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Research & Innovation Manager (Scale) (Maternity Cover)
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Research & Innovation Manager (Maternity Cover)
Elrha is a global organisation that finds solutions to complex humanitarian problems through research and innovation.
About the Role
We are looking to recruit a Research & Innovation Manager (Maternity Cover) to join our Programmes team on a fixed-term basis. Funding for the role is currently secured until 28 February 2027. While we anticipate the maternity cover requirement continuing until the end of November 2027, any extension beyond 28 February 2027 will be dependent on funding being confirmed.
In this role, you will have the opportunity to lead and shape Elrha's Readiness to Scale Pipeline, supporting innovative humanitarian solutions as they progress towards wider adoption and real-world impact. You will work closely with promising scaling grantees and technical partners, providing strategic oversight, strengthening quality and learning, and helping to navigate risks and opportunities. As a key member of the team, you will play an important role in advancing and evolving Elrha's approach to scaling and adoption, contributing to the future of humanitarian innovation globally.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and shape Elrha's Readiness to Scale Pipeline
- Support innovative humanitarian solutions as they progress towards wider adoption and real-world impact
- Work closely with promising scaling grantees and technical partners
- Provide strategic oversight, strengthening quality and learning
- Help navigate risks and opportunities
- Advance and evolve Elrha's approach to scaling and adoption
Requirements
Your application will need to demonstrate:
- Experience of managing complex grants, programmes, or projects, including monitoring performance and impact.
- Experience designing and delivering applied learning and capacity building activities, including needs assessments, learning journeys, and strategy development.
- An understanding of how innovations can achieve scale, adoption, and sustainable impact.
- Excellent stakeholder management and collaboration skills, with the ability to engage diverse partners and build effective relationships.
- Proven ability to coordinate delivery, manage risk, and drive high-quality outcomes.
- An interest in the humanitarian or development sectors, ideally demonstrated through academic qualifications and/or paid or voluntary work.
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Experience of donor engagement, systems and design thinking methods, mentoring innovators, or working within humanitarian innovation would also be an advantage.
About You
If you want to be part of an organisation that creates positive change in the humanitarian sector, then join us and we’ll give you every opportunity to succeed.
Benefits
- Remote working as standard – staff can access office bases in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, and Manchester if required/appropriate. We expect staff to attend team meetings and away days in person as required.
- 35 hours per week as standard. We are also happy to discuss flexible working patterns and many of our staff work non-standard working hours.
- Minimum 5% employer pension contribution (3% employee contribution), life cover, organisational sick pay, family-friendly pay and leave schemes; 26-day basic annual leave entitlement with incremental increase depending on length of service, opportunities for learning and development, a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), and retail discounts platform.
- Please read through the Information for Candidates document for further information about working at Elrha including information about Our Values, Strategy, Benefits, and Salaries.
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Note for Applicants
- Candidates must have the independent right to work in the UK, and be resident in the UK, at the time of appointment as we are unable to support visa sponsorship for this role.
- This is a maternity cover position. Funding for the role is currently confirmed until 28 February 2027. Any extension beyond this date will be subject to the availability of funding and the ongoing requirements of the role.
- Please read through the job description for a detailed list of requirements, and ensure you complete the personal statement to explain how you feel you meet the requirements of the role and why you feel this is the next career move for you. Applications without this information will not be shortlisted.
- Elrha is an independent subsidiary of SCUK and benefits from some SCUK systems and processes.
- We reserve the right to close the advert early should we receive a very high volume of applications.
- We do not use recruitment agencies.
Application Details
For any questions, please contact the HR team at HR@elrha.org.
Salary range: £40,800 - £44,800 (0.80 FTE) per annum (£51,000 - £56,000 FTE).
Closing date: 20 September 2026
Interview dates: w/c 5 October 2026
This position was originally posted by Elrha and has been curated by PurposePhil Career. To apply, please visit the original listing on the "apply" link on the side. We are not affiliated with the employer organization of this job ad or consultancy, and provide this curated listing as a service to our users.
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