Innovation Manager in Southampton

Saab UK is part of Scandinavia's largest defence company, bringing together the best of Swedish and British innovation. Saab offers world-leading solutions and services in defence, aviation, space, and civil security to keep people and society safe. Our UK presence has been growing at pace, meaning we can offer a wide range of opportunities for personal fulfilment and career growth. We currently employ over 600 people across eight sites in the UK, and our specialisations include software engineering, underwater robotics, radars, AI, and armed forces training.

As an Innovation Manager within the Innovation Division, you will play a key role in supporting one of Saab UK's business divisions, helping to identify, develop and deliver innovation opportunities aligned to divisional and company objectives. Working closely with the Sensor Systems leadership, Innovation Division colleagues, divisional stakeholders, engineering teams, and external partners, you will help shape innovation activity through technology scouting, partnership development, funding acquisition, bid management and project delivery. You will act as a bridge between business needs, engineering teams, external organisations and funding opportunities, helping to transform innovative ideas into funded and deliverable projects.

Key Responsibilities:

• Innovation, Technology & Strategy: Support the Sensor Systems Division and the Innovation Division in identifying and developing innovation opportunities aligned with business and technology priorities through technology scouting, horizon scanning, stakeholder engagement and external market awareness. Monitor external technology and innovation developments and assess their potential impact on future products, capabilities and Research & Technology (R&T) activities. Support the development of business cases, technology roadmaps and innovation proposals.
• Funding, Bids & Partnerships: Identify and assess relevant innovation funding opportunities from government, customers and research funding organisations. Lead the coordination, development and submission of funding applications, collaborative bids and research proposals. Build and maintain productive relationships with Global Saab colleagues, universities, SMEs, research organisations, customers, government bodies and industrial partners.
• Project Delivery & Coordination: Establish and coordinate innovation projects from concept through to delivery. Develop appropriate project plans, governance arrangements and stakeholder engagement activities to support successful delivery. Coordinate project activities, manage risks and dependencies, and monitor progress against agreed objectives. Support the financial management of innovation projects, including budget tracking, forecasting, invoicing, financial reporting and compliance with internal financial controls and processes. Support the transition of innovation activities into business outcomes.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Communications: Build effective working relationships across engineering, business development, project management, strategy and senior leadership teams. Act as the primary innovation interface between the Division, the Emerging Technology Team and external partners. Work closely with Commercial, Finance and Project Management teams. Prepare and deliver clear, effective reports, presentations, briefings and communications for internal and external stakeholders.

Qualifications and Skills:

• Ability to build productive working relationships with stakeholders from a range of backgrounds.
• Experience coordinating activities involving multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to prepare and present to stakeholders at all levels, including senior leaders.
• Ability to facilitate collaboration across teams and organisations.
• Experience supporting project budgets, financial reporting or financial governance activities.
• Comfortable working in a developing and evolving environment where priorities and opportunities may change over time.
• Experience in innovation management, research and technology, business development, partnerships or collaborative R&D environments.
• A background in a STEM-related discipline, technology-focused environment, or equivalent experience that enables you to engage credibly with engineers and technology specialists, identify opportunities, evaluate potential partners and support proposal development.
• Analytical thinking skills and the ability to assess opportunities, risks and potential benefits.
• Ability to conduct occasional travel to Sweden & other international locations.
• Master's degree in a STEM-related discipline (Desirable).
• Experience identifying and securing innovation funding (Desirable).
• Bid management, grant writing or proposal development experience (Desirable).
• Understanding of UK innovation funding mechanisms, including Innovate UK, UKDI and similar programmes (Desirable).
• Experience within the defence, aerospace, maritime, security or advanced technology sectors (Desirable).
• As a National Security Vetting clearance is required for this role, applicants will be required to hold National Security Vetting clearance to SC level or have the ability to gain it.