Discovery Pipeline Manager

About the role

The Discovery Pipeline Manager will lead the end‑to‑end Discovery Pathway for the Defence AI portfolio. Based in London with a hybrid schedule, you will ensure AI demand across Defence is captured, structured and turned into decision‑ready opportunities that support war‑fighter needs and strategic outcomes.

Key responsibilities

• Own a single, authoritative pipeline of AI opportunities and requests across Defence.
• Capture, track and align all demand to agreed prioritisation frameworks.
• Provide transparent reporting on pipeline health, volume and flow into prioritisation, commissioning and delivery.
• Design and operate structured intake, triage and prioritisation processes.
• Translate fragmented or ambiguous demand into coherent themes and clear problem statements.
• Reduce low‑value, duplicative or mis‑routed requests entering the pipeline.
• Lead continuous improvement of the Discovery Pathway with clear entry criteria and robust outputs.
• Manage hand‑offs from discovery into prioritisation, commissioning and delivery to ensure well‑defined, evidence‑based problems.

Required profile

• Active SC clearance (strongly preferred).
• Proven experience in pipeline, portfolio or demand management within complex organisations.
• Track record of designing and running structured intake and discovery processes.
• Ability to convert ambiguous demand into clear, decision‑ready problem statements.
• Experience working across engagement, insight and delivery functions.
• Strong stakeholder management, including interaction with senior leaders.
• Confidence applying prioritisation frameworks and supporting evidence‑based decision‑making.
• Awareness of AI and its applications is desirable.

Required skills

What we offer

• Direct influence on how AI demand is shaped and prioritised across Defence.
• High‑visibility role interfacing with senior stakeholders.
• Long‑term contract through at least March 2027 with extension potential.
• Hybrid working – maximum one day per week on site in London.
• Inclusive hiring – disability‑confident and armed forces covenant schemes.