£34,500 (non-negotiable)

Corsham (covering Swindon and Wiltshire)

Do you want to be part of a team which supports our local business community to thrive? SWLEP is a private-sector led partnership which sets the economic priorities for Swindon and Wiltshire and facilitates projects to accelerate economic growth and job creation in the area.

Expansion of our Growth Hub service means we’re recruiting three experienced business support professionals to join our team as part of a new SME Competitiveness programme. These posts are funded through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the England 2014 to 2020 European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Growth Programme.  Funding for the programme has now been extended until June 2023.

The Business Navigators will be proactive in providing information, advice and guidance to local firms across Swindon and Wiltshire to support them in achieving their ambitions. This includes working with both start-ups and established firms planning to scale up. 

You will be providing support primarily by telephone and digitally. In addition to strong verbal communication and rapport building skills, you will also have excellent written English in order to be able to provide succinct advice by email and to write engaging and informative business-related articles for our website. You will have a positive “can do” attitude and a passion for enabling businesses to thrive. 

Your knowledge of the issues facing local businesses - perhaps gained through your own experience of running a business, or as a minimum, solid experience in a business support role - will help you to diagnose issues quickly and provide appropriate information, advice and guidance, as well as coordinating further support via partner organisations. You will bring an understanding of apprenticeships and other work-based learning options, as well as being committed to your own professional development to learn new skills for the role.

It’s essential for the Business Navigators to track every interaction with businesses to enable us to claim funding and report on the impact of the support provided. Therefore, strong IT skills, familiarity with using databases and being able to follow repetitive processes with a high degree of accuracy will be key.

In the early stages of the role, you will be required to work from home due to the Covid-19 situation. As things start to get back to normal, you will be mainly based from the recently opened Digital Mansion in Corsham, with an element of homeworking and some travel within Swindon and Wiltshire to attend meetings and events, the pattern of which is to be determined. 

If this sounds like your ideal next job, or you would like further information, please visit our website https://swlep.co.uk/about/vacancies where you can download a full job description and person specification. 

To apply, please submit a CV and covering letter explaining what attracts you to the role and why you would be an ideal candidate by email to administration@swlep.co.uk. Closing date for applications is Monday 29th June. 

To comply with social distancing, interviews will be taking place by video call (Zoom or Teams). Interviews will take place on 6th / 7th July.

We will notify short-listed candidates by no later than Friday 3rd July. Due to anticipated the volume of applications, we unfortunately do not have the resources to respond to candidates who have not been selected for interview.