Geovation Technology & Incubator Lead

About the role

Help shape the future of geospatial innovation and the next generation of location powered products. Geovation is OS's externally facing innovation, research & development function - working with startups, founders and partners to explore new applications of location data and help ideas become reality. Our Farringdon hub is a vibrant, collaborative environment where entrepreneurs, technologists and geospatial specialists come together to solve meaningful, real-world problems. As we continue to grow our ecosystem, this role sits at its innovation focused core: guiding research led experimentation, accelerating the development of innovative products, and translating insights into outcomes that drive OS's future success. Why this role matters Geovation exists to expand OS's impact beyond the traditional geospatial world. We nurture early-stage startups, build partnerships and uncover emerging technologies and markets where location data creates unique value. This role owns Geovation's Technology & Innovation capabilities and programme - which we call our Incubator. It's where embryonic ideas are explored, emerging markets are discovered, and critical insights are developed that will shape OS's future direction. The incubator is all about finding and developing ideas, innovation and new applications of location data - that we can learn from -so we make better products and more impact. We do this in a way that is open to the wider world - not hidden away in a secret lab. In fact, these ideas aren't our ideas at all - they're the ideas of entrepreneurs. We're here to help those entrepreneurs try to realise their visions by helping them build new products that solve big problems that really matter. In this role you'll be equivalent to our Chief Technology Officer (CTO) - but with interest and skills in Product-led thinking. The role blends technical leadership, innovation strategy, product and programme management. It drives the discovery and development of new applications of location data while supporting startups with practical, experiment‑driven development programmes. What you'll be responsible for: Leading Geovation's Incubator Team Lead a team of technical and non technical employees Own and deliver Geovation's Incubator programme, ensuring it generates insight, market development outcomes and value for startups and partners. Identify which startups to work with and shape bespoke support packages tailored to their needs and growth stage. Design and oversee hypothesis‑led proof‑of‑concept experiments that deliver tangible learning for OS and value creating, meaningful IP for startups. Programme development & delivery Develop and lead agile, design‑led and sprint‑based development programmes within the Incubator, with clear outputs and learning objectives, using best‑practice agile approaches. Contribute to consultancy revenue generation (approx. £50k-£100k per year). Technical leadership Provide credible thought leadership at the intersection of geospatial data, emerging technology and new markets. Communicate complex technical and market concepts clearly to a wide range of audiences. Technical management Strengthen Geovation's research, experimentation and product‑development capabilities. Ensure Geovation's technical tools, skills and processes are maintained, modern and effective. Support team members in developing their technical capabilities.