Policy Manager Salary: c.£60,000 Bonus: Discretionary Location: Kings X, London - Tues - Thurs (3 days) at HQ, Monday Friday, anywhere Employment Type: 1-year fixed-term role, with the possibility for extension Closing Date: Monday 5 May 2025 23:59 About ARIA 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 This role will support the growing capability in the team leading ARIA’s engagement with government and public policy, and ethics and social responsibility (ESR). This role will be joining ARIA at an exciting time of significant growth, with a new cohort of Programme Directors (PDs) having joined in April 2025, working across a diverse range of research areas. This is a 1-year fixed-term role, with the possibility for extension, and will report directly to the Strategy and Policy Lead, in the Executive Office. What you’ll do Policy Engagement Support the new Programme Directors with their discovery process, identify and secure valuable interactions with relevant government, policy, regulatory and wider civil society stakeholders. This includes preparing PDs for a wide range of engagements from speaking at events to meetings with government officials and parliamentarians. Work with the founding Programme Directors on their ongoing interactions with government and policy stakeholders, devising and driving engagement plans and activities with the programme teams. This could include pieces with a longer-term focus, such as scoping out the regulatory landscape for new capabilities that may emerge from our programmes. Create and maintain a suite of templates, guidance and general documents for delivering high-quality policy support to our Programme Directors, including engagement trackers, horizon scanning summaries and meeting templates. First port of call for replying to and triaging inbound requests related to policy or government engagement. Keep a watching brief on relevant policy-related events, stakeholders and opportunities to help inform the development of an opportunity space or programme. Drive implementation of various pieces of engagement from our overarching corporate policy engagement strategy, and ensure alignment with our programme-specific plans. Work closely with the Communications and Engagement team to ensure alignment and effective information sharing, on cross-functional work strands and deliverables. Ad hoc activities and projects that emerge from the special projects remit of the Executive Office. Ethics & Social Responsibility Aid the design and implementation of a programme of ESR training and activities for the PDs, and core ARIA team, including ensuring the ESR Advisors are supported to deliver their activities. Create and maintain a suite of templates, guidelines and general documents for delivering high quality ESR guidance to our Programme Directors and teams, including engagement trackers, horizon scanning summaries and reporting templates. Support the running of ESR committee activities, including coordination of inputs from programme teams and functional teams. Key liaison for managing the requests for help and advice, and information flows, between PDs, core ARIA team and ESR Advisors. Keep a watching brief on relevant ESR-related events, news and opportunities to help inform the development of an opportunity space or programme. Essential Criteria Who you are A successful candidate will bring many of the following skills/experience to the role: Skills Research and evidenced based mindset - capable of proactively assessing, and carrying out, what additional research/analysis is required to inform decision-making/bring clarity to ambiguity. Effective communicator, clear, concise and persuasive - with strong writing ability for different audiences and formats e.g. briefings, summary reports, notes to senior members of the executive etc. Critical thinker - able to quickly get to grips with complex or technical subject matter, across a diverse portfolio of research areas, drawing out salient points to land with a lay or non-technical audience. Experience Working knowledge of how to navigate government (Whitehall) and the wider ecosystem it operates in, including the interplay and influence between different actors. Solid past evidence of diverse stakeholder management - this could be gained from working in a client-based role, a matrix organisation or somewhere with a complex external stakeholder environment. Demonstrable interest in politics and how this affects government priorities, policies and potential implications for the wider ecosystem. Previous involvement of engaging or working with civil/public servants, with an appreciation of the environment they operate in and the levers at their disposal. Familiarity with the need to exercise discretion and judgement in situations that demand a thoughtful and nuanced approach. Previous evidence of setting up, managing or helping with projects/reports, from start to finish, with little or no supervision. Leading or driving coordinated efforts, between multiple stakeholder groups, to reach consensus or optimised outcomes, in short timeframes. Desirable Criteria Knowledge or interest in the R&D, science or innovation ecosystem. Experience or interest in ethics and social responsibility, in science, research or emerging technologies. 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. 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 .