Innovation Lead - Frontier AI

Applications must be submitted by;

The Innovation Lead will play a central role in shaping and delivering Innovate UK’s programmes to strengthen the UK’s foundational capabilities in AI and digital technologies.

*Please note this advert will close on the 30th of June 2026 at 23.59pm.

Watch our video “Why Join Innovate UK?” here.

Title:                  Innovation Lead - Frontier AI

Band:                UKRI Band F (UKRI Ts & Cs)

Salary:              £58,589 gross per annum

Reports to:     Head of Foundational Capabilities for AI & Digital

Location:        Field based

Contract:        Permanent

Innovate UK recognises the importance of work-life balance and we will be happy to discuss any requests for flexible working arrangements.

Context:

The Innovation Lead will operate within the AIDE Team.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is recognised as one of the six frontier technologies. AI is playing an increasingly crucial role in driving technological advancements and economic growth, transforming entire industries by enhancing efficiencies, enabling innovation and creating new opportunities for businesses and society.

The AI Opportunities Action Plan sets out an ambitious roadmap for the UK to strengthen its global leadership in AI. The main aims are to strengthen the UK’s position as a global hub for AI R&D, to maximise the UK’s stake in frontier AI, to promote AI adoption in both the public and private sector across the UK with targeted initiatives and to accelerate AI-enabled scientific breakthroughs.

The role holder will operate within the AI & Digital directorate which is part of the Innovate UK Digital and Technologies domain.

We particularly welcome female applicants as women are under-represented within Innovate UK in this type of role.

Job Purpose:

The Innovation Lead will play a central role in shaping and delivering Innovate UK’s programmes to strengthen the UK’s foundational capabilities in AI and digital technologies. The initial focus will be on the Sovereign AI programme, identifying and structuring opportunities that build strategic advantage for the UK in frontier AI technologies and its critical inputs. Over time, the role will help design and deliver a broader portfolio of activities to develop foundational AI capabilities across the UK innovation system, with emphasis on novel AI paradigms and multidisciplinary opportunities with novel compute, cyber and quantum.

Working as part of the AI & Digital team, the role holder will lead the development of innovation programmes, from early opportunity framing through to competition design, portfolio management and impact evaluation. They will work closely with industry, academia, government, and other funders to ensure that Innovate UK’s investments are well-targeted, coherent with wider UKRI and government objectives, and capable of unlocking long-term UK capability.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

• Taking a leading role in the development and delivery of Innovate UK’s innovation strategy for AI & ML and the wider AI and Digital strategy.
• Helping to shape and deliver programmes, coordinating with key delivery partners, and internal Innovate UK programme operations teams to launch, execute and evaluate competitive funding opportunities for UK businesses.
• Prioritising and coordinating tasks given stakeholder needs and available resources and ensuring the outputs of the work are high quality, and appropriately shared and promoted.
• Leading business development activities and contributing to business cases for investment in areas of strategic opportunity.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with delivery partners, as well as relevant bodies and networks to build truly UK-wide innovation programmes with significant ambition and delivery capability.
• Working effectively with partners, across UKRI and externally, to share data and insight about digital innovation markets and capabilities and to identify cross-sector digital innovation opportunities.
• Support colleagues within the AI and Digital team to deliver key strategic innovation programmes across a number of digital technologies and sectors.
• Supporting the wider organisation to meet strategic objectives as appropriate.
• Representing the team and organisation at meetings, workshops and conferences including giving presentations

This is not an exhaustive list and you might be encouraged to undertake any other duties across the wider directorate, commensurate with the Band and level of responsibility of this post, for which the post holder has the key experience and/or training.

Shortlisting criteria

(S) – Assessed at shortlisting

(I) – Assessed at interview

(S&I) – Assessed at both shortlisting and interview

Person Specification:

We are looking for someone with commercial awareness who can manage contending priorities and a sophisticated partner environment. You will be able to make sense of multiple data sources, to establish underlying patterns and articulate a clear and compelling vision of what needs to be done. A great teammate, willing to share knowledge with others and learn from them. Able to self-start when needed.

The role holder will be motivated to achieve goals that enable the success of others (colleagues and UK companies). The successful candidate will be adept at working collaboratively with and across industry, research, UKRI and government, building consensus and maintaining strong relationships.

Experience & Qualifications:

Essential –

• Computer Science Degree or post-graduate qualification, or equivalent experience (S)
• Experience of working within a digital innovation environment with an understanding of major trends. (S&I)
• Up-to-date of frontier AI, Machine Learning and Digital technologies, and their applications in the wider UK economy.  (S&I)
• Proven ability to direct innovation processes in a commercial environment. (S)
• Demonstrable experience of leading the development and successful implementation of strategic programmes. (I)
• Proven ability to understand the strategic potential of emerging digital technologies and communicate at senior levels. (S)
• A clear track-record of delivery against tight deadlines. (S)
• Ability to deal with ambiguity while acting and thinking strategically (S&I)
• Critical thinking(I)
• Familiarity with the wider research environment.(S&I)

Competencies:

All team members demonstrate compatibility with and capability against our Core Competencies such as:

Thinking and Problem Solving – Stakeholder management – Communication skills – Influencing – Self-awareness/self-management – Strategic awareness – Working with others– Project management

Some of the above competencies will be assessed at interview stage, in addition to the criteria’s listed in the person specification.

Travel Requirements:

Field-based: There will a requirement to travel, mostly national, and there is some flexibility in this. Innovate UK staff make extensive use of telepresence tools for meetings to minimise unnecessary travel.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

Innovate UK is a diverse workforce of people. We believe that encouraging these differences and drawing the best from them will build a productive environment in which everyone feels valued, where talents are fully utilised and in which organisational goals are met. Underpinning this is a belief that it is a fundamental right for everyone to be treated equally, with fairness, respect and dignity. We will act directly and use our influence to ensure that this right is promoted and upheld; we encourage applications from all those who meet the criteria set-out in our role profiles.

Equal Opportunities:

We are an equal opportunities employer, committed to employing any person who meets the criteria for our roles. When undertaking recruitment we may require applicants to undertake certain tests or assessments, some of which will be online and others may be in-person. If you have a disability, heath condition or specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia then you may be entitled to support with undertaking this type of assessment exercise. Where you feel that reasonable adjustments are required to support you, we ask that you advise your recruitment point of contact in a timely fashion, providing further information. In confidence, Innovate UK will then review your application for adjustments and provide support as required.

UK Research and Innovation:

Innovate UK is partner organisation within UK Research and Innovation. If successful in securing the position, your employer will be UK Research and Innovation. More information can be found online http://www.ukri.org/.

Employee Benefits:

We offer a benefits package crafted to provide an excellent work/life balance. This includes 30 days’ annual leave, 10.5 public and privilege days, flexible working hours, an exceptional defined benefit pension scheme, and access to a variety of support networks and discount schemes.

Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Flexible Working:

We understand the importance of work-life balance, and are happy to discuss the possibility of flexible working with applicants.

Pre-employment Screening:

To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a comprehensive pre-employment check on successful applicants as part of the recruitment process.

The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role.  UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.

UKRI supports research in areas that include animal health, agriculture and food security, and bioscience for health which includes research on animals, genetic modification and stem cell research. Whilst you may not have direct involvement in this type of research, you should consider how this aligns with your personal values or beliefs. To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a full and comprehensive pre-employment check as a crucial part of the recruitment process on all individuals that are offered a position with UKRI. This will include a security check and an extreme organisations affiliation check.

Applications must be submitted by;