Science and Technology Lead - Enduring Atmospheric Platforms

As an ARIA Science and Technology Lead, you will catalyse breakthroughs on the Enduring Atmospheric Platforms programme, working alongside the Programme Director and Programme Specialist. You'll be exposed to every aspect of the programme's technical management, from design through approval, project selection, and delivery. You'll also play a key role in strengthening the wider Adaptive Machines opportunity space, surfacing insights that build on existing ARIA-funded technologies and accelerate discovery. You'll act as the technical lead, reviewing project proposals, assessing technical milestones, and providing evidence-based technical insight to support high-quality decisions.

Responsibilities

• Act as the technical lead, with the Programme Director and their Programme Specialist, to shape and deliver a bold programme of research aimed at delivering high altitude platforms that can reliably and cost effectively provide regional broadband connectivity.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Requirements

• You have first-hand exposure to developing commercially viable, multidisciplinary high tech systems at the edge of what’s technologically possible in the domains of aerospace, energy, communication, or lasers.
• You think and communicate with a systems engineering mindset, feel comfortable assessing projects on the basis of gantt charts and quarterly reports.
• You have a strong applied physics understanding.
• You have worked on uncrewed airborne platforms development and testing.
• 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.
• 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; systems engineering or applied physics.

Nice to have

• You have worked in milestone-driven, high-risk/high-reward, ARPA-like R&D organisations.
• You have strong demonstrable experience of engineering trade-space analysis in the aerospace sector.
• You have experience with space launch, and satellites, their sensors, payloads, and communications systems.
• A proven track record in leading and/or driving market entry for disruptive technologies, with a strong network across commercial partners and industry channels relevant to the programme.
• You have worked in industry, in an organisation with exceptionally ambitious technological development (including cutting edge hardware development)
• 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.

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