Discovery Pipeline Manager

Role: Discovery Pipeline Manager - Defence AI

Location: London (up to 1 day per week on site - Tuesday)

Contract: Until 31.03.2027, with potential extension

IR35: In scope

Day rate: £(Apply online only) (umbrella)

This is a strategic role at the heart of the Defence AI portfolio, owning the end-to-end Discovery Pathway and ensuring that AI demand across Defence is captured, structured, and converted into clear, decision-ready opportunities that genuinely support war‑fighter needs and wider strategic outcomes.

What you would be leading

Owning a single, authoritative pipeline of AI opportunities and requests across Defence.
Ensuring all demand is captured, tracked and aligned to agreed prioritisation frameworks.
Providing transparent reporting on pipeline health, volume and flow into prioritisation, commissioning and delivery.
Designing and operating structured intake, triage and prioritisation processes in line with team operating procedures.
Translating fragmented or ambiguous demand into coherent themes and clear problem statements.
Reducing low‑value, duplicative or mis‑routed requests entering the pipeline.
Leading continuous improvement of the Discovery Pathway, with clear entry criteria and robust discovery outputs.
Managing hand‑offs from discovery into prioritisation, commissioning and delivery so that problems entering delivery are well‑defined and evidence‑based.

What our client is looking for

Active SC Clearance strongly prefffered.
Proven experience in pipeline, portfolio or demand management within complex organisations.
Track record of designing and running structured intake and discovery processes.
Ability to convert ambiguous or fragmented demand into clear, decision‑ready problem statements.
Experience working across engagement, insight and delivery functions.
Strong stakeholder management skills, including interaction with senior leaders.
Confidence applying prioritisation frameworks and supporting evidence‑based decision‑making.
Awareness of AI and its applications is desirable, but not expected to be in‑depth.

Why this could be interesting for you

Direct influence on how AI demand is shaped and prioritised across Defence.
High‑visibility role interfacing with senior stakeholders, shaping a growing and strategically critical portfolio.
Long‑term contract with stability through to at least March 2027, plus extension potential.
Hybrid working with limited on‑site requirement (maximum one day per week in London).

Inclusive hiring

Our client participates in disability‑confident and armed forces covenant schemes. If you qualify for a guaranteed interview scheme, please mention this when you reply so it can be clearly highlighted in the process
Only candidates based in UK and eligible to work in UK are allowed