Design and deliver funding and procurement approaches: Work at pace with Programme Directors to shape and deliver funding mechanisms from early concept through to award.
Support programmes as they evolve: Partner with teams post-award, helping adapt contracts and funding structures as programmes pivot, scale, or change direction.
Manage contracts with purpose: Oversee the end-to-end lifecycle of contracts, ensuring clarity, fairness, and effectiveness. You create agreements that work in practice, not just on paper.
Improve systems and ways of working: Continuously refine templates, processes, and guidance to make procurement and contracting simpler, smarter, and more scalable as ARIA grows.
Enable innovation within a governance framework: Help navigate the balance between agility and accountability, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations while supporting novel and non-traditional approaches.

High Autonomy: We don’t micromanage; we trust you to take full accountability, proactively identifying bottlenecks and building solutions before problems escalate.
Agile & Adaptable: You thrive in environments where the "right way" isn’t always written down. You are comfort operating in ambiguity, with a proactive, solutions-focused mindset
Strong procurement commercial experience: You bring experience across procurement, commercial, contracts, or funding delivery. You’ve led open and competitive sourcing processes and know how to run them effectively in practice, not just in theory.
Strong commercial judgement: You combine sharp attention to detail with sound judgement, navigating contractual terms and conditions with confidence while keeping broader outcomes in mind.
Strong communication and relationship-building: You build trust quickly and work effectively across multiple stakeholders and projects, ensuring alignment and momentum even in complex environments.
Systems Thinker: You don’t just do tasks; you build systems to make everything run smoother.
Cross-Sector Experience: You’ve worked across both public and private sector environments and understand how to navigate different commercial, regulatory, and delivery contexts. You bring an appreciation for innovation-driven settings, whether in research, technology, or fast-moving organisations, and know how to adapt your approach accordingly.
CIPS or equivalent

Senior Procurement and Contracts Manager

Key skills