Lead Consultant

Lead Consultant

We are seeking a Lead Consultant, to join our MENA Academic and Government Consulting team within the Research & Analytics business unit.

In this role, you will be shaping validation strategies and experiment backlogs, reviewing test plans and results, and assembling high-quality evidence packs that support stage‑gate decisions with a focus on innovation projects. You will coordinate closely with project team members, subject‑matter experts and commercial clients. The mandate is hands‑on: keeping the cadence of weekly work moving, ensuring requirements‑tests‑results traceability, and translating technical progress into clear, decision‑ready outputs for leadership and clients.

If you are a forward‑thinking practitioner with a proven record in R&D, Technology Readiness Level (TRL) assessment, verification and validation and prototyping, we would love to speak with you.

• Master’s degree in a relevant science or engineering discipline

• At least 10 years of experience consulting with government and academic clients or start‑ups or incubators, including portfolio reviews and programme delivery or experience in innovation consulting

• Previous experience in either Government, Innovation Agencies, Incubators,
  Accelerators, University Technology Transfer Offices, Entrepreneurship
  Support Organisations, or Innovation‑focussed corporate sectors.

• Demonstrated experience in reviewing TRL stages, evidence and test
  results to pass stage gates

• Track record within start‑up and innovation ecosystems (accelerators/ incubators, venture, corporate partnerships) translating research into market outcomes.

• Knowledge of process innovation and operating‑model design (process mapping, KPI design, change management, adoption).

• MBA

• Advanced training in innovation or technology management is an advantage.

• Experience in SQL, R, or Python for analysis and dashboarding.

• Prior experience establishing or strengthening technology transfer
  offices (TTOs), including invention disclosure, IP triage, and
  commercialization pathways

• Previous experience in academia and/or industry R&D

• Experience working with patents databases analytics tools

The position offers challenging hypothesis‑driven projects for professionals with an innovation and commercialization background and leadership experience. Closely working with various subject‑matter experts (SMEs), the lead will have responsibilities that include, but are not limited to:

• Define the TRL advancement plan and experiment matrix for early‑stage teams, with clear hypotheses and exit criteria.

• Develop relationships with stakeholders, policymakers, and decision‑makers
  within target client groups.

• Design laboratory test protocols (methods, acceptance criteria,
  instrumentation setup) and establish verification/validation routines.

• Lead day‑to‑day lab operations especially in the early‑stage TRL: scheduling,
  equipment readiness, safety and quality procedures, sample handling, and
  vendor/test‑house coordination.

• Supervise execution of experiments, troubleshoot technical issues in real
  time, and coach teams on good experimental practice.

• Maintain requirements‑to‑tests‑to‑results linkage; run technical reviews and
  drive risk burn‑down across critical subsystems.

• Translate findings into actionable design iterations and recommend the next
  TRL step with a grounded rationale.

• Coordinate with SMEs and mentors: scope targeted engagements
  with clear objectives, deliverables, and acceptance criteria; schedule at key
  inflection points.

• Design and run small process pilots; evaluate outcomes with robust
  measurement and attribution.

• Institutionalize successful practices by translating pilot results into standard
  operating procedures and governance.

• Guide teams in adopting improved ways of working and sustaining change

Clarivate’s Academic and Government Consulting is a diverse group of practitioners
working across the global delivering consulting revenue globally. The Academic and
Government Consulting group is made up of three practice areas:
Research
Analytics, Reputation, and…