Access to Funding Specialist
Leigh Court, Bristol (currently working from home)

About Us

Business West is a not-for-profit company with 200 staff and a turnover of £12 million. 21,000 businesses trust us to help them start, grow, innovate and export – as well as lobby government on their behalf. Profits are reinvested back into the business in order to achieve our mission.

We’re working with our network of partners across the UK to deliver a targeted multi-year, multi-million-pound project to support the nation’s most innovative and high growth potential businesses. Funded by Innovate UK, the programme will provide expert bespoke support to those key businesses whose continued success will help speed the UK’s economic recovery and deliver significant future growth.

We are currently looking for an Access to Funding Specialist to join us on a full-time basis.

The Benefits

– Salary of £37,000 – £40,000 per annum DOE
– Laptop and mobile phone
– BHSF health cash plan scheme
– Pension
– Life cover (x4 salary)
– 25 days’ holiday plus Bank Holidays (rising to 28 days after 3 years’ service)
– Your birthday off
– 2 volunteer days each year
– Subscription to Headspace

If you have an in-depth understanding of the innovation funding landscape, both nationally and internationally, this is an excellent opportunity to support some of the most ambitious, pioneering SMEs in the South West.

You will have the chance to see some of the amazing projects these companies are working on and make a significant contribution to the success of their business, supporting them to grow and scale.

The Role

As the Access to Funding Specialist, you will provide bespoke one-to-one support to businesses to increase their chances of successful grant applications.

Building strong working relationships, you will work closely with businesses who are considering applying for innovation grant funding. You will help them to fully understand the funding landscape and assess the suitability of grants for their business.

You will work across the various IUK funded support programmes including i2s, Enterprise Europe Network, and Horizon 2020 to provide an integrated support package.

Additionally, you will:

– Work with clients and advisors to develop a grant funding strategy
– Upskill clients on the requirements of the grant funding process
– Review and critique draft applications
– When appropriate, undertake partner searches for clients to identify opportunities for collaborative projects

About You

To join us as the Access to Funding Specialist, you’ll need:

– An in-depth understanding of the innovation funding landscape, both nationally and internationally
– The ability to coach exceedingly demanding client businesses
– Strong relationship-building skills

Other organisations may call this role Funding Advisor, Enterprise Funding Advisor, Funding Manager, Grants Advisor, Funding Consultant, or Grant Funding Specialist.

Business West is committed to promoting equality of opportunity for all staff and job applicants. We aim to create a working environment in which all individuals are able to make best use of their skills, free from discrimination or harassment, and in which all decisions are based on merit.