Science and Technology Lead - AI Chemistry; Digital Olfaction

Salary Levels: £70,000, £90,000, £105,000 (offers will be calibrated on benchmarked experience levels and assessment against our selection criteria)

Location: Kings X, London;
Tues - Thurs (3 days) at HQ, Monday + Friday, anywhere

Employment Type: Full-time

Contract: Permanent

ARIA is a new R&D funding agency built to unlock technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone. We fund scientists and engineers to pursue research at the edge of the possible.

From climate change to AI, society faces enormous challenges and opportunities that can be uniquely addressed by science and technology. ARIA was created to activate the UK’s world‑class R&D in new ways, so we can meet these head on.

Our success is shaped by one question: how will ARIA transform the lives of the UK’s future generations? Whether that’s a life‑changing new technology or a burgeoning new industry, it should be obvious that ARIA played a catalytic role.

If you want to help make breakthroughs like these possible, come and build ARIA with us.

As an ARIA Science and Technology Lead, you will have the rare chance to catalyse breakthroughs that could change the world. You’ll sit alongside Programme Director Claire Donoghue and their Programme Specialist on ARIA's Hypersensory Intelligence:
Olfactory Perception programme. You’ll be exposed to every aspect of the programme's technical management from design through approval, project selection, and delivery.

Your impact will extend beyond a single programme; you will play a key role in strengthening the wider Extending Our Perception opportunity space, with a deep, evolving understanding of programmes and projects over time. As Programme Directors join the opportunity space and new programmes are launched, you will surface insights that build on existing ARIA‑funded technologies, accelerate discovery, and turn past lessons into future breakthroughs, maximising impact across the portfolio.

We’re looking for an adaptable technical professional who’s strongly motivated by the opportunity to catalise a technological step change. You’ll be working in a bold, talented, and agile team, funding projects (‘Creators’) across the entire R&D ecosystem, from startups to universities, in the pursuit of groundbreaking advancements that will shape the future of science and technology.

Meet Claire Donoghue

Claire is a member of ARIA’s second cohort of Programme Directors. Claire joined ARIA from her role as Senior Director in Data Science and AI h two decades' experience in machine learning, she has delivered solutions across healthcare, manufacturing, material design and occupational safety. Claire is an inventor on 19 patents and holds a PhD in machine learning from Imperial College London.

Claire is leading an ARIA programme to build a general‑purpose artificial “sense of smell” that matches or exceeds biological performance, transforming how we detect and interpret high‑dimensional chemical signals to unlock breakthroughs across health, food, and the environment.

"Olfaction is the final frontier of machine perception. I need an adaptable, brilliant technical lead who thrives working in highly cross‑disciplinary environments to help me shape this portfolio and catalise breakthroughs that will change human lives. If you want to build at the edge of the possible, I'd love to hear from you."

Claire Donoghue
, Programme Director

The scope of the role will evolve as ARIA continues to grow, but will broadly involve the following:

Technical Programme Advisory and Support

• building a general‑purpose artificial “sense of smell” that matches or exceeds biological performance, transforming how we detect and interpret high‑dimensional chemical signals to unlock breakthroughs across health, food, and the environment.

• Review project proposals, grant applications, assess technical milestones, and stay close to the ground on what’s being built and tested by Creator teams.

• Plan, lead, and contribute to technical discussions in project meetings, workshops, and formal reviews, bringing depth, challenge, and direction to every interaction.

• Provide evidence‑based technical insight to the Programme…