Innovation Analyst

About the role

We're looking for an Innovation Analyst to join the Group Innovation team and play a key role in shaping, embedding and accelerating innovation across Wates Group.

Reporting to the Group Head of Innovation, this role provides insight‑driven support to the Strategy & Innovation leadership and has responsibility for delivering the rollout and ongoing optimisation of the Group's Innovation Management Platform. You'll use data, structured analysis and user feedback to drive adoption, improve performance and ensure innovation activity delivers measurable strategic impact.

This is a hands‑on, analytical role with strong exposure to senior stakeholders, external partners and Group‑wide initiatives, offering the opportunity to influence how innovation and sustainability are embedded across the business.

Key responsibilities

Strategy & innovation development

• Support delivery of the Wates Group Innovation Strategy through structured analysis of business challenges, opportunities and innovation needs across Group Divisions.
• Work closely with the Innovation team and Group Strategy Director to assess supplier capability, evaluate innovation propositions and support prioritisation of strategic focus areas.
• Contribute analytical insight to wider Group Strategy projects, including innovation trends, risks and emerging opportunities.
• Evaluate feasibility, commercial value, operational impact and strategic fit of innovation initiatives, developing clear, evidence‑based implementation plans and roadmaps.
• Ensure innovation activity aligns with Group standards, governance and agreed processes, identifying risks, inconsistencies and opportunities for optimisation.

Innovation Management Platform & portfolio insight

• Lead the coordinated rollout of the Group Innovation Management Platform across all Divisions, using structured feedback and analytics to drive continuous improvement, adoption and value.
• Maintain analytical oversight of the Group‑wide innovation portfolio, ensuring high‑quality data, consistent evaluation of case studies and extraction of best practice across platforms.
• Support development and ongoing optimisation of the Wates Innovation Network (WIN) Portal and Innovation Hub through user and partner insight, suitability assessment and performance analysis.
• Produce regular insight‑led reports for Strategy & Innovation leadership, including performance trends, adoption analytics, impact measurement and evidence‑based recommendations.

Supplier & partner management

• Lead analytical evaluation and management of relationships within the external innovation marketplace, assessing capability, strategic fit and value creation potential.
• Identify collaboration and research partnership opportunities that enhance Wates' innovation profile and support funding or research initiatives.
• Assess supplier propositions and work with partners to shape solutions aligned to business needs, performance requirements and market trends.

Business improvement & insight

• Collect and synthesise market, competitor and sector intelligence to inform innovation‑related decision‑making.
• Analyse operational and performance data to shape problem statements and support delivery of change initiatives with measurable outcomes.
• Use data‑driven insight and storytelling to design initiatives that accelerate innovation adoption across the organisation.
• Triage and assess innovation opportunities submitted via the Innovation Platform, highlighting high‑value concepts for progression and prioritisation.
• Prepare high‑quality briefing papers, reports and draft correspondence for senior leadership on complex or technical topics.

What we're looking for

Knowledge & experience

• Strong understanding of innovation and sustainability in the built environment, including research partnerships and performance standards.
• Experience of innovation management, supplier engagement, performance monitoring and continuous improvement.
• Confidence working with data, insight and analysis to support strategic decision‑making.

Qualifications

• Graduate or postgraduate qualification, with a strong interest in innovation and sustainability and a desire to build a career in this field.

Skills

• Excellent analytical, communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Strong digital capability, including MS Office, SharePoint and Power BI.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively, with a proactive and detail‑focused approach.
• Experience supporting procurement activity and supplier engagement.
• Comfortable challenging the status quo and driving improvement through insight.

Behaviours

You'll demonstrate behaviours aligned to our purpose and values, including:

• Care – for people, the environment, customers and performance.
• Fairness – inclusive, open, respectful and collaborative.
• Looking for a better way – curious, innovative and committed to continuous improvement.
• A collaborative, customer‑focused approach, building strong relationships across teams and with partners.
• A genuine passion for sustainability and innovation, with a pragmatic “can‑do” mindset.

Our commitments:

Wates is proud to be an employer where anyone can thrive, and we welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds.  We encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every requirement, as we value transferable skills and assess all applications fairly.

We don't discriminate based on a criminal record; all applications are reviewed on an individual basis against the requirements of the role. Some roles may require additional checks, due to the nature of the work.  As a Disability Confident Leader, we offer an interview to applicants with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for the role and opt in to the Disability Confident scheme.  Reasonable adjustments are available, please contact us at recruitment@wates.co.uk