Science and Technology Lead - Living Architecture

Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA); Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 105,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days annual leave

Hybrid working arrangements

Learning and development opportunities

Pension scheme

Cycle to Work

Job summary

Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) is seeking an ARIA Science and Technology Lead to catalyse breakthroughs in living materials and their application to scalable infrastructure. You will work with a diverse team to shape programmes, engage world-class researchers, and drive delivery from design to evaluation.

The role combines technical strategy with hands-on assessment of proposals and milestones, offering a unique opportunity to influence the built environment at scale across the UK.

Qualifications

• First-hand exposure to developing living architecture or related living materials.
• Strong engineering understanding and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
• Experience translating scientific concepts for diverse stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership to shape and deliver a bold programme of research.
• Review proposals, assess milestones, and track progress with Creator teams.
• Communicate complex ideas to government, funders and ecosystem partners.
• Identify emerging trends and surface promising technologies across the portfolio.

Skills

Living architecture

Engineering

Project management

Stakeholder comms

Risk analysis

Cross-disciplinary

Education

PhD preferred

Job description

Description

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

Discretionary

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

Full-time

Permanent

Sunday 25 October 23:59

About ARIA

ARIA empowers scientists to pursue breakthroughs at the edge of the possible.

From climate change to AI, society faces enormous challenges and opportunities that can be uniquely addressed through 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 is 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.

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 Director Angie Burnett and their Programme Specialist to help define, shape and deliver an ambitious new programme exploring how living organisms can be harnessed as functional engineering materials. By bringing together expertise across engineering, architecture, biology, materials science, social science and design, the programme seeks to unlock radically new approaches to creating infrastructure that can grow, adapt, repair itself and respond to its environment, with the potential to transform how we design, build and maintain the built environment.

You’ll be exposed to every aspect of the programme's technical management, from programme design and technical strategy through project selection, delivery and evaluation. Working alongside the Programme Director, you’ll identify emerging scientific opportunities, engage world-leading researchers, challenge and refine technical ideas, and help build a portfolio capable of delivering transformative breakthroughs.

Your impact will extend beyond a single programme; you will play a key role in strengthening the wider Abundant Manufacturing 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 Angie Burnett

Angie is a member of ARIA’s first cohort of Programme Directors. Angie trained as a plant physiologist and leads ARIA’s Synthetic Plants programme. She is passionate about harnessing the power of plants to create a sustainable future.

Angie is now developing a second ARIA programme to explore the use of living organisms as functional engineering materials.

Find out more about what they’re working on here.

"I’m passionate about building a world-changing programme that harnesses the power of plants to help people. I’m looking for a technical professional with deep expertise in the disciplines of architecture and engineering to complement my background in plant biology and join my enthusiastic programme team. The Science + Technology Lead on my programme will be a key thought partner helping to drive success - I can’t wait to meet you."

Angie Burnett, Programme Director

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 growing buildings.
• 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.

Who You Are

Essential Criteria

• You have first‑hand exposure to developing living architecture: growing/retrofitting buildings and/or growing building materials using biology.
• You have a strong understanding of, and relevant expertise in, engineering.
• You excel in grasping and navigating diverse technical projects.
• You are skilled in identifying technical bottlenecks, risk analysis and resolution, tracking technical milestones, and reporting on complex 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 cross-disciplinary expertise, especially in areas related to the developing programme (including engineering, architecture, biology, materials science, social science and design).
• You have experience taking a product to market, especially related to living architecture or grown materials.
• You have successfully performed technical assignments that require unconventional or novel approaches.
• You have a strong working knowledge of the UK R&D ecosystem.
• You have an understanding of the regulatory frameworks applicable to developing and marketing living building materials in the UK.

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: engineering, biodesign, biology.

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

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.

Please note; You will be required, as and when necessary, to travel to different locations around the UK and internationally to support projects, depending on the Programme you are designated to.

ARIA adopts a highly considered approach to ethical and social responsibility. You can read our policy here. Our research and development activity will abide by the 3Rs principle. You can read about those here.