UK

United Kingdom · Corporate Strategy · Director/VP (16-20 years)

Director, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, a real day, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

  • Experience bandDirector/VP (16-20 years)
  • Reports toVP, Corporate Strategy & Innovation
  • UK framework levelUsually a director, accountable for a division and its numbers

Also advertised as Head of Innovation Portfolio · VP of Strategic Innovation · Portfolio Director, Corporate Development

Built on an analysis of 43,079 real UK job descriptions · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

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1What this role really is

This role is all about owning the company's entire innovation portfolio and its associated budget. You'll be the one accountable to the C-suite for how well our innovation bets are performing and if they actually align with where we're trying to take the business. It’s a big job, shaping the future of the company through smart, disciplined investment in new ideas. You'll manage a team, too, making sure they're set up for success.

2What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

Aha!Strategic

You'll define the strategic filters, scoring models, and executive dashboards to assess overall portfolio alignment and health. You'll use it to communicate the strategic roadmap to the C-suite and ensure business units are correctly using it for their innovation pipelines.

Jira AlignArchitect

You'll own the strategic hierarchy within Jira Align, making high-level decisions based on capacity allocation, value stream reports, and the flow of strategic themes. You'll ensure it accurately reflects our corporate innovation strategy and provides the right insights for executive decisions.

AnaplanStrategic

You'll set the investment guardrails for the innovation portfolio, approve business cases based on complex model outputs, and defend the overall portfolio budget to the CFO. You'll use it for multi-year scenario planning and linking innovation spend directly to corporate P&L.

TableauStrategic

You'll define the key metrics and KPIs for all executive reporting on innovation. You'll use these dashboards to drive strategic decision-making, identify portfolio gaps, and communicate complex performance data to the Board and C-suite.

MiroStrategic

You'll use Miro boards as a key tool for communicating complex strategic narratives, facilitating high-level strategic workshops with the C-suite, and visually mapping out future innovation landscapes and ecosystems. It's a communication and alignment tool at this level.

Diligent BoardsAdvanced

You'll be responsible for preparing and distributing secure board materials related to strategic innovation initiatives, managing communication with board members, and ensuring all governance requirements are met for sensitive portfolio discussions.

3What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing inWhere you are nowThe step above
Innovation Thesis & Strategy DefinitionN/AN/AN/A
Corporate Innovation Budget AllocationN/AN/AN/A
Project 'Kill' DecisionsN/AN/ARecommends 'kill' decisions for projects within their owned workstreams, with Director approval.
Team Hiring & PerformanceN/AN/AParticipates in interviews and provides input on junior hires.

4How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, honestly: the hard targets, how often each one is actually looked at, and the quiet human signals that never make it onto a dashboard.

Return on Innovation Investment (ROII)
The financial return generated by the innovation portfolio relative to the capital invested.
Target · Achieve a portfolio-wide ROII of 3:1 over a 5-year rolling period.

If we invest £5M into the portfolio this year, we'd expect to see £15M in new revenue or cost savings from those initiatives within five years. You'll be tracking this closely, making sure we're getting bang for our buck.

Vitality Index
Percentage of total company revenue generated from products or services launched in the last three years.
Target · Increase the Vitality Index from 5% to 15% within three years.

If our current revenue from new offerings is £10M on a £200M total, we'd want that new offering revenue to hit £30M. This tells us if we're actually bringing new, impactful things to market.

Strategic Alignment of Innovation Spend
The proportion of the innovation budget directly allocated to projects supporting the top three corporate strategic pillars.
Target · Ensure >90% of innovation spend is directly tied to the top 3 corporate strategic pillars.

If our top strategic pillars are 'Digital Transformation', 'Customer Experience', and 'Sustainability', then £9M out of every £10M spent on innovation should clearly link back to one of those. No more 'pet projects' that don't fit the bigger picture.

Portfolio Balance (Horizon Split)
Maintaining the desired investment split across Horizon 1 (incremental), Horizon 2 (adjacent), and Horizon 3 (transformational) projects.
Target · Maintain portfolio investment within 5% of the target 70/20/10 (H1/H2/H3) split.

If we aim for 70% in H1, 20% in H2, and 10% in H3, you'll make sure we don't accidentally end up with 90% in H1, neglecting our future growth. It's about hedging our bets, really.

C-Suite & Board Confidence
The level of trust and reliance the C-suite and Board place in your portfolio recommendations and strategic insights.
  • You'll know you're doing well when the CEO actively seeks your input before major strategic decisions, or when the Board relies on your quarterly updates without excessive challenge. They'll be asking 'What does [Your Name] think?' rather than questioning your data.
Effectiveness of Innovation Governance
The efficiency and perceived fairness of the stage-gate review process and overall portfolio decision-making.
  • Stage-gate reviews will run smoothly, decisions will be clearly communicated and respected (even the tough 'kill' ones), and business unit leaders will see the governance as a help, not a hindrance. Fewer 'zombie projects' will be a clear win here.
Team Development & Retention
The growth, engagement, and retention of your direct reports and the broader innovation team.
  • Your team members will be hitting their development goals, feel supported, and be keen to stay. You'll see them stepping up, taking on bigger challenges, and frankly, enjoying their work. A low attrition rate for your team speaks volumes.
Influence on Business Unit Strategy
Your ability to shape and guide the innovation agendas within individual business units.
  • Business unit VPs will proactively consult you on their innovation roadmaps, and you'll see your strategic recommendations reflected in their quarterly plans. They'll be coming to you for advice, not just reporting numbers.

5Would you like it

The honest version. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Shaping the Future

You get a real buzz from seeing how your strategic decisions today will directly impact the company's growth and market position in 3-5 years. You're excited by the challenge of identifying and nurturing the next big thing for the business.

Successfully championing a Horizon 3 project that initially faced resistance, and then seeing it gain traction and become a significant growth engine.

Solving Complex Organisational Puzzles

You thrive on untangling messy, multi-faceted problems that involve technology, finance, market dynamics, and human behaviour. You enjoy finding the optimal strategic path through ambiguity and conflicting priorities.

Designing a new portfolio governance model that streamlines decision-making, reduces 'zombie projects', and gets buy-in from all business units.

Developing and Leading High-Performing Teams

You genuinely enjoy mentoring and empowering your team of portfolio managers, helping them grow their skills and take on bigger challenges. Their success is a huge part of your own satisfaction.

Seeing one of your Senior Managers successfully lead a complex cross-functional portfolio review and present their recommendations to a VP-level audience.

What frustrates people
  • The politics of killing projects: The hardest part of the job is often killing a 'zombie project' that has a powerful executive sponsor, often requiring significant political capital.
  • The demand for false precision: Being forced by Finance to create a 5-year discounted cash flow (DCF) model for a highly uncertain Horizon 3 project where the inputs are pure guesswork.
  • Innovation Theatre vs. Real Impact: Constantly fighting pressure to launch high-visibility but low-substance initiatives ('innovation theatre') instead of focusing on the disciplined, often slow, work of real innovation.
  • The 'Not Invented Here' Syndrome: Battling resistance from business units that are hostile to externally sourced ideas or cross-functional projects that disrupt their existing roadmap.
  • Misaligned Incentives: Project teams are often incentivised to keep their projects alive at all costs, leading them to present vanity metrics instead of honest validated learning.
  • The Scapegoat Factor: When a high-risk, high-reward project inevitably fails, the portfolio manager is often blamed, even if the risk was explicitly acknowledged and accepted at the outset. You'll need a thick skin.
What this role does not give you
  • A quiet, predictable routine: Expect constant shifts in priorities and urgent requests that derail your plans.
  • Unquestioned authority: You'll lead through influence and persuasion, not by simply dictating terms.
  • Immediate gratification: Many of your biggest bets will take years to pay off, if at all.
  • A low-pressure environment: This role carries significant accountability for the company's future.

6Who you work with

This role directly shapes the company's future growth trajectory, market relevance, and competitive advantage. You're responsible for ensuring our innovation investments are not just spending money, but building a sustainable, profitable future. Get it right, and you'll be a key driver of multi-million pound revenue streams and new market entries. Get it wrong, and we risk stagnation and losing ground to nimbler competitors. It’s a high-stakes position, no doubt.

Inside the business
  • C-Suite (CEO, CFO, CTO, CPO)
  • Business Unit VPs and GMs
  • Finance Director and FP&A team
  • Product Leadership
  • Head of R&D
Outside the business
  • Industry Analysts and Consultants
  • Strategic Partners and Alliance Leads
  • Venture Capital firms (for market insights)
  • Innovation Ecosystem Leaders

7What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • A proven track record (12-16 years) of successfully managing large-scale innovation portfolios or strategic programs within a complex corporate environment.
  • Demonstrated experience leading and developing a team of managers and senior professionals.
  • Extensive experience presenting complex strategic recommendations and financial analyses to C-suite executives and, ideally, Board members.
  • A deep understanding of portfolio financial management, including budget allocation, P&L responsibility (typically £500K-£2M+), and investment appraisal for high-uncertainty projects.
  • Experience in designing and implementing robust innovation governance frameworks (e.g., Stage-Gate, portfolio review boards).
  • A history of successfully influencing senior stakeholders and driving cross-functional alignment on strategic initiatives without direct authority.

8What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Enterprise Architecture for Innovation

As our innovation portfolio grows, so does the complexity of our underlying technology and data infrastructure. You'll need to understand how innovation projects fit into, and potentially disrupt, our existing enterprise architecture, ensuring scalability and security.

API-First Strategy · Cloud-Native Innovation · Data Governance for Innovation

  • This quarter: Work closely with our CTO and Enterprise Architecture team to understand our current tech landscape and future roadmap.
  • Next quarter: Develop a 'technical readiness' checklist for H2/H3 projects, ensuring they align with our architectural principles.
  • Month 6: Lead a review of our innovation tech stack, identifying opportunities for consolidation or new tool adoption.
  • Month 9: Present a strategic recommendation on how our enterprise architecture can better accelerate innovation.

Quick win: Schedule a series of 'lunch and learn' sessions with our IT and architecture leads to deepen your understanding of our core systems and data flows.

9Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Active participation in industry innovation forums and leadership groups (e.g., Corporate Executive Board, World Economic Forum innovation tracks).
  • Regularly publish thought leadership pieces (articles, whitepapers) on corporate innovation, portfolio management, or strategic foresight.
  • Mentor emerging leaders within and outside the organisation, sharing your expertise and building your network.
  • Continuous learning in emerging technologies and business models through online courses, executive education, or industry deep dives.

10How the AI economy is changing work like this

Before we ask anything of you, here's what we can already say about AI and work of this kind:

The new skill this role is being asked for: Advanced AI for Strategic Foresight & Scenario Planning

The pace of change is accelerating, and traditional forecasting methods just can't keep up. Competitors are already using AI to model complex market shifts and identify 'black swan' events. Your ability to anticipate future disruptions and opportunities will be a key differentiator.

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

Advanced AI for Strategic Foresight & Scenario Planning

The pace of change is accelerating, and traditional forecasting methods just can't keep up. Competitors are already using AI to model complex market shifts and identify 'black swan' events. Your ability to anticipate future disruptions and opportunities will be a key differentiator.

  • Probabilistic Forecasting
  • Agent-Based Modelling
  • Weak Signal Detection
  • Ethical AI in Strategy

Ecosystem Orchestration & Open Innovation Leadership

No single company can innovate alone anymore. The future of innovation lies in leveraging external ecosystems – startups, academic institutions, strategic partners. Your ability to build, manage, and extract value from these external networks will be paramount.

  • Platform Strategy
  • Corporate Venture Building
  • Strategic Partnering Models
  • Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Three Horizons Model
  • Real Options Analysis (ROA)
  • Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Framework
  • Stage-Gate (or Phase-Gate) Governance
  • Portfolio Balancing & Optimization
  • Lean Startup Methodology (Corporate Context)

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    Senior Innovation Portfolio Manager / Lead Innovation Strategist

    3-5 years in this role before Director

    Skills to master

    • Mastering end-to-end portfolio lifecycle for a significant business unit, leading complex cross-functional initiatives, and demonstrating strong influence over senior stakeholders.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently delivering a balanced portfolio for your assigned area, meeting or exceeding strategic objectives.
    • Successfully leading and mentoring a team of junior portfolio managers or analysts.
    • Being the 'go-to' person for strategic advice on innovation within your domain, actively sought out by VPs.
    • Proven ability to make tough 'kill' decisions and effectively communicate their rationale to senior management.
  2. 2

    Head of Product Strategy / Director of Product Management (with innovation focus)

    4-6 years in this role before Director

    Skills to master

    • Deep expertise in product strategy, market analysis, and bringing new products to market, coupled with a strong understanding of innovation methodologies (e.g., Lean Startup, JTBD).

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully launched multiple innovative products that have achieved significant market traction and revenue.
    • Demonstrated ability to define and execute a product strategy that aligns with broader corporate objectives.
    • Experience managing a significant product budget and P&L responsibility.
    • Strong track record of collaborating with and influencing cross-functional teams (e.g., engineering, marketing, sales).
  3. 3

    Management Consultant (Specialising in Innovation/Strategy)

    5-8 years in this role before Director

    Skills to master

    • Experience leading complex strategic engagements for diverse clients, developing innovation strategies, and advising senior executives on portfolio management and organisational change.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Proven ability to quickly understand complex business problems and develop actionable strategic recommendations.
    • Extensive experience presenting to and influencing C-suite clients.
    • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a focus on delivering measurable business impact.
    • Experience managing project teams and client relationships in high-pressure environments.

11Where this role leads

The long view:This Director role isn't just a job; it's a launchpad for a truly impactful career. We're looking for someone who wants to leave a lasting mark on our company's future, who thrives on complexity, and who isn't afraid to make the tough calls. If that sounds like you, we'd love to chat over a pint.

Pay & demand

Pay and demand for this role will appear here, each figure traced to a named authoritative source (e.g. the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, under the Open Government Licence). We don’t show numbers we can’t attribute.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Director, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy is actually changing. In about two minutes, the free confidence check asks where you stand on each of the ten. That's the whole check, and it's what makes the plan yours rather than generic.

Where it leads

Roles this leads to

The record names a next step, but the catalogue has no page for it yet:

  • VP, Corporate Strategy & Innovation

12The team that's yours

No two people are taught the same way. This is one-to-one, not one-to-many.

Zavmo is a hyper-personalised AI learning platform. Twelve virtual tutors, each with a different way of teaching, and one orchestration agent that picks the right one for the moment. So every single lesson is shaped around you, your role, and the way you learn. Not a course everyone sits through. A conversation built for you, and no one else.

…and nine more, matched to you after your first chat. Meet all twelve

Start free and meet yours

13What it feels like

A conversation, not a course

Because your tutor knows your role, your projects and your last session, learning sounds like this. And it's different for every single person:

Lead innovation within an organisationLevel 7

Applied to your work in Director, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy

This unit aims to equip learners with the skills to analyse innovation practices, design innovation processes, support the implementation of ideas, and review performance to foster long-term organisational success.

How the thinking builds
  1. Remember
  2. Understand
  3. Apply
  4. Analyse
  5. Evaluate
  6. Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

One to one, not one to many

No two people run this the same way

A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.

  1. Your actual work Every lesson is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
  2. What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
  3. The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
  4. How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
  5. Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.

See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.

DemonstrateIllustration

Evidenced on your work in Director, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy

You do not finish by watching something. You finish by showing it on the work you already do, against the measures this job is judged on.

  • Return on Innovation Investment (ROII)The financial return generated by the innovation portfolio relative to the capital invested.If we invest £5M into the portfolio this year, we'd expect to see £15M in new revenue or cost savings from those initiatives within five years. You'll be tracking this closely, making sure we're getting bang for our buck.Achieve a portfolio-wide ROII of 3:1 over a 5-year rolling period.
  • Vitality IndexPercentage of total company revenue generated from products or services launched in the last three years.If our current revenue from new offerings is £10M on a £200M total, we'd want that new offering revenue to hit £30M. This tells us if we're actually bringing new, impactful things to market.Increase the Vitality Index from 5% to 15% within three years.
  • Strategic Alignment of Innovation SpendThe proportion of the innovation budget directly allocated to projects supporting the top three corporate strategic pillars.If our top strategic pillars are 'Digital Transformation', 'Customer Experience', and 'Sustainability', then £9M out of every £10M spent on innovation should clearly link back to one of those. No more 'pet projects' that don't fit the bigger picture.Ensure >90% of innovation spend is directly tied to the top 3 corporate strategic pillars.
  • Portfolio Balance (Horizon Split)Maintaining the desired investment split across Horizon 1 (incremental), Horizon 2 (adjacent), and Horizon 3 (transformational) projects.If we aim for 70% in H1, 20% in H2, and 10% in H3, you'll make sure we don't accidentally end up with 90% in H1, neglecting our future growth. It's about hedging our bets, really.Maintain portfolio investment within 5% of the target 70/20/10 (H1/H2/H3) split.
These are this job's own measures, with its own targets. Nothing is marked evidenced, because nobody has started this yet. Yours would fill in from the work you bring.

Your passport

This isn't a certificate you file away. It's a passport to the life you're designing.

Every credit you earn and every fluency you build adds up: evidence where it counts, carried with you. Zavmo keeps the map: where you are, where you're heading, and the next step, at your pace, around your life. From Director, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy to VP, Corporate Strategy & Innovation, and whatever you decide comes after.

Level 7 · in progressAI Fluency→ VP, Corporate Strategy & Innovation→ your design
Where this takes you

This Director role isn't just a job; it's a launchpad for a truly impactful career. We're looking for someone who wants to leave a lasting mark on our company's future, who thrives on complexity, and who isn't afraid to make the tough calls. If that sounds like you, we'd love to chat over a pint.

See Your Progress GrowIllustration
Director, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy
  • Three Horizons Model
  • Real Options Analysis (ROA)
  • Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Framework
  • Stage-Gate (or Phase-Gate) Governance
  • Portfolio Balancing & Optimization
  • Lean Startup Methodology (Corporate Context)
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

14The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Director, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. VP, Corporate Strategy & Innovation

    3-5 years in Director role

    Level 7 (C-Suite)

    • Advanced M&A modelling and due diligence.
    • Public speaking and media engagement.
    • Complex stakeholder management at the highest organisational levels (Board, investors, regulators).
    • Long-range financial planning and capital allocation across the enterprise.
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, as a Director, your time is precious. You're paid to think strategically, influence, and make big decisions, not to get bogged down in data consolidation or drafting endless reports. That's where AI comes in. We're not talking about replacing you; we're talking about giving you a superpower.

Our internal AI Productivity Hub is designed specifically for roles like yours in Corporate Strategy. Imagine having an intelligent co-pilot that handles the heavy lifting of information synthesis, risk flagging, and initial communication drafts. This isn't just theory; we've got tools ready for you to use from day one that will genuinely free up your schedule to focus on what truly matters: shaping our future.

Strategic Portfolio Health Monitor

An AI agent continuously scans data across Aha!, Jira Align, and Anaplan, not just for project status, but for *strategic misalignment* or *emerging risks* that could impact the entire portfolio. It then drafts a concise 'Executive Portfolio Risks' summary, highlighting key areas needing your attention, often before your team even spots them.

Advanced Trend & Hypothesis Analyzer

Use sophisticated NLP models to analyse thousands of internal documents, customer feedback, sales call transcripts, and external market research. This helps you quickly identify emerging Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD), validate (or invalidate) early-stage strategic hypotheses, and spot macro trends that could shape our next Horizon 3 bets, all summarised for you in minutes.

Automated Strategic Diligence Scout

Imagine an AI research agent conducting initial market sizing, competitive landscape analysis, and technology scouting for new strategic ideas or potential M&A targets. It generates a standardised, high-level 2-page brief, giving you a rapid, informed starting point for deeper strategic diligence, cutting weeks off initial exploration.

Board-Level Comms Assistant

This AI drafts the initial versions of your stage-gate review presentations, executive summaries for the C-suite, and even those tricky project 'kill' notifications. It pulls structured data and key metrics directly from Tableau and Anaplan, ensuring accuracy and consistency, allowing you to focus on refining the narrative and strategic message, not the first draft.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Director, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy?

Common routes in include Senior Innovation Portfolio Manager / Lead Innovation Strategist (3-5 years in this role before Director), Head of Product Strategy / Director of Product Management (with innovation focus) (4-6 years in this role before Director) and Management Consultant (Specialising in Innovation/Strategy) (5-8 years in this role before Director). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Director, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy progress to?

This role can lead on to VP, Corporate Strategy & Innovation (3-5 years in Director role), depending on the skills you build.

What level is a Director, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy in the UK?

This role aligns to RQF Level 7 on the UK framework, a guide to the depth of qualification it maps to, not a hard entry bar.

What new skills matter most for a Director, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy?

Increasingly, Advanced AI for Strategic Foresight & Scenario Planning and Ecosystem Orchestration & Open Innovation Leadership. These are the areas where the higher-paid, future-proof work is heading.

The honest bit

You’ve started things before

Most of them were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.

There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.

And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.

What it costs

Less than one coaching session. Every month.

A single career-coaching hour costs more than a month of this, and it ends when the hour does. Zavmo doesn't. It's £70 a month, about £2.30 a day, for a companion that knows a Director, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy, works on the job you actually do, and keeps going at your pace rather than a timetable's.

  • Searching and planning stay free. You only pay when you start learning.
  • Your credits are yours. Regulated, and they don't vanish when a subscription ends.
  • Cancel any time and billing stops. No notice period, no minimum term.

Your path, personalised

You have the map. Walking it is the part we do together.

This route runs to 1 national skill standard. That is a real journey.

Zavmo shapes a learning experience as unique as you are. It fits how you learn, your pace and the work you already do. Every step stays benchmarked to recognised national standards. That’s the plan for becoming a Director, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy: personal to you, and it still counts. The first steps are free.

Independent research finds well-designed intelligent tutoring performs nearly as well as one-to-one human tutoring: VanLehn (2011), Educational Psychologist.

A private tutor in the UK averages £35–40 an hour . Zavmo is £70/month.

A real plan on learn.zavmo.ai: Ofqual-regulated units, credits, and a three-month run at your own pace.
Start free No commitment. See your first steps free.

15Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 7

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

Other roles in Corporate Strategy

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.

If you leave this industry

The strategic and leadership skills developed in this role are highly transferable across diverse industries, particularly in sectors undergoing rapid technological change or requiring strong strategic foresight (e.g., Technology, Healthcare, Automotive, Energy). Your ability to manage complex portfolios and drive strategic change is universally valued.

Not sure this is the right direction?

Work out what you actually want from work first, then come back and see which roles fit it. Takes about ten minutes.

This role profile is © 2026Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Build my plan, free Here's the first ten minutes: a 2-minute confidence check → your personalised roadmap → meet the tutors matched to you. No card, cancel any time. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.