Technical Specialist - Population Genetics + Eco-evolutionary Dynamics

ARIA; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 68,000 - 99,000; Full time

Job summary

A UK R&D funding agency is seeking a Technical Specialist to drive breakthroughs in ecosystem resilience. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with program directors and specialists to manage and deliver innovative projects. Candidates must have a PhD or equivalent experience in specialties such as evolutionary genetics or ecology. This role offers £68,000 to £99,000 salary range along with hybrid working options.

Benefits

27 days annual leave, with buy/sell option

Hybrid working arrangements

Enhanced family leave

24/7 employee assistance programme

2 days paid volunteer leave

5% defined contribution pension scheme

Cycle to Work scheme

Qualifications

• Proven experience with directed evolution experiments, mesocosms or similar.
• Experience with large-scale ecological data.
• Strong statistical knowledge and modeling skills.

Responsibilities

• Act as the technical lead in research programmes.
• Review project proposals and assess technical milestones.
• Communicate complex scientific ideas to stakeholders.

Skills

Disentangling molecular signatures

Ecosystem functions and dynamics

Critical thinking in experimental designs

Data analysis and prototyping in R or Python

Translating technical concepts to stakeholders

Adaptability in fast-paced environments

Education

PhD or equivalent in evolutionary genetics, ecology or related fields

Job description

Application Deadline: 16 November 2025

Department: Programmes

Employment Type: Fixed Term - Full Time

Location: London

Compensation: £68,000 - £99,000 / year

Description

Salary Levels: c.£68,000, c.£85,000, c.£99,000 (eventual offers will be based on benchmarked experience levels in combination with our selection criteria)

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

Employment Type: Full-time. Contract: 3 years fixed-term (with the possibility for extension). Closing Date: 16.11.25

ARIA is a new kind of R&D funding agency. 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.

We are growing our team to develop bold new approaches that can scale – from programmes to systems, processes and everything in between. If that sounds fun, come and build ARIA with us.

Learn more about how we work here.

Role Summary

As an ARIA Technical Specialist, you will have the rare chance to catalyse breakthroughs that could change the world. You’ll sit alongside Programme Director Yannick Wurm, their Programme Specialist Alex Smith, and Frontier Specialist Alice Pettitt, in ARIA’s Engineering Ecosystem Resilience opportunity space. You’ll be exposed to every aspect of the technical management of the programme developed and opportunity seeds funded in the opportunity space, from design through approval, project selection, and delivery.

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 & 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 & technology.

Meet Yannick

Yannick Wurm is a member of ARIA’s second cohort of Programme Directors. He is on career break from being a Professor in Evolutionary Genomics & Bioinformatics at Queen Mary University of London. His experience spans sequencing the fire ant genome, discovering its social chromosomes, developing high‑resolution molecular approaches for measuring pollinator health, and creating SequenceServer and Sensibee.

Yannick leads ARIA’s Engineering Ecosystem Resilience Opportunity space. Find out more about what they’re working on here.

“I’m looking for a rigorous genes‑to‑ecosystem thinker, excited to enable transformative technologies for nature and humanity. You can disentangle drift from selection, connect species‑level processes to ecosystem‑level implications, and foresee why experiments or interventions may fail. You can prototype visualisations in R or python, and clearly communicate risks, trade‑offs and evidence. If this sounds like fun, put in an application and let’s talk.”

Yannick Wurm, 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 overcoming technical challenges in increasing ecosystem resilience.
• 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.
• Be the technical bridge between the Programme Director and functional teams, ensuring execution aligns with the needs of the ecosystem’s understanding of the programme.

Connecting the Programme to the Ecosystem

• Represent the programme, often on behalf of the Programme Director, at events, workshops and talks.
• Build trusted relationships with world‑class researchers, labs, and founders working at the forefront of the programme’s focus area.
• 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 Technical Specialists (‘T‑Specs’), sharing best practices and learnings between programmes to strengthen ARIA’s portfolio of work.
• Help build and sustain ARIA’s scientific and operational culture.

Who you are

Essential Criteria

• You have first‑hand exposure to disentangling the molecular signatures of adaptive and neutral forces through application of pre‑existing tools, first principle reasoning, and analysis or simulations.
• You have a strong understanding of the complexity of ecosystem functions and dynamics.
• You’re able to think critically about experimental designs.
• You’re able to reliably analyse data and prototype visualisations in R or python (or similar).
• 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 directed evolution experiments, mesocosm, ecotron, or field trials, or have made sense of geospatial and environmental datasets.
• You have strong statistical grounding, and may bring experience of synthetic biology or bioengineering approaches.
• You have experience integrating multi‑scale models (from genes to ecosystems), or using agent‑based, systems dynamics, or simulation frameworks to explore resilience, tipping points, or intervention outcomes.
• You are comfortable working with large‑scale ecological data (e.g., eDNA, sensor networks, remote sensing) and integrating information across biological, physical, and technological systems.
• 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 equivalent deep technical experience in one of the listed areas of interest, or similar; evolutionary genetics, community ecology, molecular evolution, synthetic biology, ecology.

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

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 this, 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.

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.