Innovation Manager: GDI Accelerate - Work With Us

Our mission is to accelerate ideas into impact for a more just world - for disabled people, and all people. Our vision is for disability inclusion and social justice. We work towards a world without barriers to participation, where everyone has the opportunity to live a joyful life.

GDI Hub has two operational centres, the Community Interest Company (CIC) which is a not-for-profit and an Academic Research Centre (ARC) based at University College London (UCL) and we act as one big team. This role is with the CIC.
Together and in collaboration with global partners we work in 40+ countries, with a reach of more than 64 million people since 2016.

Launched in 2016 as a legacy of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, our office and research lab continue to be based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, at UCL’s East London campus.

We are seeking new roles to support our growing innovation activities, which sit within GDI Accelerate (GDIA).

**GDI Accelerate (GDIA)**innovates where systems fail the most vulnerable: building breakthrough technology, strengthening local expertise, and creating lasting infrastructure so everyone can participate fully in economic and social life with agency and dignity. GDI Accelerate has a strong track record of developing initiatives which scale including ‘Innovate Now’, Africa’s first Assistive Technology (AT) accelerator. Our latest initiative is the Centre for Digital Language Inclusion (CDLI).

## Centre for Digital Language Inclusion (CDLI)

CDLI is a global initiative to collect and share non‑standard speech data and democratise access to AI technology; ultimately ensuring speech recognition is possible for everyone. CDLI operates across an end‑to‑end innovation lifecycle, combining community‑led data collection, fine‑tuning of speech recognition models, development of mobile and assistive applications, training and capacity building, and local innovation sprints that enable communities to create, adapt, and sustain inclusive communication technologies.

GDI Hub values inclusion as a core business success factor. We are a Disability Confident (Committed) employer and actively seek to attract employees from diverse backgrounds and particularly welcome applications for this role from disabled people and people from all cultural and faith backgrounds. The accommodation of reasonable adjustments is business as usual for us. The role requires two days a week in our London based offices in either Stratford on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park or Euston Road.

## Role Purpose

**We are hiring up to three Innovation Managers as a complementary team within GDI Accelerate.**Collectively, the team will cover the core competencies in this job description and contribute across programme delivery, venture support, ecosystem-building, monitoring/evaluation/learning (MEL), stakeholder management, and knowledge outputs. Innovation Managers will collaborate closely with programme leads, delivery partners, researchers, mentors, funders, and disabled people and their organisations.

**Programme & Accelerator Delivery**

1. Deliver components of accelerator and venture support pipelines, including outreach, application support, selection, onboarding, masterclasses/expert sessions, mentoring coordination, and Demo Days.This includes tailoring support to venture‑specific blockers (e.g. evidence needs, behaviour change, regulatory pathways, or market access) rather than delivering a one‑size‑fits‑all programme.

2. Manage participant engagement and inclusive participation practices, including collaboration with people with diverse speech patterns, speech impairments, and communication needs (including AAC, gesture, typing, or other modes).
3. Apply inclusive, trauma-informed, and accessible communication practices throughout all participant and community interactions.
4. Develop and maintain lean project management and documentation practices, delivery workflows, and continuous improvement cycles (including learning loops and delivery rhythm).

### **Venture Support & Innovation Advisory**

1. Support ventures with structured input on product development, business strategy, impact pathways, and partnership building.
2. Provide hands-on support where needed (e.g., market readiness, organisational strengthening, investment preparation, and storytelling support).
3. Support ventures to develop decision‑grade evidence (e.g. behaviour change insights, market access evidence, or impact narratives) that unlock adoption, investment, or scale.

### **Ecosystem & Community Engagement**

1. Build and sustain communities of innovators, mentors, technical experts, partners, and funders around the GDI Accelerate portfolio.
2. Design and deliver ecosystem engagement activities (community events, roundtables, peer learning sessions, thematic exchanges), ensuring accessibility and inclusive participation.
3. Maintain venture pipelines, ecosystem maps, and relationship databases; strengthen outreach and referral pathways that feed accelerator cohorts and related programmes.
4. Produce community-facing content (e.g., newsletters, insights, curated knowledge outputs) that supports participation, trust, and momentum.

### **Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL)**

1. Implement MEL systems aligned to logframes; track indicators, outcomes, and venture progression; support learning cycles and iteration.This includes learning‑oriented diagnostics and reflective practices that support iteration, adaptation, and continuous improvement across programmes.

### **Stakeholder & Partner Management**

1. Maintain effective relationships with funders, delivery partners, research institutions, governments, and international collaborators; support coordination across geographies.

### **Reporting, Knowledge Products & Programme Development**

2. Produce high-quality reports, decks, briefs, playbooks, case studies, and public-facing insights; translate outcomes into accessible public goods and repeatable programme assets.
**Team Operations**

3. Contribute to joyful, effective and caring ways of working and cross-team collaboration; coordinate documentation, planning, risk logs, communications, and delivery governance.
4. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list. The need for flexibility, shared accountability and team working is required and the role-holder is expected to carry out any other related duties that are within the employee's skills and abilities whenever reasonably instructed. This is a description of the role as it is at present. It is the practice of GDI Hub to review role profiles regularly to ensure that they relate to the role being performed. These reviews will be carried out by the line manager in consultation with the role holder.