Programme And Innovation Director

Do you want to disrupt the social impact space, by designing and delivering trailblazing programs to advance Virgin Unite’s mission of creating positive change in the world? Then this is the role for you!

We’re searching for a Programme & Innovation Director, who will be accountable for strategic programme design, developing and implementing strategic initiatives, managing programmes, and driving innovation. This person will be a core member, and will work closely with, the Virgin Unite leadership team.   

Our Virgin Family

Join the Virgin Group – a diverse collective driving change, enhancing customer experience, and having a blast. We're daring, disrupting industries from finance to space, united as part of the Virgin Family.

Virgin Management, the heart of Virgin, nurtures the brand globally. Our diverse, 180-strong team in London and New York, supports every facet of the Virgin empire, including Virgin Unite, our entrepreneurial foundation, and Virgin Start-Up, empowering UK entrepreneurs. Working in synergy with various Virgin entities globally, our interests are as diverse as travel, health, music, media, finance, and space. Our unique work culture and purpose unite us.

Virgin Unite, Virgin Group's charitable foundation, inspires action. We fuel radical collaboration to challenge the unacceptable. Our overheads, covered by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group, ensure 100% of donations fuel our initiatives.

Our mission:

To create a thriving world through entrepreneurial initiatives. Our work revolves around:

• Incubating courageous collectives
• Backing entrepreneurial solutions
• Convening purposeful communities
• Challenging unacceptable issues

Tell me more

Programme Design & Implementation:

• Steer the development of a portfolio of initiatives that support the delivery of innovative and entrepreneurial solutions to systemic social and environmental problems.
• Develop strategic proposals, including business plans, for incubation and growth of initiatives.
• Direct the implementation of new initiatives.
• Identify and develop partnership opportunities, to ensure Virgin Unite is working with global leaders and experts to deliver to our programmatic objectives. This may include development and delivery of private meetings, gatherings and large scale events.
• Provide strategic guidance to cross-functional teams involved in programme delivery, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities and objectives.

Innovation Leadership:

• Drive innovation within the foundation, exploring new and creative approaches to address societal challenges.
• Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration and continuous improvement, empowering teams to generate new ideas, experiment with new approaches, and push the boundaries of what's possible.
• Steer innovation initiatives and workshops to spark creativity and problem-solving across the organization.

Strategy & Impact:

• Alongside the leadership team, input into the development and delivery of Virgin Unite’s strategy and objectives to ensure it delivers to the vision and is sustainable.
• Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to assess the impact of the foundation's programmatic initiatives.
• Regularly evaluate and report on plans, using data-driven insights to inform decision-making.

Fundraising:

• Work with the Managing Director and Community Director to create and deliver an income generation strategy to ensure significant new income channels for Virgin Unite.
• Identify and secure partners to match fund large scale initiatives.

Trend Analysis & Insights:

• Maintain a breadth of knowledge about current trends, emerging issues and innovations that may impact Virgin Unite.
• Oversee the development and management of Virgin Unite’s research base to advance the organisation’s thought leadership and internal knowledge and insights.
• Thoroughly and insightfully research macro landscape and potential new projects/initiatives identified or received by Unite to determine relevance to the organisation.

Leadership:

• Ensure the team are fully engaged and motivated to deliver success with clear organisation and personal goals.
• Continually prioritise workload and people development to ensure support and capacity across a matrixed team.

What you’ll need

• Demonstratable extensive experience designing and delivering successful and forward-thinking programs that drive impact and create value.
• Strategic thinker with a deep understanding of design thinking, innovation methodologies and business strategy.
• Significant fundraising or revenue generation experience.
• Significant entrepreneurial experience, especially during ideation and start-up phases, with a focus on social and environmental ventures.
• Deep understanding of how to work within a networked system of decision making.
• Extensive partnership and complex stakeholder management experience
• Ability to thrive in ambiguity, adapt to change, and navigate complex challenges.
• Experience of working on/in the issues facing Low and Middle Income countries.
• Commercial experience within not for profit, social and environmental spaces is valuable.

The extra details

Role type: Permanent

Location: London hub & your home space

Working hours: Full time - We embrace flexible working. Let us know what hours empower you to be at your best both professionally and personally, we’ll try to find a perfect match for you and us.

Benefits: Dive into a fast-paced, evolving workspace, where your hard work and dedication is rewarded. Fancy unlimited holidays and weekly yoga? That's the Virgin way. We champion inclusion, wellbeing, and purposeful points strategies. Further benefits include flexible working, healthcare, dental schemes, pension contributions and an employee rewards scheme.

Closing date: 16 April 2024

Some of the attributes that define a Virgin person just can’t be quantified in words. We pride ourselves on welcoming people from all walks of life, with all sorts of skill sets. Most recently, we successfully campaigned to add ‘Dyslexic Thinking’ as a skill on LinkedIn. Any uniqueness is a strength and will be considered an asset to our workforce. If there is something you would like us to consider, to tailor the hiring process to the way you work best, please don’t hesitate to let us know. 

Excited to make each day rewarding? We'd love to learn more about you!