Senior Policy Lead – Innovation and Productivity Policies

Join us to head our new policy team, which is responsible for policy analysis, outreach and engagement on innovation and productivity policies.

Location: Remote or Hybrid (Spain & UK)

Closing date: 8:00 am, 1st May 2025 BST

Apply here

About the Innovation Growth Lab

The Innovation Growth Lab (IGL) is a global policy lab dedicated to fostering productive, inclusive, and sustainable economies through the application of innovative policy ideas, experimentation, data and evidence. We partner with policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and funders worldwide to address key challenges in science, innovation, entrepreneurship, and business productivity policies.

IGL is a non-profit initiative hosted by Nesta, the UK Innovation Foundation, and the Barcelona School of Economics (BSE). Launched in 2014, IGL has become the global leader in this nascent field, achieved substantial policy impact across the OECD, and helped advance the experimentation agenda in this policy space.

We’ve helped over 50 government agencies worldwide to become more experimental, engaged with policymakers from over 45 countries at multiple levels (from EU finance ministers at the Eurogroup to junior changemakers within ministries and innovation agencies), successfully campaigned for the creation of experimentation funds in the UK and the EU, and seeded a growing global community of policymakers, practitioners and researchers engaged in policy experimentation in this field, collaborating with over 120 organisations to advance
this agenda.

Following our recent strategy review, IGL is setting up a new policy team to broaden our policy work, enhance engagement with policy stakeholders, accelerate the diffusion of novel policy ideas, and increase policymakers’ interest in experimental, data-driven, and evidence-based approaches to policymaking.

See www.innovationgrowthlab.org to learn more about our work.

Position Overview

We are looking for a Senior Policy Lead to set up and lead the new IGL policy team, which is responsible for policy analysis, outreach and engagement. This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in shaping the global conversation around innovation and productivity policies, while also driving the impact of IGL’s work. This is a new role with the opportunity to shape it, develop it and grow with it.

The ideal candidate will bring substantial experience and expertise in innovation and productivity policies. The Senior Policy Lead will report to the Director of IGL and will lead IGL’s engagement with policymakers, curating fresh policy ideas and insights, championing impactful and innovative policies, and leveraging IGL’s policy and research networks to further our mission.

You’ll be committed to helping accelerate innovation and productivity growth, with a strong interest and curiosity for the latest policy ideas and evidence in this field. Your work will help raise the profile of IGL, our ideas and our methods across the OECD, increasing policymakers’ interest in experimental, data-driven and evidence-based policymaking. Leveraging your policy experience, you will lead in shaping the most effective strategy and approaches to attain our policy objectives.

You will be a trusted voice, offering valuable policy insights and advice to our stakeholders, drawing on both your expertise and the collective knowledge of our team and networks. Building strong relationships with stakeholders will come naturally to you, whether online or offline, and you will foster new connections that bring our communities closer together. A skilled communicator and writer, you will help shape our narratives and communications strategy for maximum impact.

While experimentation and data science are central to IGL’s work, you won’t be expected to become an expert in RCT design or data science methods. Instead, you’ll gain a good understanding of their value and become a strong advocate for their wider use.

You will be a strategic and creative thinker with an entrepreneurial mindset, developing effective strategies to deliver our policy goals, demonstrating sound judgement in navigating complex policy landscapes, and proactively identifying and pursuing new opportunities to grow IGL’s work and impact.

In the first 24 months in your new role, you will have established a high-impact programme to curate and disseminate novel policy ideas, accelerated the adoption of experimental and data-driven policy-making through a successful campaign, and strengthened IGL’s positioning and relationships with stakeholders, resulting in new partnerships and projects.

Key Responsibilities:

• Policy Leadership & Strategy:
  • Lead and shape IGL’s policy engagement strategy, ensuring alignment with our mission.
  • Lead, grow and mentor the policy team, fostering a collaborative, innovative and impact-focused environment.
  • Identify new opportunities to expand IGL’s impact and influence, exploring different models and approaches.
• Policy Insights & Analysis:
  • Set up and lead a new programme of work on frontier policy ideas in innovation and productivity policies, curating innovative policy ideas and disseminating them in easy-to-digest formats
    • Ensure IGL can contribute unique, valuable and timely insights to relevant global policy discussions as well as to our policy stakeholders, providing ideas, advice, and commentary grounded on robust evidence.
    • Lead the delivery of externally-funded policy research projects, spanning light touch short-term pieces to larger in-depth projects and providing real-world policy insights.
• Advocacy for Experimental and Data-Driven Policymaking:
  • Develop and implement a campaign to increase the adoption of experimental and data-driven policymaking in IGL’s policy areas across the OECD (in collaboration with other IGL teams).
  • Successful outcomes would include increased public investment in policy experimentation, higher number of governments actively experimenting, the creation of new internal experimentation units/teams within governments (such as the UK Metascience Unit), the launch of experimentation funds (such as the UK Business Basics Fund), or opening up more public data for research (such as the EIC Datathon)
  • Increase engagement with policymakers, thought leaders and other key stakeholders, building and maintaining a diverse and influential network that expands IGL’s reach and influence, ensuring that they remain engaged with IGL’s work.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Relationship Building:
  • Act as a trusted advisor for IGL Partners and other policymakers, ensuring IGL’s work is incorporated into critical policy discussions and decisions.
  • Develop and implement scalable formats for engaging with policymakers, facilitating continuous knowledge exchange across our policy network to support collaboration and the sharing of best practices.
  • Develop partnerships with key stakeholders, proactively identifying opportunities for collaboration and strategic alliances to advance IGL’s mission and impact.
  • Build relationships with potential funders to secure financial support to grow the team and our broader work.
  • Represent IGL at events, strengthening IGL’s visibility and impact in policy circles across the OECD.
• Communications & Dissemination:
  • Lead IGL’s communications function, ensuring alignment with organisational goals and strategies.
  • Develop and implement compelling policy narratives and outputs, ensuring IGL’s messaging drives change and influences decision-makers at all levels.
  • Oversee the development and delivery of IGL’s communication plan, including publications and events, to maximise visibility, impact, and stakeholder engagement.

Key requirements:

• A strong interest in science, innovation, entrepreneurship, and business productivity policies, with a belief in the power of new approaches, experimentation, data, and evidence to shape better policies.
• 7-10 years of experience in innovation, entrepreneurship, business, productivity, economic development, and/or industrial policies, gained in government, innovation agencies, think tanks, multilaterals, or organisations closely working with governments on policy design and implementation. Candidates with less experience will also be considered if they can demonstrate tangible impact on policy development related to innovation and productivity policies.
• Proven experience leading high-level policy engagement and managing relationships with stakeholders (including government officials, international organisations, academics, funders, and the private sector).
• Exceptional communication and writing skills, with the ability to craft clear, persuasive policy narratives, reports, and other materials for diverse audiences.
• Proven experience in policy analysis and research, with a strong understanding of policy debates and academic literature, the ability to critically assess policy ideas and evidence, and the willingness to learn about experimental and data-driven approaches to policymaking.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement effective strategies to influence policy decisions.
• A relevant graduate degree (e.g., in economics, public policy, political science, innovation studies, or a related field) or equivalent experience.

What we offer

Salary: Competitive remuneration commensurate with experience plus an array of benefits. Depending on the successful candidate’s experience, we may offer a position at a different level.

Location: This role can be based in Spain or the UK. IGL has offices in Barcelona and London but this role can also be remote (within those two countries). Please note that for appointments made in the UK, employment will be with Nesta, while for appointments made in Spain, employment will be with the Barcelona School of Economics.

Term: Permanent

Hours: This is a full-time role, but we also welcome applications from candidates seeking part-time arrangements. We offer a range of flexible working options and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do.

Making an application

To apply for this role, please submit your application here before 08:00 am on the 1st of May 2025. Interviews will take place w/c12th May- w/c 19th May.

At IGL we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results. We want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop. This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful. We are open to candidates from a range of backgrounds – do consider applying even if you do not feel that you perfectly meet every requirement on this list.