Head of Innovation, Innovation Portfolio Director, Corporate Venturing Manager

Run innovation sprints and hackathons; evaluate proposals against strategic goals; allocate budgets; set up cross-functional squads; manage incubators or labs; monitor metrics; and report return on innovation to boards.

Large multinationals’ innovation hubs | Public research and technology organisations | Financial services accelerators | Manufacturing R&D centres | NHS and healthcare innovation units | Media and entertainment labs | Sustainability and clean-tech consortia

Practitioners often start by delivering standout projects in product development or transformation teams. Reputation for creativity and commercial impact leads to managing larger innovation budgets. Within a decade, they may join executive committees, advise venture capital funds, or establish their own innovation consultancies.

Open innovation, corporate venturing, and sustainability challenges drive demand for leaders who can translate emerging tech into new revenue streams. Strong directors can move fluidly across sectors, capitalising on government grants and collaborative ecosystems.

Innovation framework expertise, e.g., design thinking | Portfolio management and stage-gate processes | Financial modelling for venture evaluation | Open-source intelligence and trend scanning | Intellectual-property assessment and protection | Rapid prototyping with low-code platforms | Metrics design for innovation performance

Opportunity spotting and creative ideation | Influencing senior sponsors for funding | Building high-trust collaborative networks | Coaching multidisciplinary innovation squads | Risk appetite balancing with governance | Storytelling to inspire experimental culture | Negotiating partnerships with external stakeholders