Partner Partnerships & Programmes - Convergent Research

Overview

We're looking for a seasoned executive who can build and scale Convergent's UK presence while navigating the intersection of breakthrough science, institutional design, and UK science policy. As our Partner for UK Operations & Programs, you'll lead our ARIA partnership, run our UK Residency program, build our on-the-ground team and infrastructure, sit on FRO boards, and represent Convergent across the UK science and policy ecosystem.

You'll interface with ARIA, UKRI, Innovate UK, and government leadership while maintaining our standards for ambitious, high-integrity science. If you've built teams and organizations from the ground up, understand both startup velocity and UK public sector dynamics, and believe British science policy can actually enable moonshots rather than just talk about them, you'll fit in great here.

Convergent Research exists to bring entirely new scientific institutions into the world:
Focused Research Organizations (FROs). These are purpose-built, mission-driven orgs designed to solve technological bottlenecks, unlock whole new fields, and lead to scaled revolutions. Think: "What if Bell Labs, but for single-cell proteomics?" We've launched more than 10 FROs globally and proven that the model works. We've raised over $350 million and catalyzed $300+ million in follow-on investment. Now we're scaling intentionally into the UK, and this is a critical inflection point for that expansion.

Last year, we became an ARIA Activation Partner and ran our first UK Residency program for prospective FRO founders, through which we incubated and selected two new UK FROs for ARIA funding. We also established a legal presence in the UK. This year, we're running Version 2 of the Residency, expanding our physical and operational footprint, deepening our networks across British research institutions and funding bodies, and building the team that will make Convergent a permanent fixture of the UK science ecosystem.

This role is critical because UK expansion represents both massive opportunity and serious operational complexity. The person who joins in this role will be setting a lot of where our UK (and broader European) strategy goes. In addition to a strong strategic leader, we need someone who can work hand in hand with our US-based team to help manage UK-specific infrastructure around hiring, systems, governance, and partnerships while also growing a portfolio of world-class FROs that maintain the speed, ambition, and scientific rigor Convergent is known for.

You're joining at a moment that is neither all risk nor all rote—we have early traction and strong partnerships, but plenty of room for experimentation. You'll be joining a team that is ambitious, irreverent, and deeply committed to enabling breakthrough science. If you're excited about building institutions from scratch, UK science policy and innovation ecosystems, and helping founders build lasting organizations without drowning in bureaucracy, this is your role.

As our Partner for UK Operations & Programs, you'll be part strategic operator, part ecosystem builder, part founder boss, part diplomatic envoy, part chief of staff for UK activities. You will:

• Lead UK Residency & FRO pipeline:
  Own the execution of our UK Residency program. Identify and source breakthrough research concepts from across British universities and institutes, recruit stellar founding teams, shepherd them through the Residency, and launch new FROs in partnership with ARIA and other funders
• Manage UK Office and Hiring:
  Help our team continue to build the operational foundations Convergent needs in the UK, supporting recruitment of new team members and ensuring our UK entity can support a growing FRO portfolio
• Grow UK government and funding relationships:
  Deepen our partnership with ARIA while building relationships with UKRI, Innovate UK, DSIT, and other agencies funding high-risk research. Position Convergent as the trusted operating partner for ambitious public-good science across the UK funding landscape
• Represent Convergent in UK policy and science circles:
  Be Convergent's face in London, Cambridge, and beyond. Speak at conferences, engage with policymakers, build relationships with university leadership and research directors, and ensure the FRO model is understood and valued by the UK science establishment
• Provide board governance:
  Serve as voting board member on multiple UK-based FROs, bringing strategic oversight, removing blockers, ensuring milestones…