Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA)
Science and Technology Lead - Ubiquitous Particle Profiling
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Application Deadline: 11 October 2026
Department: Programmes
Location: London
Compensation: £70,000 - £105,000 / year
Description
Salary Levels: £70,000, £90,000, £105,000 (offers will be calibrated on benchmarked experience levels and assessment against our selection criteria)
Bonus: Discretionary
Location: Kings X, London; Tues - Thurs (3 days) at HQ, Monday + Friday, anywhere
Employment Type: Full-time
Contract: Permanent
Closing Date: 11.10.26
About ARIA
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.
Role Summary
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 Directors Sarah Bohndiek and Gemma Bale and their Programme Specialist on an emerging programme in ARIA's Adaptive Machines opportunity space, focused on our North Star for profiling the size, shape, and molecular species of single particles to become a ubiquitous capability. 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 Adaptive Machines 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 catalyse 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 Sarah Bohndiek and Gemma Bale
Sarah and Gemma are co-Programme Directors on secondment from the University of Cambridge, and lead the Forecasting Tipping Points programme at ARIA.
Sarah is a Professor of Biomedical Physics at Cambridge, jointly appointed in the Department of Physics and the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. Sarah directs an interdisciplinary team that uses optical imaging technology for earlier cancer detection.
Gemma is an Assistant Professor of Medical Therapeutics in the Department of Engineering and Department of Physics at Cambridge. Her work focuses on developing non-invasive brain monitoring in real-world environments where traditional brain monitoring isn’t possible.
While Sarah and Gemma’s expertise is grounded in the medical sciences, their focus at ARIA has been on harnessing the power of measurement and modelling to equip society to respond confidently to the climate crisis. They are now developing a new ARIA programme shooting for ubiquitous particle profiling.
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“Coming from a background in medical physics, we’re enthusiastic to drive new technologies out from the lab into the wild. We’re excited to find someone who shares our passion for breaking silos, nucleating new communities and seeing new opportunities to disrupt the status quo in the field.”
Sarah Bohndiek and Gemma Bale, co-Programme Directors
What You'll Do
The scope of the role will evolve as ARIA continues to grow, but will broadly involve the following:
Technical Programme Advisory and Support
- Act as the technical lead, with the Programme Director and their Programme Specialist, to shape and deliver a bold programme of research aimed at making particle profiling ubiquitous.
- 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 Director and the ARIA team to support high-quality decisions and sharpen the programme’s strategic direction.
- Confidently communicate complex scientific ideas surrounding the programme to stakeholders, from government and funders to key players across the ecosystem.
- Identify emerging trends and surface the most promising technologies, people, and ideas across the programme and its surrounding opportunity space.
- Co-author white papers, open calls, and technical reviews that articulate the ambition of the programme and set a clear, compelling vision for external communities.
- Work closely with the Programme Specialist and Creator teams to drive project delivery, tracking against ambitious technical milestones, benchmarking progress against the state of the art, and spotting opportunities for research cross-pollination to sustain momentum.
- Provide continuity to the opportunity space, and maintain a deep understanding of past and present programmes, and Creator projects, to help new Programme Directors build on what has worked, avoid what hasn’t, and leverage existing technologies and insights.
Connecting the Programme to the Ecosystem
- Represent the programme, often on behalf of the Programme Director, at events, workshops and talks.
- Support the broader opportunity space by identifying and developing innovative ways to expand it, bringing in new ideas, talent, and opportunities that deliver long-term value beyond the immediate needs of one programme.
- Build trusted relationships with world-class researchers, labs, and founders working at the forefront of the programme’s focus area, as well as the broader opportunity space.
- Work closely with ARIA’s Activation Partners to ensure Creator teams can access the right tools, platforms, and networks to accelerate translation and achieve impact beyond ARIA’s direct reach.
Define and Cultivate ARIA’s Technical Culture
- Collaborate across ARIA on funding models, budgets, tooling, and operational mechanisms to support effective, flexible funding and programme delivery.
- Contribute as a member of ARIA’s team of Science and Technology Leads, sharing best practices and learnings between programmes to strengthen ARIA’s overall portfolio of work.
- Identify opportunities to expand the opportunity space and build the connective tissue between adjacent spaces.
- Help build and sustain ARIA’s scientific and operational culture.
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Who You Are
Essential Criteria
- You have first-hand exposure to developing:
- Particle profiling technologies, for example, new sampling methods to capture aerosols for downstream analysis, new analytical methods across mass spectrometry or optics, or new data handling methods for source attribution;
- Field measurements of aerosols for environmental or human health applications.
- You have a strong understanding of:
- Aerosol chemistry and its implications in real-world applications;
- Bottlenecks with existing analytical methods;
- How particle profiling information could be valuable across a range of end users.
- You excel in grasping and navigating diverse technical projects.
- You excel at translating complex technical concepts and timelines to diverse stakeholders, effectively bridging gaps between diverse teams and perspectives.
- You are willing to ask questions and can rapidly learn and adapt to new scientific areas, comprehending key components of new technical disciplines.
- You can uncover non-obvious opportunities and risks, connecting teams, ideas, and research threads in novel ways that drive adoption and translation
- Highly adaptable, you are okay with uncertainty and a fast-paced environment.
- You comprehend and articulate complex concepts clearly and with conviction, think and communicate with structure, and interrogate ideas effectively.
Desirable Criteria
- You have worked with:
- A wide range of commercial instrumentation across different modalities for aerosol analysis, to understand the current bottlenecks;
- Platforms for field testing of new technologies (e.g. drones);
- Aerosol modelling;
- Analytical methods for source attribution.
- You have worked in industry, particularly startups, or have experience working in an environment embedded with end users, such as in air quality networks or government.
- You have successfully performed technical assignments that require unconventional or novel approaches.
- You are skilled in identifying technical bottlenecks, risk analysis and resolution, tracking technical milestones, and reporting on complex technical projects.
- You have a strong working knowledge of the UK R&D ecosystem.
Qualifications
- You have a Scientific qualification, with a preference for PhD or other deeper technical experience in one of the listed areas of interest, or similar; aerosol science, broadly interpreted across biology, chemistry, and physics; instrumentation development, across any modality used for particle profiling.
Benefits
- 27 days annual leave provision, with the option to buy/sell additional days
- Hybrid working arrangements; 60% in office / 40% at home
- Supportive environment for learning and development opportunities
- Enhanced family leave arrangements
- A free and confidential 24/7 employee assistance programme
- 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
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