What they build
Open roles via the TechTO Job Board
Working at ARIA
Browse open roles across the community on the TechTO Job Board — Canada’s most connected tech network. ARIA’s roles show up here whenever they post.
Open roles on the TechTO Job Board ↗Or their own careers page: aria.org.uk/careers ↗Jobs live on jobs.techto.org — the only structured source. We link to it rather than scraping career sites, so the board is always the source of truth.
About
ARIA exists because Parliament decided the UK needed a funder that could back research described in law as risky, uncertain and speculative — work that ordinary grant committees screen out. The Advanced Research and Invention Agency Act 2022 created it, and it was formally established as an independent research body in January 2023 with a ten-year legal mandate.
The model is programme directors: individuals given an opportunity space, a budget and the freedom to commission the work, rather than a committee reviewing applications. Live programmes include Nature-Inspired Computation, Resilient Climate and Ecosystems, Abundant Manufacturing, Adaptive Machines, Scalable Neural Interfaces, Programmable Physiology and Trust Everything, Everywhere; the Hypersensory Intelligence — Olfactory Perception programme is described on ARIA's site as a £65m programme.
Matt Clifford CBE has chaired ARIA since 2022. He co-founded Entrepreneur First, the talent investor that backs individuals before they have companies, and appeared in TechTO's Founders & Funding series in May 2021 as EF's co-founder.
Backers
Funded by the UK government. £800M at inception, a £27.6M budget in FY2024/25, and a minimum £1bn committed for 2025-2029.
Quick answers
What is ARIA?
The UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency — a government research funder created by statute in 2022 and established in January 2023 to back work that is risky, uncertain and speculative.
Who runs ARIA?
Matt Clifford CBE has been chair since 2022. Dr Kathleen Fisher became CEO in February 2026. Programme directors commission the actual research.
How much money does ARIA have?
It opened with £800M and had a £27.6M annual budget in FY2024/25. In 2025 the government committed a minimum of £1bn over 2025-2029.