Servitization and Service Innovation Lead - KTP Associate

Location: Birmingham City Centre

This position offers a unique opportunity for a highly motivated individual to work at the interface of academia and industry in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Associate role that will deliver transformational impact. You will lead and deliver a service innovation programme within a fast-growing British SME manufacturer, helping to drive innovation and business growth in a company with strong values centred on teamwork, innovation, and excellence.

The project is fundamentally focused on servitization; supporting an engineering company transition from providing equipment through traditional capital expenditure (CapEx) systems towards a service-led, lifecycle-oriented business model. You will lead the co-design and implementation of a product-service system within the company, developing service-led concepts and offerings that create value for customers over the lifecycle of their operations. 

This role is designed to enable the transition of a company towards a service-led business model, developing new forms of value creation and strengthening long-term customer relationships. You will play a key role in establishing the foundations for ongoing servitization, embedding new capabilities, and supporting the sustainable growth of the business beyond the duration of the KTP.

Candidate Profile: 

A minimum of a 2:1 BSc degree in Engineering or Management, or a related discipline.   

Essential skills, experience and attributes required include:

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work across technical and commercial domains
• Experience of adapting theories and/or tools to commercial practice
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills with the ability to engage across multiple levels of an organisation
• Strong project management capability, able to manage complex projects, coordinate roles, and work independently, as well as part of the team.
• Commercially aware and able to link innovation to business value

Key responsibilities of this role include: 

See the job description for full details of the responsibilities associated with this role. 

Additional Benefits and support:

• Up to £4,000 for personal and professional development for the duration of the project
• Annual leave (25 days p/a)
• Professional support and mentorship
• Mental Health and wellbeing support: https://www.aston.ac.uk/staff-public/hr/Benefits-and-Rewards/health-wellbeing 
• A flexible blend of on-site and remote working arrangements can be negotiated in case of positive ongoing performance.

Career prospects: 

This role opens up exciting career opportunities in new business development and servitization. Over 60% of our KTP associates are offered employment by their host companies at the end of the KTP. 

This is a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP). It is essential you understand how KTP works and the vital role you will play if you secure this position. To learn more please visit: www.aston.ac.uk/ktp

For informal enquiries about this role please contact Dr Reza Marvi, e-mail: r.marvi@aston.ac.uk 

If you think this isn’t the right opportunity for you, please explore other KTP vacancies across the country. 

This role is likely to qualify for endorsement under the Endorsed Funder route of the Global Talent visa. This visa is for talented or promising individuals in academia or research in fields such as science, engineering, medicine, social sciences, or humanities.

See the Home Office guidance: https://www.gov.uk/global-talent 

It is an Innovate UK requirement that candidates hold a visa or immigration permission to cover the full duration of the contract. The successful candidate is therefore expected to apply for a visa as necessary in line with their contract duration.

Closing Date: 23.59 hours BST on Sunday 23 August 2026

Interview Date: Tuesday 08 September 2026

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