UK

United Kingdom · Research and Development · Director/VP (16-20 years)

Director of Open Innovation

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)
  • Direct reports25-100+ reports
  • Reports toVP, R&D Strategy & Innovation
  • UK framework levelUsually a director, accountable for a division and its numbers

Also advertised as Head of External Innovation · R&D Partnerships Director · VP of Innovation Scouting · Strategic Innovation Lead

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

Start with a free Future Fluency check, tuned to Director of Open Innovation

Ten quick questions, one per Future Fluency, asked against this role rather than a generic one. About five minutes, and no card.

Start the check, free

1What this role really is

This role is about setting the open innovation agenda for a significant business division. You're not just finding new tech; you're shaping how we think about external partnerships, influencing where we put our R&D money, and ultimately driving new growth. It's a big job with a lot of moving parts, honestly.

2What you'd actually use

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

Innovation Management Platform (e.g., Brightidea, Wellspring)Strategic/Architect

Leads platform selection/renewal, integrates it with enterprise systems (e.g., Jira, SAP), and defines enterprise-wide innovation governance. You're making sure the tool serves our strategic goals, not the other way around.

Scouting & Intelligence Platform (e.g., PitchBook, CB Insights, PatSnap)Strategic/Architect

Defines strategic search fields and parameters for your team, negotiates enterprise licenses, and uses the aggregated data to influence M&A or Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) strategy. You're translating data into strategic action.

Project & Portfolio Management (e.g., Aha!, Jira Align)Strategic/Architect

Oversees the entire innovation portfolio, using these tools to balance risk/reward, track strategic objectives, and create executive dashboards for portfolio health and ROI. You're managing the big picture, not just individual projects.

Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) (e.g., Icertis, Ironclad)Strategic/Architect

Designs streamlined contracting workflows for startup engagement, evaluates and recommends CLM platforms to reduce legal friction and accelerate partnership formation. You're optimising the process to enable faster innovation.

Executive Dashboards & Reporting (e.g., Tableau, Power BI)Strategic/Architect

Works with data teams to define and architect the innovation data model. Uses Tableau Server/Power BI Premium to provide self-service analytics to the C-suite, ensuring they have the insights needed for strategic decisions.

Board Reporting Tools (e.g., Diligent Boards, Nasdaq Boardvantage)Strategic/Architect

Directly uploads and presents the innovation portfolio review and strategic outlook to the board using the official platform. This is where you communicate your team's impact at the highest level.

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
Strategic Direction for Open InnovationN/AN/AN/A
Budget Allocation for Innovation ProgrammesN/AN/AN/A
Major External Partnership AgreementsN/AN/AN/A
Team Hiring & Organisational DesignN/AN/AN/A

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.

Innovation Portfolio Value (NPV)
The Net Present Value (NPV) of the entire open innovation pipeline, including active pilots and scaled projects.
Target · Achieve and maintain an NPV of £10M+ for the business unit's innovation portfolio.

If your portfolio's projected future cash flows, discounted back to today, sum up to £12M, you're hitting the mark. It's about demonstrating the long-term financial potential of your work.

Scaled Innovations Contribution
The actual revenue generated or cost savings realised from successful pilots that have transitioned into scaled business operations.
Target · Transition ≥2 successful pilots into scaled operations annually, contributing at least £1M+ in new revenue or cost savings.

A new material sourced via open innovation leads to a £750K cost saving in manufacturing, and a new software partnership generates £300K in subscription revenue. That's £1.05M total, hitting your target.

Strategic Alignment Score
The percentage of the open innovation portfolio that directly aligns with the top three corporate strategic pillars for the business unit.
Target · Maintain 90%+ of the innovation portfolio in direct alignment with the business unit's top 3 strategic pillars.

If the business unit's top priorities are 'Sustainability', 'Digital Transformation', and 'New Market Entry', then 95% of your active innovation projects should clearly contribute to one or more of these areas. It means you're not just chasing shiny objects.

External Partner Satisfaction (NPS)
Net Promoter Score (NPS) from external partners (startups, universities) on their experience working with us.
Target · Achieve an NPS of 70+ from external partners.

If partners feel we're easy to work with, fair, and provide clear communication, they're more likely to recommend us. A high NPS means we're seen as a partner of choice, not a bureaucratic nightmare.

Board & Executive Confidence
The level of trust and confidence the Board and C-suite have in your open innovation strategy and execution.
  • You'll know this is good when the Board actively seeks your input on strategic R&D investments, when your quarterly updates are met with thoughtful questions rather than skepticism, and when you're seen as a credible voice for future growth. They'll also be comfortable allocating significant budget to your programmes.
Internal R&D Collaboration & Adoption
How effectively your team integrates external technologies with internal R&D efforts, leading to genuine collaboration and adoption.
  • Internal R&D teams will proactively reach out to your group for scouting support. You'll see joint patent filings between internal and external partners. The 'Not Invented Here' syndrome will noticeably diminish, replaced by a culture of curiosity and co-creation. You're not just handing over ideas
  • you're helping them land.
Ecosystem Reputation
Our standing and reputation within the global innovation ecosystem (startups, VCs, academia).
  • We'll be invited to speak at top-tier innovation conferences. Promising startups will approach us directly, seeing us as a preferred partner. Key VCs will introduce us to their portfolio companies. This means we're not just looking for innovation
  • we're a recognised part of it.
Team Leadership & Development
The ability to inspire, develop, and retain a high-performing open innovation team.
  • Your team members will consistently hit their individual goals and show clear career progression. Retention rates within your direct team will be high. You'll be known for fostering a culture of psychological safety, continuous learning, and strategic impact, even when projects don't pan out.

5Would you like it

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

What people enjoy
Strategic Impact & Transformation

You'll get a real kick out of seeing your strategic vision for external innovation translate into actual R&D projects and, eventually, new products. It's about fundamentally changing how the business operates and grows, not just tweaking things around the edges.

Leading the charge on a new sustainable materials programme that not only reduces our carbon footprint but also opens up a £5M new market segment. That's the kind of impact that drives you.

Building & Leading High-Performing Teams

You'll find immense satisfaction in coaching, mentoring, and empowering your managers and their teams to excel. Seeing them grow, take on bigger challenges, and deliver impactful results will be a huge motivator.

Watching a manager you've developed successfully negotiate a complex, multi-million pound partnership and then seeing their team execute a flawless pilot. That's a win for you.

Navigating Complexity & Solving Big Problems

The messier and more ambiguous the challenge, the more energised you'll feel. You thrive on connecting disparate dots, making sense of complex market dynamics, and finding innovative solutions to seemingly intractable problems.

Being asked to find a breakthrough technology that addresses a looming regulatory challenge while also opening up a new revenue stream. That's your sweet spot.

What frustrates people
  • The Internal Sales Job: Spending 70% of your time convincing internal stakeholders to try an external idea and only 30% of your time actually finding and developing those ideas. It's exhausting.
  • Fighting the 'Not Invented Here' Bias: Constantly battling the perception that your team's work is a threat to the internal R&D department's budget, headcount, and ego. It's a cultural battle, really.
  • Procurement & Legal as Black Holes: Watching a promising startup partnership wither on the vine for 6 months while it's stuck in the standard corporate procurement and legal review process designed for billion-pound suppliers. It kills momentum.
  • The Tyranny of the Quarterly Report: Having to justify long-term, speculative R&D bets with short-term, predictable financial metrics. Promising projects are often killed to 'make the quarter,' which is incredibly frustrating.
  • 'Innovation Theatre' Mandates: Being forced by leadership to run high-profile but superficial events like ideation challenges that generate buzz but have no strategic follow-through, distracting from real work.
  • The Scaling Handoff Problem: Successfully proving a pilot's value, only to find that no business unit is willing to take on the risk, budget, and operational headache of scaling it. It's like running a perfect race only to trip at the finish line.
What this role does not give you
  • A predictable, linear path with guaranteed outcomes. Innovation is inherently messy.
  • Immediate gratification for every project. Many will fail or take years to mature.
  • A role where you can avoid internal politics. This job is all about navigating them.
  • A quiet, heads-down technical role. This is highly collaborative and outward-facing.
  • A role where you only deal with 'new and shiny.' You'll spend a lot of time on the practicalities of integration and commercialisation, which isn't always glamorous.

6Who you work with

This role directly shapes the strategic direction of a key business unit by identifying and integrating external technologies that drive future growth, market differentiation, and competitive advantage. You'll influence multi-million pound R&D investment decisions and significantly impact the company's long-term innovation pipeline and market relevance.

Inside the business
  • VP, R&D Strategy & Innovation
  • Business Unit General Managers
  • Head of Product Development
  • Legal & IP Counsel
  • Head of Corporate Venture Capital (CVC)
  • Finance Leadership (CFO, Business Unit Finance Directors)
Outside the business
  • Startup Founders & CEOs
  • University Research Heads & Tech Transfer Offices
  • Venture Capital Funds
  • Industry Consortia & Accelerators
  • Strategic Technology Partners
  • Government Innovation Agencies

7What you need before you start

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

  • Extensive experience (12+ years) leading complex innovation programmes or R&D partnerships in a large corporate setting, ideally within the Research and Development sector.
  • Demonstrable track record of successfully bringing external technologies from concept to commercialisation or significant internal adoption.
  • Proven ability to manage and develop large, geographically dispersed teams, including managers.
  • Experience presenting strategic recommendations and results to C-suite executives and/or Board members.
  • Significant P&L management experience, with a clear understanding of financial modelling and ROI for innovation investments.
  • A deep network within the global innovation ecosystem (startups, VCs, academia) relevant to our industry.
  • A strong understanding of intellectual property management and commercialisation strategies.

8What to practise next

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

Advanced AI/ML for R&D Decision Support

Beyond basic scouting, AI/ML is increasingly used for complex R&D decision support, such as predicting material properties, optimising experimental designs, or identifying drug candidates. As a Director, you'll need to understand how to apply these at a strategic level and evaluate vendor capabilities.

Generative AI for Design · Reinforcement Learning in R&D · AI Model Explainability (XAI) for Scientific Discovery · Quantum Machine Learning (QML) Potential

  • This quarter: Read a few white papers on AI applications in our specific R&D domain (e.g., material science, pharmaceuticals).
  • Next quarter: Engage with our internal data science team to understand their current AI capabilities and future roadmap.
  • Month 6: Evaluate 2-3 external vendors offering advanced AI/ML solutions for R&D, assessing their strategic fit and ROI.
  • Month 9: Propose a pilot project to apply advanced AI/ML to a critical R&D bottleneck within your business unit.

Quick win: Challenge your team to identify one R&D problem that could be significantly accelerated by an advanced AI/ML technique, and then find a potential external partner for it.

9Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly attending and speaking at industry conferences (e.g., World Open Innovation Conference, TechCrunch Disrupt, Slush).
  • Maintaining an active network within the venture capital, startup, and academic communities.
  • Subscribing to leading R&D and innovation publications, both academic and industry-focused.
  • Mentoring junior talent within our organisation and externally.
  • Participating in executive education programmes focused on strategic leadership, M&A, or emerging technologies.

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: Ethical AI & Responsible Innovation Governance

As AI becomes more pervasive in R&D and product development, the ethical implications (bias, privacy, societal impact) are becoming critical. Regulators, customers, and investors are demanding responsible innovation. Ignoring this is a massive reputational and business risk.

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

Your PlanIllustration

Built for Director of Open Innovation

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

  1. Research skills for health and social careNCFE · covers 1 of 1 standardsLevel 3
  2. Research SkillsOpen Awards · covers 1 of 1 standardsLevel 2
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.

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 & Responsible Innovation Governance

As AI becomes more pervasive in R&D and product development, the ethical implications (bias, privacy, societal impact) are becoming critical. Regulators, customers, and investors are demanding responsible innovation. Ignoring this is a massive reputational and business risk.

  • AI Ethics Frameworks
  • Responsible AI Development Lifecycle
  • Bias Detection & Mitigation
  • Explainable AI (XAI)

Ecosystem Orchestration & Network Theory

Innovation is no longer about single companies; it's about interconnected ecosystems. Simply finding partners isn't enough; you need to actively design, cultivate, and orchestrate a network of collaborators to create exponential value. This is how you build a competitive moat.

  • Platform Business Models
  • Network Effects & Flywheels
  • Ecosystem Mapping & Analysis
  • Co-creation & Open Source Strategies

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Technology Scouting & Due Diligence (Strategic)
  • IP Strategy & Portfolio Management
  • Lean Startup Methodology (Corporate Context)
  • Stage-Gate® / Phase-Gate Process (Portfolio Level)

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

    Open Innovation Manager (L5) to Director

    3-5 years as an L5 Manager

    Skills to master

    • Mastering portfolio management for a significant business area, building and leading a team of managers, consistently delivering scaled innovations, and developing strong C-suite communication skills.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully managed an innovation portfolio with an NPV of £5M+.
    • Consistently transitioned 1-2 pilots into scaled operations annually.
    • Received strong feedback on leadership, team development, and strategic influence.
    • Proactively identified and addressed significant market shifts or technological threats.
  2. 2

    Director of R&D Partnerships (from another large corporate)

    Direct entry, assuming equivalent experience

    Skills to master

    • Quickly understanding our specific industry sector, internal R&D capabilities, and corporate culture. Building immediate credibility with our executive team and key internal stakeholders.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Proven track record of leading similar-sized teams and managing multi-million pound innovation budgets.
    • Demonstrable experience in a highly regulated or complex R&D environment.
    • Strong network of external partners relevant to our strategic objectives.
    • Ability to articulate a clear vision for open innovation within our specific context during interviews.
  3. 3

    Head of Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) or Venture Partner

    Direct entry, assuming strong operational R&D background

    Skills to master

    • Translating investment theses into actionable R&D collaboration opportunities, managing the relationship between venture capital and corporate R&D, and understanding the nuances of internal product development cycles.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Experience with both investment and operational aspects of innovation.
    • A deep understanding of startup ecosystems and venture deal flows.
    • Proven ability to identify and nurture high-potential technologies beyond just financial returns.
    • Strong strategic thinking combined with a pragmatic, results-oriented approach.

11Where this role leads

The long view:Your journey as Director of Open Innovation isn't just a job; it's a chance to fundamentally shape the future of our business. We're looking for someone who sees beyond the immediate horizon, who thrives on complexity, and who can inspire a large team to deliver truly transformative results. If that sounds like you, let's talk.

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 of Open Innovation 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

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:

Research skills for health and social careLevel 3

Applied to your work in Director of Open Innovation

The objective of this unit is to enable learners to develop a comprehensive understanding of research principles and practices within the health and social care context. Learners will explore research approaches and methodologies, ethical considerations, and the key stages involved in planning, conducting, analysing, and presenting research. Furthermore, they will learn to reflect on the research process.

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 of Open Innovation

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.

  • Innovation Portfolio Value (NPV)The Net Present Value (NPV) of the entire open innovation pipeline, including active pilots and scaled projects.If your portfolio's projected future cash flows, discounted back to today, sum up to £12M, you're hitting the mark. It's about demonstrating the long-term financial potential of your work.Achieve and maintain an NPV of £10M+ for the business unit's innovation portfolio.
  • Scaled Innovations ContributionThe actual revenue generated or cost savings realised from successful pilots that have transitioned into scaled business operations.A new material sourced via open innovation leads to a £750K cost saving in manufacturing, and a new software partnership generates £300K in subscription revenue. That's £1.05M total, hitting your target.Transition ≥2 successful pilots into scaled operations annually, contributing at least £1M+ in new revenue or cost savings.
  • Strategic Alignment ScoreThe percentage of the open innovation portfolio that directly aligns with the top three corporate strategic pillars for the business unit.If the business unit's top priorities are 'Sustainability', 'Digital Transformation', and 'New Market Entry', then 95% of your active innovation projects should clearly contribute to one or more of these areas. It means you're not just chasing shiny objects.Maintain 90%+ of the innovation portfolio in direct alignment with the business unit's top 3 strategic pillars.
  • External Partner Satisfaction (NPS)Net Promoter Score (NPS) from external partners (startups, universities) on their experience working with us.If partners feel we're easy to work with, fair, and provide clear communication, they're more likely to recommend us. A high NPS means we're seen as a partner of choice, not a bureaucratic nightmare.Achieve an NPS of 70+ from external partners.
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 of Open Innovation to VP, R&D Strategy & Innovation (L7), and whatever you decide comes after.

Level 7 · in progressAI Fluency→ VP, R&D Strategy & Innovation (L7)→ your design
Where this takes you

Your journey as Director of Open Innovation isn't just a job; it's a chance to fundamentally shape the future of our business. We're looking for someone who sees beyond the immediate horizon, who thrives on complexity, and who can inspire a large team to deliver truly transformative results. If that sounds like you, let's talk.

See Your Progress GrowIllustration
Director of Open Innovation
  • Technology Scouting & Due Diligence (Strategic)
  • IP Strategy & Portfolio Management
  • Lean Startup Methodology (Corporate Context)
  • Stage-Gate® / Phase-Gate Process (Portfolio Level)
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 of Open Innovation is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. VP, R&D Strategy & Innovation (L7)

    3-5 years in the Director role

    This is a significant step up to the C-suite level, overseeing the entire enterprise's R&D strategy and innovation portfolio.

    • Defining enterprise-level innovation frameworks and policies
    • Overseeing corporate venture capital strategy and investments
    • Leading M&A for strategic technology acquisitions
    • Representing the company's innovation vision to external stakeholders and media
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be honest, as a Director, your time is precious. You're juggling strategic planning, team leadership, external relations, and board presentations. The good news? AI isn't just for junior analysts anymore. It's a game-changer for senior leaders like you, freeing up valuable hours from the mundane so you can focus on what truly matters: driving breakthrough innovation.

Imagine cutting through the noise of market research, speeding up partnership negotiations, and getting clearer insights faster. That's what AI can do for you. We're not talking about replacing your strategic brain, but augmenting it, making you and your team significantly more efficient and effective. Here's how you'll use our AI Hub to get ahead:

Automated Strategic Scouting

Use advanced AI platforms, often integrated into tools like PitchBook or CB Insights, to automatically screen thousands of startups and emerging technologies against your complex strategic briefs. It'll filter by technology readiness, funding stage, team background, and market traction, giving you a highly curated list of potential partners in minutes, not weeks. This means your team spends less time digging and more time engaging with the right people.

AI-Powered IP & Market Landscaping

Leverage AI tools, like PatSnap's Discovery, to analyse vast patent databases and market reports. You'll identify 'white space' opportunities, map competitor IP strategies, and flag potential Freedom to Operate (FTO) risks in minutes. This dramatically accelerates a highly specialised and time-consuming task, giving you a competitive edge in strategic decision-making and M&A due diligence.

Rapid Executive Summaries & Insights

Utilise Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-4 or Claude, often fine-tuned on scientific data, to summarise dense academic papers, complex technical documentation, and lengthy market research reports. These tools can extract key findings, methodologies, and strategic implications, allowing you and your team to quickly grasp complex information and prepare concise briefings for the C-suite and Board, cutting down hours of reading time.

Intelligent Partnership Drafting & Review

Employ AI-powered Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) tools or custom LLM prompts to generate first drafts of critical legal documents like NDAs, Material Transfer Agreements, and complex Pilot Project Charters. These tools can be tailored to predefined templates and risk profiles, significantly reducing administrative friction and accelerating the initial legal review process for new partnerships. It means you get to 'yes' faster, which is crucial in the startup world.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Director of Open Innovation?

Common routes in include Open Innovation Manager (L5) to Director (3-5 years as an L5 Manager), Director of R&D Partnerships (from another large corporate) (Direct entry, assuming equivalent experience) and Head of Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) or Venture Partner (Direct entry, assuming strong operational R&D background). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Director of Open Innovation progress to?

This role can lead on to VP, R&D Strategy & Innovation (L7) (3-5 years in the Director role), depending on the skills you build.

What level is a Director of Open Innovation 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 of Open Innovation?

Increasingly, Ethical AI & Responsible Innovation Governance and Ecosystem Orchestration & Network Theory. 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 of Open Innovation, 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 of Open Innovation: 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 Research and Development

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

If you leave this industry

The strategic, leadership, and external partnership skills developed in this role are highly transferable across various R&D-intensive industries, including pharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing, energy, and technology. Your ability to drive innovation and manage complex ecosystems is valuable almost anywhere.

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.