Director of Commercial & Funding Operations

Salary: £135,000
Bonus: Discretionary
Location: Kings X, London; Tues - Thurs (3 days) at HQ, Monday + Friday, anywhere
Employment Type: Permanent, full time

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.

Role Summary

As a Director of Commercial & Funding Operations, you will work with Programme Directors to turn scientific and technical theses into funding strategies, calls, selection processes, and signed awards; set ARIA’s approach to sourcing and supplier management; and oversee the policies and processes that support compliance with public-sector grant, procurement, and commercial requirements.

Reporting directly to our COO, you will lead the function, strengthen the systems and processes it relies on, and bring clear judgement to the novel or complex situations that arise in ARIA’s work. This role would suit someone who has led a complex funding, investment, procurement, or commercial operation and enjoys moving between strategy and practical delivery.

Key Responsibilities

What You’ll Do

The scope of the role will evolve as ARIA continues to grow, but will broadly involve the following:
- Work with Programme Directors from the early stages of their funding programme, helping them work out how to reach the right research communities, structure funding opportunities, assess proposals, and build a coherent portfolio.
- Lead the design and delivery of funding calls, including eligibility criteria, guidance, timetables, applicant communications, reviewer processes, evaluation, and decision records.
- Oversee the route from a selected proposal to a signed award, bringing together due diligence, budgets, approvals, milestones, and commercial terms so that work can begin as soon as possible.
- Help set ARIA’s approach to sourcing and supplier management, and support important or difficult negotiations, supplier issues, and renewals.
- Work with ARIA’s CFO and Finance team to maintain ARIA’s grants and commercial governance approach, including policies, delegations, and risk management practices.
- Set direction and priorities across the team and ensure it has the resources, capacity, and support it needs to help the organisation deliver.
- Build good working relationships with government stakeholders and commercial teams.
- Build and maintain practical templates, playbooks, guidance, records, escalation routes, and systems that make the function easier to use and allow a small team to scale.
- Give ARIA’s Executive team a clear view of funding and sourcing pipelines, workload, commitments, risks, and delays, and use that information to help inform organisational planning, prioritisation, and resourcing.
- Bring together the right commercial, legal, financial, and programme expertise for unusual or strategic transactions that do not fit a standard funding or sourcing route.
- Build trusted, early partnerships with Programme Directors and colleagues, bringing commercial insight into the design of ambitious programmes rather than acting as a late-stage gatekeeper.
- Apply imaginative, proportionate commercial judgement to remove unnecessary friction, solve complex problems, and enable pace - while maintaining fairness, value for money, compliance, and public trust.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Who you are
- You have led a sizeable or complex funding, investment, procurement, commercial, or comparable capital-deployment operation, and can point to ways you made it more effective and easier to navigate.
- You are a strong leader who is able to set a clear vision, delegate effectively, coach people through difficult judgement calls, and make sensible trade-offs across competing priorities.
- You have a good understanding of the full funding or investment lifecycle: researching the market, engaging the right communities, shaping an opportunity, running structured or competitive selection processes, making well-documented decisions, and taking projects through due diligence to agreement.
- You have a good understanding of end-to-end procurement and sourcing, from refining an early operational need through market engagement, supplier selection, negotiation, contract, handover, performance, and renewal.
- You can turn governance and compliance requirements into clear, proportionate, and workable policies, controls, and guidance.
- You have good judgement and are comfortable making decisions with incomplete information, explaining trade-offs, providing constructive challenge to colleagues, and knowing when to bring in specialist support.
- You are commercially astute. You can test assumptions, navigate novel award and contracting structures, and negotiate credibly and effectively with third parties.
- You are a clear communicator who can explain complex funding, commercial, and governance issues in simple, practical terms.
- You have a good-humoured, low-ego, and hands-on approach to work, and are comfortable moving between strategy and practical problem-solving in a scaling organisation.
Desirable Criteria
- You have significant experience spanning more than one of the following areas: R&D funding; strategic procurement; complex supplier management; venture capital; investment operations; or public-sector commercial work.
- You have direct experience involving government grants or commercial standards and stewardship of public money.
- You have experience using data, automation, or AI tools to reduce administration and improve operational decision-making.

Benefits

- 27 days annual leave provision, with the option to buy/sell additional days
- 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. You can read our policy here (https://www.linkedin.com/safety/go/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Earia%2Eorg%2Euk%2Ftransparency%2F&urlhash=z1GM&mt=9Z5SFzUFk4Yysk8kJm7psCL_jEKFdFBoiTbXFRkhIhCyDrOEw2oSDjQDplNZ5S6-3lT8mpm8vNcET_q7cysH1ebBtg&isSdui=true) . Our research and development activity will abide by the 3Rs principle. You can read about those here (https://www.linkedin.com/safety/go/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enc3rs%2Eorg%2Euk%2Fwho-we-are%2F3rs&urlhash=SH-b&mt=HluNfUgwlll9hjBNyVlLIY2zq4omW2OnE3PIs-2LlDEalBSfNiRSEBKwWnPfIWm9h2nMZduhCgdt4u2ixd6-wB9cIQ&isSdui=true) .