ARIA
Head of Executive Engagement
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Head of Executive Engagement
Application Deadline: 4 September 2026
Department: Communications and Engagement
Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time
Location: London
Compensation: £95,000 / year
Description
About ARIA
ARIA is a R&D funding agency created 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.
Learn more about how we work here.
Role Summary
As Head of Executive Engagement, you will shape how ARIA’s CEO and broader executive team are heard, seen, and positioned in the public domain. You will ensure ARIA’s leadership communicates with clarity, coherence, and impact across every significant external moment.
In practice, the day-to-day centre of gravity will be with the CEO, where you will serve as an external-facing chief of staff: shaping how she communicates the organisation’s mission, setting the strategic direction of her external programme, and being at her side for the moments that matter — providing real-time counsel, triage, and follow-through.
This is a high-trust, senior advisory role that blends communications strategy with political intelligence and hands-on engagement support. A critical part of the role is ensuring strategic discipline across the CEO’s external activity. You will ensure there is a clear purpose behind every significant commitment of the CEO’s time and visibility, and that her external programme actively supports ARIA’s strategic objectives.
The role sits within the Communications & Engagement function and works in close partnership with the Lead EA who supports the Chief Executive.
What you’ll do
The scope of the role will evolve as ARIA continues to grow, but will broadly involve the following:
Executive communications and public voice
- You will own the quality, coherence, and ambition of the CEO’s external communications. This goes beyond strong writing — it requires someone who can internalise the CEO’s thinking and produce material that she recognises as authentically her own.
- Lead the development of speeches, keynotes, conference remarks, op-eds, and major presentations for the CEO as the primary focus and other members of the executive team — including but not limited to the Deputy CEO, Chief Translation Officer and Chief Science and Technology Lead — for significant external moments.
- Brief and direct an external agency to support the production of executive communications, ensuring output meets ARIA's standards and is aligned with the exec team’s voice and positioning.
- Design and manage an integrated executive visibility programme — spanning speeches, media, social media, events, video, and thought leadership publishing — ensuring these work as a coordinated whole rather than a series of isolated outputs.
- Build and sustain the CEO's distinctive public voice, helping her articulate ARIA's mission with clarity and conviction across diverse audiences, from policymakers and scientists to press and the public.
- Provide coaching and preparation support for senior spokespeople ahead of high-profile speaking engagements and media appearances, ensuring they are confident, well-rehearsed, and aligned with ARIA’s positioning.
- Own the strategic direction of the CEO’s public social media presence, working closely with the wider communications team on content and sequencing.
- Develop and maintain reference materials, positioning guides, and self-service resources that equip the executive team to represent ARIA effectively in their own external engagements, with the support of an external agency where appropriate.
- Ensure a consistently high standard across all executive-level external outputs.
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R&D ecosystem and policy landscape
- ARIA operates in a complex and shifting landscape of R&D developments, policy, and public debate. You will ensure the CEO is positioned ahead of the curve and that ARIA’s executive team presents a clear and coordinated external front.
- Work in close partnership with ARIA's Head of Public Policy & ESR, who leads ARIA's institutional approach to government and public policy, and our Content and Ecosystem Lead to jointly shape ARIA's approach to the CEO's most significant external-facing moments.
- Identify and translate pertinent developments across the UK R&D ecosystem, science funding and the wider policy environment into implications for the CEO's positioning and outputs.
- Provide reputational counsel — identifying risks, surfacing opportunities, and advising on timing and framing.
- Work with the executive team to define their distinct external profiles, areas of emphasis, and target audiences.
- Ensure clarity across the executive team on external roles and responsibilities for major public moments.
- Be the key point of coordination and triage for inbound policy and ecosystem stakeholder requests, providing clarity and key inputs to the policy and comms teams, ensuring the CEO is fully briefed.
- Lead the CEO's preparation for high-stakes government-facing engagements, including select committees, high-profile ministerial meetings and formal parliamentary moments. Design and run prep in partnership with the Head of Public Policy & ESR, and ensure the CEO has access to real-time counsel.
- Draft reactive lines, positioning statements, and public-facing outputs for the CEO as required.
- Collaborate closely with ARIA’s wider communications and engagement team to ensure alignment between executive outputs and institutional messaging.
Senior engagement leadership
- You will set the strategic approach to the CEO’s external engagement programme — determining where her time and visibility will have the greatest impact — and provide senior, hands-on support to ensure every significant interaction is well prepared and effectively followed through.
- Develop the framework and criteria for evaluating external engagement opportunities, ensuring the CEO’s time is directed towards the highest-value moments.
- Accompany the CEO to key external events, conferences, and high-level meetings, providing real-time support and triage.
- Manage the flow of requests, introductions, and approaches around the CEO — protecting her time and ensuring attention is directed where it will have the greatest impact.
- Help map, develop, and maintain the CEO’s network across research, policy, government, industry, and media.
- Provide the CEO with ongoing intelligence on the people and dynamics relevant to ARIA’s external position.
- Define success metrics for executive engagement and evaluate the impact of the executive team’s external programme over time.
- Work in close partnership with the Lead EA to ensure joined-up coordination across diary, engagements, and logistics.
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Who you are
We expect the successful candidate to bring many of the following:
- You have significant experience in a senior advisory, executive communications, or chief of staff capacity — ideally working closely alongside a prominent principal in government, research, or a major public institution.
- You are an exceptional writer with a rare ability to inhabit another person's voice — producing material that a principal recognises as their own thinking, not a communications team's approximation of it.
- You are policy-literate, with deep familiarity with the UK R&D, science policy, and innovation landscape. You understand how government and public funding operates, and you are attuned to how an arm's length body like ARIA is perceived and scrutinised within that environment.
- You bring strong instincts and networks across the media, research and industry landscape — you understand how narratives land in these communities, and can guide a CEO's engagement with them at a senior level.
- You have the judgement and discretion to operate as a trusted advisor to a CEO, and the interpersonal confidence to offer candid counsel when it is needed.
- You are comfortable in high-profile, fast-moving environments. You are calm under pressure, quick to read a room, and able to triage competing demands in real time.
- You deliver at pace with composure, ensuring that professional respect remains a constant regardless of the stakes.
How to apply
Please submit your current CV and a cover letter detailing your suitability. We pride ourselves on reviewing every application personally.
Note: A cover letter is required to be considered.
Benefits
- 27 days annual leave provision, with the option to buy/sell additional days
- Hybrid working arrangements; 60% in office / 40% at home
- Discretionary bonus
- Supportive environment for learning and development opportunities
- Enhanced family leave arrangements
- A free and confidential 24/7 employee assistance programme
- Life Assurance
- 2 days of paid volunteer days
- 5% defined contribution pension scheme with Smart Pension
- Cycle to Work scheme
- An excellent office location in Kings X, London
Not sure you meet 100% of our criteria? Don’t worry! If you believe that you could excel in this role, we encourage you to apply. We want to attract the broadest array of candidates, including those with diverse workplace experiences and backgrounds. Whether you’re new to the field, returning to work after a gap in employment, simply looking to transition, or taking the next step in your career path, we will be glad to have you on our radar. Please use your cover letter to tell us about your interests and what you hope to bring to this role.
If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process, please notify us and we will make every effort to accommodate you. Disclosing any requests are intended to provide ARIA with the best opportunity to support candidates and will have no negative impact on your recruitment process.
ARIA adopts a highly considered approach to ethical and social responsibility
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