Application Deadline: 31 May 2026
Department: Engagement
Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time
Location: Field
Reporting To: Head of Agri Value Chain Engagement
Compensation: £58,000 - £70,000 / year
Job purpose
Working closely with the Head of Agri Value Chain Engagement, this role will develop and lead the industry-facing engagement strategy and activity across the agri-food value chain.
The role is responsible for engaging relevant Industry value chain stakeholders to understand their agri-tech needs, and to ensure they have awareness of emerging technologies that are commercially relevant, supporting adoption-readiness, and positioning emerging technologies across the agri-food sector.
It will provide leadership to a team, aligning engagement activity to programme milestones, commercialisation pathways, and long-term sector transformation goals. The role acts as the senior bridge between innovation development and scale, value chain customers, professional bodies, and strategic stakeholders—ensuring that technologies developed within programmes translate into measurable ROI, capability uplift, and sustainable market adoption.
This role is field-based, which means you’ll be travelling to client sites, partner sites and our locations as part of your day-to-day work. You may also work from your home address for a minority of the week or attend one of our sites from time to time. Our main locations are: Oxford, York, Edinburgh, Cranfield, Newport (Midlands).
· With the Head of, develop and own the organisation’s value chain industry engagement framework, developing tangible deliverable that fulfil UK Agri-Tech Centre strategy needs.
· Ensure structured routes are developed with a value chain stakeholders to build awareness, identify validation requirements and support adoption routes.
· Align engagement strategy with programme KPIs, impact targets, and commercial objectives.
· Provide senior-level insight into emerging industry trends, risks, and adoption barriers via reporting and data collection.
· Oversee the development of robust, evidence-based ROI case studies across relevant operational environments.
· Ensure consistent methodology for impact measurement across the engagement team.
· Support go-to-market positioning for technologies reaching commercial readiness.
· Build strategic partnerships with professional bodies, accreditation organisations, and training providers at a variety of levels.
· Ensure emerging agri-tech skill requirements are captured and embedded into CPD frameworks and industry standards.
· Lead sector-level conversations on future skills and advisory readiness.
· Align programme outputs with long-term workforce capability development.
· Provide senior oversight of communications and stakeholder mapping relating to the innovation pipeline.
· Represent the organisation at high-level industry engagement activity/events
· Identify and secure strategic, high-value partnerships with supply chain leaders, corporates, and sector bodies.
· Support innovators access commercial customers.
· Line manage and develop a high performing team.
· Set clear objectives, KPIs, and performance expectations aligned to programme outcomes.
· Foster a collaborative culture across all relevant teams.
· Ensure structured feedback loops from industry inform programme design and future calls.
· Provide senior reporting on engagement performance, adoption metrics, and commercial traction.
· Identify systemic barriers to adoption and escalate strategically.
· Accountable for budgetary spend associated with the Agri Supply Chain activity delivery.
Essential Skills & Experience
· Extensive experience within the UK agri-food or agri-tech sector.
· Demonstrable success in strategic partnership development and commercial engagement.
· Experience leading teams and managing performance.
· Strong understanding of farm business drivers (productivity, profitability, sustainability).
· Experience translating innovation into commercial outcomes.
Desirable
· Experience operating within a structured programme or portfolio delivery environment.
· Familiarity with professional accreditation and CPD frameworks.
Key Competencies
· Commercial and market insight.
· Team development and performance management.
· Systems thinking across innovation ecosystems.
· Credible sector authority and thought leadership.
UK driving licence is mandatory to have.
You will be part of a pioneering organisation driving innovation in agri-tech, whilst working in a collaborative and forward-thinking environment. There is opportunity to grow and develop within a newly established organisation, plus a range of benefits including:
If you are ready for a role that truly makes an impact - join us and be part of something meaningful. We’d love to hear from you!
Established by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, the UK Agri-Tech Centre offers a complete life-cycle of support, driving agri-tech innovation and adoption through world-class facilities, expert knowledge and business support, saving you time and accelerating your progress.
We strengthen the connections between science, business and funders to accelerate research and development, tackling the agri-industry’s most critical challenges such as climate change, labour availability, disease mitigation and environmental sustainability.
As an independent, not-for-profit organisation, we are trusted to provide leadership and guidance to progress transformational change for people and the planet while stimulating economic growth by offering physical centres with cutting-edge R&D laboratories, testbeds, factories and offices.
