United Kingdom · Innovation · Senior (5-8 years)

Senior Innovation Governance Analyst

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, 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.

Free to start: a plan built for this role, and a Future Fluency module to try first. No card.

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One email: what AI is changing in this job, and where to start free. With a link back here. Nothing else follows unless you confirm your address.

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  • Experience bandSenior (5-8 years)
  • Direct reportsNo direct reports
  • Reports toInnovation Portfolio Manager
  • UK framework levelUsually a manager, or the deepest specialist in a team

Also advertised as Innovation Process Lead · Innovation Portfolio Analyst · Innovation Compliance Specialist

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

OCNLR Level 4 Certificate in Business Administration OCN London · Level 4 · covers 1 of 4 standards
Focus Awards Level 4 NVQ Diploma in Customer Service (RQF) Focus Awards Limited · Level 4 · covers 1 of 4 standards
City & Guilds Level 3 Diploma in Leadership and Management City & Guilds Limited · Level 3 · covers 1 of 4 standards
City & Guilds Level 3 Certificate in Leadership and Management City & Guilds Limited · Level 3 · covers 1 of 4 standards
City & Guilds Level 3 Award in Leadership and Management City & Guilds Limited · Level 3 · covers 1 of 4 standards
NOCN Level 4 Diploma in The Management of Productivity NOCN · Level 4 · covers 1 of 4 standards

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

Contribute to Innovation in a Business Environment OCNLR Level 4 Certificate in Business Administration
Encourage innovation Focus Awards Level 4 NVQ Diploma in Customer Service (RQF)
Contributing to innovation and creativity in the workplace City & Guilds Level 3 Diploma in Leadership and Management
Innovation & Creativity NOCN Level 4 Diploma in The Management of Productivity

The future skills this job leans on

AI Fluency working with AI as a thinking partner
Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision
AI Governance Fluency using AI responsibly
Automation Fluency building AI into how work runs
Change Fluency taking people through change
Your Plan Illustration

Built for Senior Innovation Governance Analyst

4 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Contribute to Innovation in a Business Environment OCN London · covers 1 of 4 standards Level 4
  2. Encourage innovation Focus Awards Limited · covers 1 of 4 standards Level 4
  3. Contributing to innovation and creativity in the workplace City & Guilds Limited · covers 1 of 4 standards Level 3
  4. Innovation & Creativity NOCN · covers 1 of 4 standards Level 4
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as a Senior Innovation Governance Analyst?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

The new skills this role is being asked for

  • Ethical AI & Bias Detection in Governance
  • Ecosystem Orchestration & Partner Governance
Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

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

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your Senior Innovation Governance Analyst plan as you set up, starting with a Future Fluency module on using AI in your job. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

3What this role really is

This job tracks innovation projects to keep them on plan, compliant and delivering value, so ideas do not stall or drift.

4What you'd actually use

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

Aha! / Brightidea / Spigit (Innovation Management) Advanced

Configuring workflows for new idea types, building custom reports on pipeline health, managing user permissions for different innovation programmes, and training new team members on how to use the platform effectively.

Confluence / Notion (Collaboration & Wiki) Advanced

Designing space architectures for innovation teams, creating complex templates for gate review documentation, and facilitating strategic workshops using these platforms to capture decisions and actions.

Jira / Asana / Monday.com (Project/Portfolio Mgmt) Expert

Designing complex workflows for innovation projects (e.g., PoC to MVP), setting up automation rules for notifications, building project dashboards to track progress, and managing sprints for Proof of Concept (PoC) initiatives.

Tableau / Power BI / Looker (Data & Analytics) Advanced

Connecting various data sources (e.g., Aha!, Jira, financial data), building complex interactive dashboards to visualise pipeline health, project status, and resource allocation for leadership reporting.

ServiceNow GRC / OneTrust (GRC & Board Reporting) Basic

Understanding how our innovation projects map to GRC controls, providing specific data for risk assessments, and ensuring that our governance processes meet basic compliance requirements. You're not the GRC expert, but you know how to work with them.

5What 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 in Where you are nowThe step above
Process Design & Improvement Follows existing processes. Suggests minor tweaks to supervisor. Proposes and implements minor process improvements within defined guidelines. Consults manager on impact. Designs and implements significant process improvements end-to-end. Makes recommendations for changes to core governance frameworks to manager, then leads implementation.
Data Analysis & Reporting Pulls pre-defined reports. Enters data accurately. Builds custom reports and dashboards from existing data sources. Interprets data for routine questions. Connects new data sources, designs complex interactive dashboards (e.g., Tableau) for pipeline health. Analyses trends and provides actionable insights to leadership. Identifies and flags data quality issues.
Project 'Go/No-Go' Recommendations Prepares materials for gate reviews. No recommendation authority. Summarises project status and risks for gate reviews. May offer an informal opinion to manager. Provides data-driven recommendations for 'Go/No-Go' decisions to the Innovation Committee/Manager, based on established 'kill criteria' and business cases. Challenges assumptions where necessary.
Mentorship & Guidance Receives guidance from senior team members. Provides informal guidance to new joiners on basic tasks. Formally mentors 0-2 junior analysts, providing structured feedback, code reviews, and helping them develop their skills and understanding of complex governance issues.

6How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Gate Review Completion Rate
The percentage of scheduled stage-gate reviews that actually happen on time, with all required documentation submitted.
Target · >90% completed within 3 days of schedule

If 10 gate reviews were scheduled in October, and 9 were completed with all paperwork by the deadline, that's 90%. We want to see this consistently high, showing our process isn't getting ignored.

Innovation Pipeline Velocity (Idea to PoC)
The average time it takes for an idea to move from its initial submission to receiving Proof of Concept (PoC) funding.
Target · Reduce average time by 15% year-on-year (e.g., from 60 days to 51 days)

Last year, it took us 65 days on average to get an idea to PoC. This year, we're aiming for 55 days. You'll be looking for bottlenecks and suggesting ways to speed things up without cutting corners.

Data Quality & Reporting Accuracy
The error rate in key innovation data fields (e.g., project status, budget allocation, next gate date) within our innovation management platforms (Aha!, Jira).
Target · <5% error rate in core data fields

We'll pull a sample of 50 projects each month and check for inconsistencies. If 3 projects have incorrect status updates or missing budget figures, that's a 6% error rate. You'll be the one making sure this data is clean, because bad data leads to bad decisions.

Process Improvement Implementation
Number of significant improvements to our innovation governance processes that you've designed, implemented, and seen adopted by teams.
Target · 2-3 significant improvements per year

You might introduce a new, clearer template for business case submissions, or automate a notification process that saves project leads time. We'll measure this by actual adoption and feedback from users.

Stakeholder Feedback on Process Clarity
How clearly and fairly our innovation governance processes are perceived by intrapreneurs, project leads, and decision-makers.
  • Feedback from quarterly surveys (e.g., 'Was the gate review process clear?', 'Did you understand the decision rationale?'). Informal comments from project teams. Being proactively consulted by teams on process questions, rather than just being seen as the 'innovation police'.
Effectiveness of 'Kill Criteria' Application
How consistently and objectively 'kill criteria' are applied to projects that aren't meeting their targets, preventing 'zombie projects'.
  • Review of project termination records, ensuring decisions align with pre-defined criteria. Anecdotal feedback from decision-makers that tough calls are being made based on data, not just sentiment. A reduction in the number of projects lingering past their expected lifespan without clear justification.
Mentorship & Knowledge Sharing
Your contribution to developing junior team members and sharing best practices across the innovation function.
  • Feedback from junior analysts you've mentored, noting your guidance and support. Your active participation in internal training sessions or workshops. Examples of documentation or guides you've created that help others understand complex processes.
Quality of Reporting & Insights
The depth and actionability of the reports and dashboards you create, helping leadership make better decisions about the innovation portfolio.
  • Positive feedback from the Innovation Committee or senior leadership on the clarity and usefulness of your dashboards (e.g., Tableau). Specific examples where your reports directly led to a key decision (e.g., re-prioritising a project, identifying a portfolio gap). The ability to anticipate questions and provide data-driven answers.

7Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Bringing Order to Chaos

You'll feel a genuine sense of satisfaction when you streamline a clunky process, clarify ambiguous guidelines, or see a well-structured gate review lead to a clear, confident decision. You love turning a messy pile of ideas into a clear, manageable pipeline.

Successfully implementing a new, simpler business case template that reduces submission errors by 30% and gets positive feedback from project leads.

Enabling Real Innovation

Your motivation comes from knowing that by ensuring good governance, you're actually helping the *best* ideas get the funding and support they need to succeed. You're not just a gatekeeper; you're a quality control manager for future growth.

Seeing a project you helped guide through the governance process successfully launch and start generating revenue, knowing your rigour helped de-risk it.

Building Fair & Transparent Systems

You're driven by the desire to create systems where decisions are made objectively, based on merit and data, not politics or 'pet projects'. You want everyone to feel the process is fair, even if their idea doesn't get funded.

Receiving feedback from an intrapreneur whose project was 'killed' that, while disappointed, they understood and respected the decision because the process was transparent.

What frustrates people
  • Being the 'Innovation Police': Constantly battling the perception that you're a bureaucratic gatekeeper crushing creativity.
  • Herding Passionate Cats: Trying to get brilliant, creative, and often chaotic intrapreneurs to follow a structured process, fill out forms, and meet deadlines.
  • Political Bypasses: Spending months building a fair, rigorous process only to watch a senior executive's 'pet project' get fast-tracked and funded without scrutiny.
  • The Tyranny of ROI: Arguing with the CFO about funding a potentially transformative but highly uncertain project versus a predictable, low-return core business improvement.
  • Metrics Vanity: Being forced to report on 'vanity metrics' like 'number of ideas submitted' when you know 99% are useless, instead of focusing on pipeline quality and business impact.
What this role does not give you
  • Direct control over project teams or their budgets.
  • A purely creative or unstructured environment.
  • Immediate gratification for every piece of work you produce.
  • Freedom from corporate politics or difficult conversations.

8Who you work with

This role directly impacts the efficiency and effectiveness of our entire innovation pipeline. By ensuring robust governance, you help us make smarter investment decisions, reduce wasted effort on 'zombie projects', and speed up the journey for truly promising ideas. Ultimately, you're helping us build a more innovative and future-proof business, making sure our investments in new ideas actually pay off.

Inside the business
  • Innovation Portfolio Manager
  • Head of Innovation
  • Intrapreneurship Project Leads
  • Finance Business Partners
  • Legal & Compliance Team
  • Product Development Teams
Outside the business
  • Innovation Platform Vendors
  • External Consultants (occasionally)

9What you need before you start

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

  • At least 5 years of experience working in an innovation, project management, or governance role within a corporate environment, or equivalent experience.
  • Proven ability to design, implement, and improve processes, with examples of tangible impact.
  • Demonstrable experience in data analysis and building dashboards using tools like Tableau or Power BI.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, with a knack for explaining complex ideas simply.
  • Experience mentoring junior team members or leading informal project groups.
  • A solid understanding of project management principles, even if you're not a certified Project Manager.

10What to practise next

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

Advanced Data Storytelling & Visualisation

It's no longer enough to just present data; you need to tell a compelling story with it. Leadership is swamped with information, so your ability to distil complex innovation metrics into clear, actionable narratives will be critical for securing funding and buy-in.

Narrative Structure in Data · Visual Perception Principles · Interactive Dashboard Design · Contextualisation of Metrics

  • This month: Take an online course on advanced Tableau/Power BI visualisation techniques or data storytelling.
  • Next quarter: Seek feedback from your manager and other senior stakeholders on your current reports. What questions do they still have?
  • Month 4-6: Redesign one of your key innovation dashboards, focusing purely on telling a clear story and driving a specific decision.
  • Ongoing: Practice presenting your data with a clear 'so what?' message, rather than just 'here's the data'.

Quick win: For your next report, try to summarise the key insight in one sentence at the very top. Use annotations on your charts to highlight important points, don't just expect people to find them.

Innovation Tech Stack Integration & Optimisation

Our innovation tools (Aha!, Jira, Tableau) won't live in isolation. You'll need to understand how they can talk to each other, automating data flows and creating a single source of truth. This moves you from a user of tools to an architect of our innovation tech ecosystem.

API Fundamentals · Workflow Automation Tools (e.g., Zapier, Power Automate) · Data Warehousing Basics · Data Governance for Innovation Data

  • This month: Map out the current data flow between Aha!, Jira, and Tableau. Where are the manual steps?
  • Next quarter: Experiment with Zapier or Power Automate to connect two of our innovation tools for a simple task (e.g., 'new idea in Aha! creates a Jira ticket').
  • Month 4-6: Work with our IT team to understand our internal data warehousing capabilities and how innovation data could be integrated.
  • Ongoing: Look for opportunities to automate repetitive data tasks or reporting workflows using existing tools.

Quick win: Identify one repetitive data entry task that takes more than 30 minutes a week. Research if there's a simple automation possible using our existing tools or a low-code platform.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly attend industry webinars or conferences on innovation governance, corporate venturing, or agile methodologies.
  • Actively participate in online communities or forums related to innovation management tools (e.g., Aha! user groups) to learn best practices.
  • Seek out opportunities to shadow colleagues in Legal, Finance, or Product to better understand their perspectives on innovation projects.
  • Take advanced courses in data visualisation or data storytelling to enhance your reporting capabilities.
  • Read books and articles on behavioural economics and organisational psychology to better understand how to influence change and manage resistance to new processes.

12The rising capability

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.

Ethical AI & Bias Detection in Governance

As we start to use AI for idea screening and due diligence, there's a real risk of algorithmic bias creeping into our decision-making. We need to ensure our innovation processes are fair and don't inadvertently exclude certain types of ideas or innovators. Regulators are starting to pay attention, and so should we.

  • Algorithmic Bias
  • Explainable AI (XAI)
  • Fairness Metrics
  • Human-in-the-Loop Processes

Ecosystem Orchestration & Partner Governance

Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum anymore. We're increasingly working with startups, universities, and other external partners. This means our governance needs to extend beyond internal processes to manage these complex external relationships, ensuring clear roles, IP agreements, and shared objectives.

  • Open Innovation Models
  • Venture Clienting
  • Joint Venture Governance
  • IP Sharing & Licensing

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Stage-Gate Process Management
  • Innovation Portfolio Management Principles
  • Lean Startup Methodology
  • Business Case & Financial Modelling Basics
  • Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy Basics
  • Corporate Venturing Frameworks

14The pathway

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

    Innovation Governance Coordinator (L2)

    2-3 years

    Skills to master

    • Mastering our existing stage-gate processes, building proficiency in our innovation management platforms (Aha!, Jira), and consistently delivering accurate data and reports. You'll need to show you can take ownership of routine processes and identify basic improvements.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently delivers high-quality reports and maintains accurate data with minimal supervision.
    • Proactively identifies and resolves minor process issues, rather than just escalating them.
    • Is the go-to person for junior team members for process questions.
    • Has successfully managed several full innovation project cycles through our governance framework.
  2. 2

    Project Manager / Business Analyst (from another department)

    3-5 years

    Skills to master

    • Translating core project management or business analysis skills into an innovation context. This means learning the specifics of innovation governance, understanding the 'fuzzy front end', and adapting to the higher ambiguity of innovation projects. You'll need to get up to speed on our innovation tech stack quickly.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Has managed complex projects with multiple stakeholders, demonstrating strong process adherence.
    • Proven ability to analyse business requirements and design effective solutions.
    • Expresses a strong interest in innovation and has a foundational understanding of innovation methodologies (e.g., Lean Startup).
    • Can demonstrate strong data analysis and reporting skills.
  3. 3

    Consultant (Innovation / Process Improvement)

    2-4 years

    Skills to master

    • Adapting from a client-facing, project-based consulting model to an internal, ongoing operational role. This involves building deep institutional knowledge, understanding internal politics, and transitioning from advising to actually owning and implementing processes. You'll need to show you can build trust internally.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Has worked on innovation strategy or process improvement projects for corporate clients.
    • Demonstrates strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.
    • Shows a desire to 'roll up sleeves' and own internal processes, not just advise on them.
    • Has experience with various innovation governance models across different industries.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This work can lead to roles overseeing a wider innovation portfolio, or into business transformation, applying the same governance skills to bigger strategic change.

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 Senior Innovation Governance Analyst is actually changing.

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from Contribute to Innovation in a Business Environment, worked against Senior Innovation Governance Analyst.

Contribute to Innovation in a Business Environment Level 4

Applied to your work in Senior Innovation Governance Analyst

This unit aims to provide learners with an understanding of the role of innovation in a business environment and the methods for researching and developing new approaches and solutions. Learners will be able to apply appropriate tools and techniques to research and develop ideas, and understand how to present suggestions for new approaches.

How the thinking builds
  1. 1 Remember
  2. 2 Understand
  3. 3 Apply
  4. 4 Analyse
  5. 5 Evaluate
  6. 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.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

See Your Progress Grow Illustration
Senior Innovation Governance Analyst
  • Stage-Gate Process Management
  • Innovation Portfolio Management Principles
  • Lean Startup Methodology
  • Business Case & Financial Modelling Basics
  • Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy Basics
  • Corporate Venturing Frameworks
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.

16The 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

Senior Innovation Governance Analyst is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. You'll move from improving existing processes to designing entirely new governance frameworks and strategies. This means taking on more ambiguous, novel problems and potentially leading a small team or complex cross-functional projects. Your budget authority will increase to around £50K-£500K for tools and initiatives.

    • Advanced Innovation Portfolio Modelling (e.g., real options theory)
    • Innovation Tech Stack Architecture & Vendor Management
    • Designing Enterprise-wide Innovation Programmes
    • Advanced GRC Integration for Innovation
  2. This role is about managing the entire innovation budget and making strategic investment/divestment recommendations across the portfolio. You'll own a P&L of £500K-£2M and be responsible for balancing the portfolio against strategic goals. It's a significant step into management and strategic decision-making.

    • Advanced Innovation Valuation & Investment Analysis
    • Strategic Foresight & Trend Analysis
    • External Partner & Ecosystem Management
    • Leading Innovation Culture Change
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, parts of innovation governance can be a bit of a grind. Chasing documents, sifting through hundreds of ideas, drafting repetitive emails – it all eats into your day. But what if you could offload some of that to AI? We're not talking about replacing you, but giving you a seriously smart assistant.

Our Innovation & Intrapreneurship team is actively exploring and integrating AI tools to make our processes smoother and more efficient. For a Senior Innovation Governance Analyst, this means less time on the tedious bits and more time on the strategic thinking, problem-solving, and actually improving how we innovate. You'll be at the forefront of using these tools to transform our workflow.

Idea Triage Automation

Imagine an AI automatically screening and scoring new idea submissions in Aha! for you. It'll check against our strategic criteria, flag duplicates, and highlight low-quality or out-of-scope ideas before you even see them. This means you're only looking at the promising stuff.

Thematic Analysis Accelerator

Instead of manually sifting through hundreds of unstructured idea descriptions to find common themes, an AI can do it in minutes. It'll use natural language processing to cluster ideas into 'problem spaces', giving you quick insights to inform our strategic focus areas and identify gaps in our portfolio.

AI-Powered Initial Due Diligence

For promising ideas, AI agents can conduct rapid, initial research. Think preliminary patent searches, quick market trend analyses, and competitive landscape summaries. This enriches the business case significantly before a human even starts digging, saving you hours of legwork.

Smart Communication Drafter

You'll often send similar communications – 'Request for More Information', 'Decision Notification', 'Next Steps'. AI can generate personalised, template-based drafts for these, ensuring consistent tone and feedback. You review, tweak, and send, saving you precious time on repetitive writing.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Senior Innovation Governance Analyst?

Common routes in include Innovation Governance Coordinator (2-3 years), Project Manager / Business Analyst (from another department) (3-5 years) and Consultant (Innovation / Process Improvement) (2-4 years). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Senior Innovation Governance Analyst progress to?

This role can lead on to Lead Innovation Governance Strategist (3-5 years) and Innovation Portfolio Manager (5-8 years), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Senior Innovation Governance Analyst?

Increasingly, Ethical AI & Bias Detection in Governance and Ecosystem Orchestration & Partner Governance. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

Free tools

Want a read on where you stand?

Three free tools, no account needed. Each one ends with a role, a level and a way in.

17Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 5

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

More jobs in innovation

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

If you leave this industry

The skills built here, process design, data analysis, stakeholder management, and de-risking new ventures, transfer well. Similar governance or portfolio roles exist in pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and energy, as well as in broader strategic operations or programme management. Bringing order to complex, ambiguous situations is a skill that carries across industries.

This role profile is © 2026 Growth 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. Start my Senior Innovation Governance Analyst plan, free What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. 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.