Become a Technical Specialist
ARIA empowers scientists to pursue breakthroughs at the edge of the possible.
Our programmes are led by Programme Directors: scientific and technical leaders with deep expertise and a bold, creative vision for how technology can shape a better future.
Our programmes are led by Programme Directors: scientific and technical leaders with deep expertise and a bold, creative vision for how technology can shape a better future.
Realising these visions requires a uniquely capable team. At the core is the Technical Specialist, who works closely with the PD and Programme Specialist as the technical lead, helping to shape and drive ambitious research programmes from concept to impact.
What you’ll do
As an ARIA Technical Specialist, you will have the rare chance to catalyse breakthroughs that could change the world. You'll sit alongside the Programme Director and their Programme Specialist on an ARIA programme. You’ll be exposed to every aspect of the programme's technical management from design through approval, project selection, and delivery.
Each Technical Specialist’s responsibilities are moulded to a programme's unique needs and the relative strengths of a Programme Director as they help to build and nurture the communities that sit at the heart of our programmes.
Each Technical Specialist’s responsibilities are moulded to a programme's unique needs and the relative strengths of a Programme Director as they help to build and nurture the communities that sit at the heart of our programmes.
The core elements of the role
Technical Programme Advisory and Support
As the technical bridge for an ARIA programme, you’ll be deeply embedded with funded projects (Creators) pursuing some of the boldest research and transformative technologies anywhere in the world. You’ll assess proposals, guide their technical direction, and benchmark their progress against the state-of-the-art, providing deep technical insight and feedback that helps to sharpen the programme’s strategic direction.
Connecting the Programme to the Ecosystem
You’ll build trusted relationships with world-leading researchers, founders, and industry teams, championing the programme and building its presence and influence across the ecosystem. You’ll act as a catalyst, including working with our Activation Partners to connect Creator teams with the tools, networks, and platforms they need to accelerate their breakthroughs and achieve maximum impact in the world.
Define and Cultivate ARIA’s Technical Culture
You’ll be both a builder and steward of ARIA’s technical culture. This might include input on novel funding models, tools, and operational mechanisms that enable us to do things differently. As part of a collective of Technical Specialists, you’ll share insights and best practices across programmes, strengthening ARIA’s portfolio and helping to build a culture of scientific curiosity and operational agility.
Who you are
- You possess deep scientific and technical expertise relevant to the scope of an ARIA programme and strong signals of credibility in your field.
- You’re quick to understand new fields, ask the right questions, and connect the dots across disciplines and the external ecosystem, uncovering opportunities and risks others miss.
- Whether it’s technical detail or complex ideas, you communicate with structure and clarity, bridging diverse teams and perspectives with ease.
- Fast-paced environments excite you. You adapt quickly, course correct, and work with conviction even when the path isn’t fully defined.
- You’re willing to dive deep into a wide range of technical domains and provide in-depth analysis, offering recommendations to support and assess the direction of the programme.
- You have a translational mindset, able to consider the long term pathways for impact and adoption.
Who you’ll work with
Programme Director: your line manager, a scientific and technical leader with a focused, creative vision for how technology can enable a better future. They design the scope of an ARIA programme, direct its funding across the R&D ecosystem, and build a new community around its goals.
Programme Specialist: your peer, P-Specs work closely with their assigned PD to co-ordinate and oversee the project management of their respective programmes and are the operational lead of a programme team.
Programme Specialist: your peer, P-Specs work closely with their assigned PD to co-ordinate and oversee the project management of their respective programmes and are the operational lead of a programme team.
Meet our first cohort of Technical Specialists
Fabrizio Ticchiarelli-Marjot
As a plant scientist with a PhD from Cambridge, Fabrizio has spent ten years advancing plant biology knowledge and its translation to products. Before ARIA, he spent five years working in early-stage tech startups, consulting on lab automation at Synthace for Pharma and Crop Protection companies, then at Gardin where he led the plant science team and headed delivery of the R&D product offering.
Nora Ammann
Nora is an interdisciplinary researcher with expertise in complex systems, philosophy of science, political theory and AI. She focuses on the development of transformative AI and understanding intelligent behavior in natural, social, or artificial systems. Before ARIA, she co-founded and led PIBBSS, a research initiative exploring interdisciplinary approaches to AI risk, governance and safety.
Radhika Gudipati
Radhika has fifteen years in the robotics industry and is passionate about entrepreneurship, laboratory automation, and sustainability. She works between engineering and user perspectives, drawing from her roles at Ocado Technology and Shadow Robot, where she focused on robotics research and business solutions. Radhika holds a PhD in robotics for healthcare from the University of Hertfordshire.
Dan Giles
Dan has a diverse academic background in applied mathematics, statistics, and computer science, with a focus on developing and enhancing ocean and atmospheric models. He joined ARIA from University College London, where he is a Senior Research Fellow in machine learning for weather and climate sciences.
Paolo Toccaceli
Paolo is an electronic engineer by training, and has spent majority of his professional career in technical R&D roles for large high-tech companies, such as HP and Alcatel-Lucent. He returned to academia to earn a PhD in Machine Learning, then joined Graphcore, a startup that develops innovative AI hardware.
Gillian Koehl
Gillian, a bioengineer, is passionate about advancing health through neurotechnology. She brings expertise in neuromodulation product development and biomaterials from her time at Blackrock Neurotechnology and Imperial College London.
George Horner
George holds a PhD in atmospheric physics from Imperial College London, where his research focussed on how clouds evolve over time, and how they may be impacted by aerosols.
The interview process
Current opportunities
Register your interest to be notified of new roles that meet your criteria.
Explore our emerging areas
Our second cohort of Programme Directors has joined ARIA with initial ideas to explore. For early insight into their thinking and a steer for areas that future Technical Specialist roles may emerge in, take a look at these emerging areas.