Salary: Commensurate with the skills and experience of the candidate and the seniority of the role
FTE: 1.0 (35 hours per week)
Term: Fixed (until April 2025)
Closing date: 30 October 2023
Glasgow is a vibrant city where the FinTech sector is growing at an unprecedented rate. Many large financial firms have established their product development centres in Glasgow: JP Morgan, Barclays, Morgan Stanley, Virgin Money, Tesco Bank and many more. With a highly skilled population and a growing tech start up scene, University of Strathclyde has prioritised the FinTech Cluster (one of six strategic clusters at the University of Strathclyde) as part of our plans to develop the next phase of the University’s Technology & Innovation Zone located within the Glasgow City Innovation District.
Following the Chancellor’s announcement in the Spring budget 2023, to accelerate innovation across the UK in clusters with high growth potential, a one third share of £100m has been allocated to Glasgow to accelerate the growth of “high-potential innovation clusters” in “transformative” R&D projects.
A bid led by FinTech Scotland, in collaboration with the University of Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow, has received funding to establish a Financial Regulation Innovation Lab. This Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (herein the ‘Lab’), a first for the UK, builds on the FinTech Scotland Fintech Research & Innovation Roadmap published last year, highlighting the opportunity for more research and innovation in financial regulation. This initiative aligns itself with the UK Government Science and Technology Framework published in March 2023 to put the UK at the forefront of global science and technology. This will be a unique environment bringing together FinTech entrepreneurs, large UK and global financial services firms and technology enterprises, regulators, universities and third sector bodies to drive financial innovation in addressing financial regulation opportunities and challenges.
The role-holder will support the development of the Lab and work closely with the University’s Industry Engagement and Innovation Directorate, the University’s FinTech Cluster Lead and Fintech Scotland’s Strategic Innovation Director. The role-holder will support the delivery of the Innovation Call series for the Lab – a series of demand-led challenges set by industry that will be launched, with subsequent awards provided to successful FinTech companies to develop solutions to these challenges - and the resulting industry engagement activities.
The immediate task for the newly appointed High Growth Advisor will be to support the development and coordination of the Innovation Call series (detailed below) linked to the delivery of the Lab and support key engagements between the University of Strathclyde, FinTech Scotland and University of Glasgow to deliver and scale up support to the FinTech ecosystem in Scotland linked to this programme.
With extensive relevant leadership experience, gained from significant business experience in digitally transforming leading companies in the financial sector, the role of High Growth Advisor will be integral in shaping and directing an effective interface between the diverse range of stakeholders who engage with the Lab. The role holder will build effective networks, sector relationships and multi-party collaborations through strong negotiation skills, business acumen and strategic vision.
For informal enquiries, please contact Catherine Breslin, Head of Industry Engagement & Commercialisation at catherine.breslin@strath.ac.uk