Programme Director

ARIA Programme Director

Final date to receive applications: 28 September 2026

Department: Programmes

Employment Type: Fixed Term Contract

Location: London

Programme Director Cohort 3

Location: Kings Cross, London (hybrid)

Employment Type: This is a full-time role, although we are open to discussing an 80% commitment with exceptional candidates where this would still allow them to fulfil the role effectively

Contract Type: 3 years fixed-term (with the possibility for extension)

Closing Date: Early bird Final date to receive applications 07.09.26; final Final date to receive applications 28.09.26

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.

Learn more here.

That’s what you’ll do as an ARIA Programme Director (PD). Our PDs are scientific and technical leaders with deep expertise across one or more fields, and a focused, creative vision for how science and technology can enable a better future.

You’ll join us for three years to launch and actively manage ambitious R&D programmes around your scientific or technical visions within ARIA’s opportunity spaces. You’ll decide which directions matter most, build the communities around them, and fund and direct portfolios of projects to drive towards transformative breakthroughs.

If you’re unsure which of our opportunity spaces best fits your vision, we still want to hear from you — especially if you can show why ARIA is the right place to pursue it.

We’ll give you the toolkit to supercharge your progress. You’ll benefit from the foundations we’ve built: a world-class operating team, dedicated technical and programme support, established funding mechanisms, and networks across science, technology, government, industry and venture. Our job is to help you move faster and more ambitiously than would be possible anywhere else.

You’ll join our third cohort of PDs, with training, mentoring and support from existing PDs, a network of advisors and ARIA’s executive team — including our CEO, CSTO and Chief Translation Officer.

• Design and launch ambitious R&D programmes, each with a budget of around £50 million, within ARIA’s existing opportunity spaces;
• Run extensive discovery across academia, industry, start-ups, government, non-profits and the wider R&D ecosystem, spending time in-person with people across every region and nation of the UK to understand what is possible, what is missing, and where ARIA can have the greatest impact;
• Translate what you learn into one or more focused programmes, each with a clear theory of change, and decide which funding mechanisms are right to maximise their chances of success;
• Select and fund a portfolio of R&D projects across universities, start-ups, companies, non-profits and other organisations to unlock breakthroughs and advance the programme's objectives;
• Actively manage and direct your programmes and project portfolios — working closely with Creators, tracking progress against programme goals and using evidence to adapt strategy, redirect funding, scale promising work or stop what is not delivering — so the strongest ideas have the best chance of achieving real-world impact;
• Create and grow new communities around your programmes’ visions and goals, bringing together talent and ideas…