Innovation Manager

Job description

Job Description

Innovation Manager (Maternity Cover) Fixed Term Contract / Secondment Opportunity | 10978 | | 37 hours per week | £50,166 to £54,277 per annum (Scale L) | County Hall, Norwich

Make a difference through innovation, insight and service transformation.

Are you passionate about improving public services and helping organisations tackle complex challenges?

We are seeking an experienced and enthusiastic Innovation Manager to provide maternity cover within our Business Change & Innovation Team.

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the heart of transformation activity, supporting major service redesign programmes and helping teams across the organisation develop innovative, evidence-based solutions that improve outcomes for residents and staff.

About the role

As an Innovation Manager, you will lead and support discovery and design activities that help shape organisational change. Working with colleagues from across the council and partner organisations, you will bring together insight, research, service design and facilitation techniques to understand problems, identify opportunities and develop practical solutions.

You will work on complex transformation programmes, helping teams to:

• Understand resident, customer and staff needs
• Map services, processes and user journeys
• Facilitate workshops and co-design activities
• Analyse and synthesise research and insight
• Develop and test new approaches and service improvements
• Support learning and evaluation
• Build capability in innovation and continuous improvement
• Contribute to organisational change and transformation initiatives

The role requires someone who is comfortable working in ambiguity, engaging a wide range of stakeholders and helping teams move from problems to practical action.

Key responsibilities

• Lead discovery and service design activities for strategic programmes and projects.
• Plan and facilitate workshops, stakeholder engagement sessions and co-production activities.
• Conduct qualitative research and insight gathering to understand challenges and opportunities.
• Develop visual maps, frameworks and tools that support decision-making and shared understanding.
• Support teams to test, learn and evaluate new approaches.
• Produce clear reports, recommendations and presentations for a range of audiences.
• Build strong relationships across services, communities and partner organisations.
• Promote innovative thinking, continuous improvement and user-centred design approaches.

About you

We are looking for someone who can combine curiosity, empathy and analytical thinking to help solve complex problems.

You will have experience in one or more of the following areas:

Innovation and service improvement

• Human-centred design or service design
• Organisational development
• Business change and transformation
• User research and insight
• Community development and engagement
• Learning and development
• Facilitation and workshop design

You will also be able to demonstrate:

• Strong stakeholder engagement and relationship-building skills
• Excellent communication and facilitation abilities
• Experience working across organisational boundaries
• The ability to synthesise complex information into clear recommendations
• A collaborative and reflective approach
• Confidence managing multiple priorities and projects

What you'll gain

This role offers a unique opportunity to work across a diverse portfolio of innovation and transformation programmes, influencing services that support residents and communities. You'll join a supportive team that values curiosity, learning, experimentation and collaboration.

Whether your background is in service design, research, change management, organisational development or innovation, this is a chance to apply your expertise to meaningful public sector challenges while developing your skills and professional network.

If you would like to find out more about the role, discuss the opportunity, or have any questions before applying, please contact Chris Baker, Senior Innovation and Business Change Manager, via email: [email protected] or Telephone: 01603 729252 for an informal conversation.

We welcome enquiries from anyone interested in learning more about the position and the team.

These are some benefits you can enjoy by working for Norfolk County Council:

• Competitive salary
• Generous holiday entitlement
• Health and Wellbeing services including fast-track physiotherapy and a free counselling service
• Flexible working opportunities including flexi-time, part time, remote and hybrid working - dependent on your job role and business need.
• Financial benefits such as:
  
  • 'Norfolk Rewards' our employee discounts programme which helps you save money on almost anything, from everyday groceries and clothes, to holidays, new technology, gym membership, trips to the cinema and days out.
  • A Blue Light card for Fire Service and Social Care Workers
  • Relocation expenses (where applicable)
  • An advance of your expenses if you travel for work
  • Local Government Pension Scheme with generous employer contribution, life assurance, death in service payments and dependants' pensions
  • Tax efficient ways of getting extra pension and new bikes
  • Access to our tax efficient car lease scheme for greener travel enabling you to lease a brand new, ultra-low emission vehicle (subject to eligibility)
  • A payment if you refer someone you know to a hard to fill job

We want our people to be inspired and motivated to work well together, make the most of our workspaces, enjoy a healthy work-life balance, and deliver excellent services to Norfolk and its people. Flexibility is built into the way we work, with hybrid working a key feature for many roles. Our technology platform and equipment are first class, enabling you to connect and collaborate remotely. We ask that you have in place good Broadband connectivity.

Before you apply, we recommend reading the fullJob Description and Person Specificationto help you demonstrate how you meet the criteria. You can also find information on our Terms and Conditions here.

Already a Norfolk County Council employee? See and apply for all internal and external vacancies via myOracle using your @norfolk.gov.uk or @nccal.ac.uk email.

We would like to make you aware that priority consideration for this post may be given to current employees who are at risk due to restructure within the organisation or are in a redeployment position.

Redeployment closing date: 26 August 2026 23:59

All other applicants closing date: 02 September 2026 23:59

About Us

We have miles of beautiful coastline and our unique Broads, thriving market towns and a city with a proud cultural heritage. Our economy is growing and driven by innovation in a number of sectors, including energy and food. We also have ambitious plans for new housing and a building programme for schools across Norfolk. Our county a great place to live, work and visit, and is an excellent environment for businesses to start, grow and innovate.

We are the main local authority for Norfolk providing services countywide to more than 850,000 Norfolk residents. We take the lead in critical policy areas, working with 84 elected Members responsible for the strategic local government services in the county.

We provide a high quality service through involving people who use our services to shape and comment on them and by promoting efficiency and innovation.

We work in partnership with local businesses, voluntary organisations and other local authorities such as District and Parish Councils to provide the people of Norfolk with excellent services.