Innovation Manager

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Job Description

What's in it for you
Being a part of M&S is exactly that - playing your part to bring the magic of M&S to our customers every day. We're an inclusive, dynamic, exciting, and ever evolving business built on doing the right thing and bringing outstanding quality, value, service to every customer, whenever, wherever and however they want to shop with us.

Here are some of the benefits we offer that make working for M&S just that little bit more special...

• After completing your probationary period, you'll receive 20% colleague discount across all M&S products and many of our third-party brands for you and a member of your household.
• Competitive holiday entitlement with the potential to buy extra holiday days!
• Discretionary bonus schemes awarded based on how you achieve your personal objectives and our performance as a business.
• A generous Defined Contribution Pension Scheme and Life Assurance.
• A dedicated welcome to our teams with a tailored induction and a wide range of training programmes to develop your skills.
• Amazing perks and discounts via our M&S Choices portal to maximise your financial and personal wellbeing.
• Industry-leading parental, adoption and neonatal policies, providing support and flexibility for your family.
• Access to a fantastic range of wellbeing support for all colleagues including access to our 24/7 Virtual GP and PAM Assist to support you and your family.
• A charity volunteer day to support a charity or cause you're passionate about through a dedicated day away from work.

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What you'll do

• Lead co-creation workstreams with D&T top 10 supplier partners.
• Collaborate with internal and external partners to develop concepts and agendas that drive innovation and engagement.
• Plan and implement a variety of innovation-focused events, including team challenges, workshops, hackathons, external speakers and networking events.
• Develop and lead event budgets, ensuring efficient planning and execution.
• Coordinate internal communication and event content to improve attendance, engagement and impact.
• Evaluate event success through feedback and metrics, and use insights to continuously improve future events.

Who you are

• A passion for problem solving and future technology.
• Shown experience in planning and implementing successful events, preferably with a focus on innovation or technology.
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to balance multiple events simultaneously.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships with diverse partners.
• Creative thinking and problem-solving abilities.
• Validated experience in running innovation programmes or projects.
• Experience with design thinking, agile methodologies, or other innovation frameworks.

Key relationships and partners

• Management of key innovation relationships with D&T's top 10 suppliers, e.g. Microsoft, Google, TCS and Accenture
• Key relationships with D&T colleagues at all levels and across teams to deliver innovation events, including rapid prototyping events and hackathons
• Key internal relationships across the business, SMEs and decision makers working on strategic programmes

Everyone's welcome
We are ambitious about the future of retail. We're redefining, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We're redefining how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen.

We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together.

If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don't hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.

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