Head of Provider Engagement

Head of Provider Engagement

Application Deadline: 2 May 2025

Department: Small Business Support

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: London

Compensation: £68,000 - £72,800 / year

Description

Launched in January, Grow London Local (GLL) is the one place SMEs can get free access to small business support and services they need to thrive.

The Head of Provider Engagement will provide strategic leadership to the Provider Engagement team supported by two Senior Managers. You will lead on building and maintaining strategic relationships with Business Support and Skills service providers across London to ensure that our navigation services, including Grow London Local (GLL), have acquired the right quality, type and volume of service provision (in-person/online courses, events, etc.) to enable Small and Medium Enterprises (particularly disadvantaged entrepreneurs) to thrive.

As Head of Provider Engagement, you will be responsible for leading all aspects of the L&P provider engagement strategy, including working with the wider GLL team to identify and address gaps in providers and to identify ways to meet SME's needs.

The role will directly support the Director of Corporate Affairs to develop long-term operational strategies to assist in meeting the company's objective for supporting SMEs across London and aligning work with DBT's wider business strategy.

Key Tasks

Collaboration: Continued engagement with delivery partners to improve join-up and processes across GLL and BGS and with SMEs to ensure the service meets their diverse needs. Act as Lead for the work with Grow Hub Cluster and National network.

Scope: Continue to build the GLL service over the next few years integrating additional sector offers including Made Smarter.

Integration: Seek to integrate wider government-funded business support services and links with university and private sector services.

Digital experience: Promote development of the modernised digital interface and personalised dashboards through the development of the Grow OS project.

Long-term setup: Work across L&P teams to support digital platforms.

You will be a natural leader who can bring passion, energy, creativity and strategic leadership to a high-performing team. You will be self-motivated and proactive, able to quickly develop relationships with key providers, industry stakeholders and internal teams to deliver our provision strategy.

You will ensure there is consistency and best practice in account management of our providers, strategic managed engagement and other stakeholders and quality of the provision that is available to our business delivery team and digital platform. You will ensure that systems and processes are in place to deliver benefits, track satisfaction and build long-term, valuable relationships. You will lead the team to deliver the strategy and work closely with teams across London and Partners, including the Partnerships team.

The Head of Provider Engagement will be an integral part of the Strategy & Small Business Directorate Senior Leadership Team.

Additional Tasks

• Lead the development of a cohesive and integrated business support and skills provision strategy across London & Partners, including annual business plan, objectives and KPIs.

Lead on continuous development of our provider offer including:

• Identify, engage and manage relationships with FE Colleges, Independent Training Providers, Institutes of Adult Learning, Universities.
• Engage with the relevant departments within the Greater London Authority (GLA) and London Boroughs to align our employer skills strategy with their economic development priorities.
• Work closely with GLA colleagues to share insights from GLL to inform the development of skills policies and programmes and ensure GLL includes the most up-to-date information on Mayor of London funded skills programmes.
• Identify opportunities to create community/enhance collaboration across the provider community.

Leadership

• Lead Two Senior Managers and a team of provision relationship managers and support executive to develop, identify, map and account manage business and skills providers who deliver support for small businesses.
• Inspire the team, set clear direction and accountability, ensure high performance, create a culture of continuous personal development.
• Build strong working relationships with the other Heads of Service across the Small Business Directorate at London & Partners.

You'll have/bring

Management: Required: Successful management experience. Ability to lead, manage and motivate and develop a team effectively.

Ideal: Experience delivering services or designing skills policy in relation to small businesses.

Inclusion and outreach: Required: A demonstrated commitment to inclusion and an understanding of structural inequalities.

Ideal: Track record of delivering a service for communities who face barriers to accessing public services.

Communication: A clear, engaging and inspiring communicator, able to convey a motivating and compelling sense of purpose and direction to key audiences. Able to build and maintain relationships and promote collaboration.

Policy and stakeholder: Required: Able to operate effectively in a fast-paced, public-private, politically sensitive setting.

Required: Experience of working with leaders and influencers within the business support and skills sectors.

Ideal: Expertise in small business and skills ecosystems and related policy.

Service delivery and technology: Required: Able to lead a small team to deliver a high-quality service with a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

Personal growth: Demonstrates self-awareness, frequently seeking out challenges and opportunities to improve both personal and organisational performance.

• We look for talented people who share our values.
• We are passionate about London - its history, culture and creativity. We work to build a vibrant future for London and for the UK. We are proud to serve our city.
• We are enterprising - we are curious, creative and resilient. We work with partners and the market to achieve our mission for London. We generate profit to reinvest in London's future growth.
• We are inclusive. We champion diversity internally and externally. We strive to reflect the city we represent. We create communities where people feel valued and belong.

You'll Get

• To join a fast-paced, flexible and inclusive social enterprise.
• Hybrid working environment.
• 30 days' holiday in addition to UK public holidays.
• Excellent employer pension contribution and Medical Cash Plan.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close a vacancy earlier than the advertised date. This is to ensure our teams can manage application levels while maintaining a positive candidate experience. Once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications, so please submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

London's diversity is its biggest asset. At London & Partners, we aim to ensure our workforce reflects the diversity of the city that we promote. We encourage applications from people of any age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or assignment, faith or disability. We also appreciate that many people require flexibility in their working patterns and encourage you to talk to us at interview about any flexibility you may need, be it full-time, job-share, or part-time.

We encourage applications from all sections of the community.