Job Description

Talent Acquisition Manager

Department: People Operations

Employment Type: Fixed Term - Full Time

Location: London

Compensation: £60,000 / year

Description

Salary: c.£60,000

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

Employment Type: 12 months Fixed-Term (with the possibility of turning permanent), full time

Closing Date: 23rd November - When the initial deadline has passed, we may transition to a rolling open date - please apply as soon as possible to ensure your application is considered.

About ARIA

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.

Learn more about how we work here.

Role Summary

At ARIA, we believe that breakthroughs are driven by people. As our Talent Acquisition Manager, you will be at the heart of our operational engine. While others see recruitment as a process, you see it as relationship-building at scale.

Acting as the bridge between the world’s best talent and our mission, you will be the custodian of the candidate relationship, ensuring that every interaction is human, thoughtful, and engaging. You will use your expertise to make everything run smoothly, allowing genuine connections to flourish between candidates and our teams.

What you’ll do

The scope of the role will evolve as ARIA continues to grow, but will broadly involve the following:

• Lead end-to-end recruitment for ARIA’s essential operational functions, including Finance, Communications, People, Procurement, Policy, and the Executive Office. You aren't just filling seats - every campaign we run, we do so with intention. We are not just looking for exceptional talent, but for diverse, mission oriented, and values driven people.
• Serve as an ambassador for ARIA. You will manage complex (at times), multi-stage interview schedules, frequently aligning candidates across various global time zones, ensuring every candidate, regardless of the outcome, feels valued, heard, and receives a first-class experience.
• Act as a trusted strategic advisor to hiring managers and scientific leaders. You will guide them through complex hiring decisions, challenging assumptions when necessary, and coach them on inclusive, effective assessment techniques.
• Operationalise contingent workforce recruitment, partnering with the Head of Talent to manage contractor searches across all ARIA teams. Employ creative sourcing methods to uncover top talent and champion agile, innovative ways of working.

Who you are

A successful candidate will bring the following skills/experience:

Essential criteria

• You operate with a high degree of autonomy. We don't micromanage; instead, we trust you to take full accountability for your campaigns, proactively identifying bottlenecks and building solutions before problems escalate.
• You have deep experience managing the end to end recruiting process for a range of corporate or operational roles, up to a senior level.
• You have a strong track record in actively sourcing for hard to fill roles, moving beyond organic applications to hunt for exceptional talent.
• You’re agile and adaptable, thriving in environments where the right way isn't always written down.
• You’re highly organised. We typically run campaign-style recruiting processes that require careful planning, communicating upfront timeframes, and close coordination both internally and externally.
• Being detail-obsessed, you understand that in a high-stakes agency, small details, error-free comms, consistent branding and seamless scheduling - build the credibility that’s needed to hire the best.
• You’re a systems thinker where you don’t just do tasks; you build systems to make everything run smoother. You have a track record of using tech to eliminate friction.

Desirable criteria

We’re a lean team wearing many hats so we’d love it if you had some of these, but they’re not dealbreakers:

• Previous experience in a fast-paced, start-up/scale-up environment.
• Experience recruiting for niche technical or scientific roles, with the willingness and curiosity to help with key hiring processes in and around our opportunity spaces.
• You understand the UK talent landscape. You can speak the language of R&D and innovation, and you appreciate the nuances of hiring for a high-profile public agency.

We are constantly looking to build on our talent tech-stack, where it will improve recruiting processes and outcomes. See below for some of the tools we’ve implemented so far:

Pinpoint (ATS), LinkedIn Recruiter, Metaview, Applied, Airtable, and access to a suite of enterprise-grade LLMs (including Gemini and ChatGPT). We are a Google native organisation.

How to apply

Please submit your current CV and a cover letter detailing your suitability. We pride ourselves on reviewing every application personally.

Note: A cover letter is required to be considered.

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
• 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. Our research and development activity will abide by the 3Rs principle. You can read about those here.

Please note: We send an automatic confirmation email as soon as your application is received; if you haven't received it, please check your junk/spam folder and add us to your safe senders list so you don’t miss any future communications.