Made Smarter Organisational Development Specialist

The Made Smarter team within The Growth Company (GC) has an exciting new opportunity for a Made Smarter Organisational Development Specialist to work closely with the Made Smarter Organisational Development (OD) team to deliver organisational and workforce development advice to a portfolio of ambitious business owners and senior managers of SMEs with the potential to achieve productivity increases and growth through the adoption of Industrial Digital Technology (IDT). The advice will also focus on the skills of the workforce and how these can be enhanced to keep up, as the business advances in IDT. Made Smarter is a high-profile Technology Adoption Programme that is crucial to the delivery of the government's Advanced Manufacturing Plan. The Made Smarter Adoption Programme (MSA) currently operates in 5 regions across the Midlands and the north of England delivering not only investment to businesses but also establishing an ecosystem of suppliers and delivery partners. GC delivers Made Smarter Adoption, Northwest. The programme is highly visible to government and industry alike. Scale-up for full national delivery is planned for 2025/26 and further UK roll-out is planned in 2026/27. This role will cover the Northwest areas of Cumbria, Lancashire, Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester and Cheshire & Warrington.,

• To work with the Made Smarter OD team and with the Made Smarter TAS Advisers, to ensure that client companies can receive support on their digital transformation journey by identifying opportunities for in-work employee. development, for participation in the Leading Digital Transformation programme and the Leading Change for Digital Champions programme and for Digital Technology Internships (specialised student placement projects).
• Handling client enquiries via, phone and email, initially assessing the business needs using appropriate tools, processes and systems where required.
• To work with the Made Smarter OD team to deliver bespoke OD support to client businesses to enable them to meet their full potential; this may include a multi-disciplinary approach to support provision.
• Work with the Made Smarter OD team to recruit candidates from the digitally native student population, gathering skills profiling data to enable suitable matching of placement candidates to relevant IDT client projects.
• Undertake diagnostics for businesses using appropriate tools to identify development needs and recommend appropriate action plans.
• Support where required to monitor the progress of placement projects and record data from the clients and students to assess the impact of the project on the client's digital transformation journey and the student's career path.
• Help the Made Smarter OD Team to nurture and further develop an FE/HEI tutor network and maintain a high-level network of contacts.
• Ensure client enquiries and Digital Technology Internship project placements are correctly recorded on the CRM system, updating progress against agreed actions as plans progress., As part of our application process, you can ask to be considered under this scheme if you are from an ethnic community or have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. Providing that you meet the essential criteria for the role, you will then be invited for an interview. Your guaranteed interview application will only be shared with the Hiring Manager and our Internal Recruitment Team.
We are a member of the national campaign Ban the Box; this campaign aims to open opportunities for people with convictions to compete for jobs. We're supporting the campaign by removing conviction questions at the applications stage. GC aims to promote a culture of flexibility and agile working. Going forward we will be transitioning to a culture where full agile working will be a feature of many of our roles. We also recognise that there may be a need for more permanent flexibility in your working arrangements and in such cases, we encourage you to have these discussions at the interview stage, to enable your flexible working request to be considered as early as possible. If you require support with the recruitment process, please contact or Internal Recruitment Team at or call us on . All GC colleagues will work inline with the Health & Safety at work act and the GC Health & Safety Policy.


• Ability to engage leaders and senior management teams to change the way their business will have to operate.
• Proven business/workforce development diagnostic skills.
• Understanding of the digital skills arena including funded/non funded provision, the Apprenticeship Levy and national and local priorities.
• Ability to establish and maintain rapport/mutual benefit relationships over sustained periods.
Knowledge/Skills/Experience Required:
• Degree level business education, or degree level qualification with a management body OR the relevant business experience to match. (Essential)
• Experience of working with clients undertaking Digital Transformation or Digital Adoption projects.
• Technical knowledge in the key areas of Business Advice and Organisation Development.
• Practical experience of diagnosing business, departmental and individual organisational/ training/development needs, or similar experience within a HR/OD environment.
• Experience of teamworking across a wide geographical area and holds valid UK driver's license with access to a vehicle. (Essential).
• Understanding of the way workforce development programmes operate within SMEs and the infrastructure required to design, implement, manage, and review them. (Desirable)., We are committed to increasing the diversity of our workforce, we provide a guaranteed interview to applicants who meet the essential requirements for a role. This commitment applies to candidates who have a disability or are from a diverse ethnic community.