Innovation Research Consultant (SC/DV Cleared)

Innovation Research Consultant - Data, Governance and Cloud

• Location: Stratford, London (hybrid, 3 days per week)
• Contract: FTC to Permanent - Fixed term to 31 March, with likely FTE extension
• Salary: £48,000 - £60,000 + bonus + strong benefits
• You must hold SC or DV Security Clearance.

We're partnered with a UK innovation consultancy delivering research and advisory work across government and industry. This role suits a researcher who can communicate clearly and has a solid grasp of data management solutions, data governance and cloud architecture, with the ability to assess market options and recommend a path forward.

What you'll do

• Deliver market scans and solution assessments across data management and governance tooling
• Analyse and compare vendors and approaches (capabilities, constraints, implementation considerations, risks)
• Translate technical and stakeholder inputs into decision-ready reports and PowerPoint decks
• Run stakeholder interviews and workshops to define needs, success measures, and evaluation criteria
• Support proposals and bids where required

What we're looking for

• Strong research skills and confident communication - written and verbal
• Understanding of data management (platforms, integration, metadata, data quality, MDM) and data governance (policies, stewardship, controls, lineage)
• Working knowledge of cloud architecture concepts and how they shape data platforms
• Evidence of producing polished deliverables for senior stakeholders
• PhD and academic backgrounds welcome - as long as you've done applied, real-world work beyond publishing papers

IMPORTANT - SC or DV Security clearance (mandatory)

• This role requires current UK security clearance. You must hold SC or DV clearance

Package

• £48,000 - £60,000 base + annual bonus
• Pension contribution up to 10%
• Private healthcare, life assurance, critical illness cover
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays + volunteering day

If you like taking ambiguity, doing the thinking, and producing outputs that make clients say "finally - someone gets it", this is for you!