quality SCI work and help us grow the business around it.

Metro Dynamics is an independent, employee-owned consultancy. The role can be based in Manchester or London, with travel to clients around the UK.

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