Partner, UK Partnerships & Programmes - Convergent Research

Overview

We\'re looking for a seasoned executive who can build and scale Convergent\'s UK presence while navigating the intersection of breakthrough science, institutional design, and UK science policy. As our Partner for UK Operations & Programs, you\'ll lead our ARIA partnership, run our UK Residency program, build our on-the-ground team and infrastructure, sit on FRO boards, and represent Convergent across the UK science and policy ecosystem. You\'ll interface with ARIA, UKRI, Innovate UK, and government leadership while maintaining our standards for ambitious, high-integrity science. If you\'ve built teams and organizations from the ground up, understand both startup velocity and UK public sector dynamics, and believe British science policy can actually enable moonshots rather than just talk about them, you\'ll fit in great here.

Why Join Now

Convergent Research exists to bring entirely new scientific institutions into the world: Focused Research Organizations (FROs). These are purpose-built, mission-driven orgs designed to solve technological bottlenecks, unlock whole new fields, and lead to scaled revolutions. Think: "What if Bell Labs, but for single-cell proteomics?" We\'ve launched more than 10 FROs globally and proven that the model works. We\'ve raised over $350 million and catalyzed $300+ million in follow-on investment. Now we\'re scaling intentionally into the UK, and this is a critical inflection point for that expansion.

Last year, we became an ARIA Activation Partner and ran our first UK Residency program for prospective FRO founders, through which we incubated and selected two new UK FROs for ARIA funding. We also established a legal presence in the UK. This year, we\'re running Version 2 of the Residency, expanding our physical and operational footprint, deepening our networks across British research institutions and funding bodies, and building the team that will make Convergent a permanent fixture of the UK science ecosystem.

This role is critical because UK expansion represents both massive opportunity and serious operational complexity. The person who joins in this role will be setting a lot of where our UK (and broader European) strategy goes. In addition to a strong strategic leader, we need someone who can work hand in hand with our US-based team to help manage UK-specific infrastructure around hiring, systems, governance, and partnerships while also growing a portfolio of world-class FROs that maintain the speed, ambition, and scientific rigor Convergent is known for. You\'re joining at a moment that is neither all risk nor all rote—we have early traction and strong partnerships, but plenty of room for experimentation. You\'ll be joining a team that is ambitious, irreverent, and deeply committed to enabling breakthrough science. If you\'re excited about building institutions from scratch, UK science policy and innovation ecosystems, and helping founders build lasting organizations without drowning in bureaucracy, this is your role.

The Role

As our Partner for UK Operations & Programs, you\'ll be part strategic operator, part ecosystem builder, part founder boss, part diplomatic envoy, part chief of staff for UK activities. You will:

• Lead UK Residency & FRO pipeline: Own the execution of our UK Residency program. Identify and source breakthrough research concepts from across British universities and institutes, recruit stellar founding teams, shepherd them through the Residency, and launch new FROs in partnership with ARIA and other funders
• Manage UK Office and Hiring: Help our team continue to build the operational foundations Convergent needs in the UK, supporting recruitment of new team members and ensuring our UK entity can support a growing FRO portfolio
• Grow UK government and funding relationships: Deepen our partnership with ARIA while building relationships with UKRI, Innovate UK, DSIT, and other agencies funding high-risk research. Position Convergent as the trusted operating partner for ambitious public-good science across the UK funding landscape
• Represent Convergent in UK policy and science circles: Be Convergent\'s face in London, Cambridge, and beyond. Speak at conferences, engage with policymakers, build relationships with university leadership and research directors, and ensure the FRO model is understood and valued by the UK science establishment
• Provide board governance: Serve as voting board member on multiple UK-based FROs, bringing strategic oversight, removing blockers, ensuring milestones align with both scientific ambition and funder requirements, and helping founders navigate the unique challenges of the UK research landscape
• Shape Convergent\'s UK/Europe strategy: Work with Convergent leadership to refine our UK expansion roadmap, identify which partnerships and programs align with our mission, and ensure we scale our UK/Europe presence without losing what makes us effective

Day In Your Life (Overview)

UK Residency Leadership: Own strategy and execution for Version 2 (and beyond) of the UK Residency program. This means sourcing candidates from across UK research institutions, designing programming that converts ideas into fundable FROs, managing relationships with ARIA and other potential funders, running selection processes, and ensuring residents have everything they need to succeed. Report on program outcomes and iterate the model based on what we learn.

ARIA Partnership Management: Serve as Convergent\'s primary point of contact for ARIA. Manage the relationship strategically, understanding ARIA\'s evolving priorities, positioning Convergent FROs for success within ARIA\'s portfolio, ensuring compliance with partnership agreements, and identifying opportunities to deepen collaboration.

UK Funding Ecosystem Development: Build relationships with UKRI program directors, Innovate UK leads, DSIT officials, and other funders in the UK landscape. Identify funding opportunities for existing and prospective FROs. Help FROs craft compelling proposals that speak to UK funding priorities whilst maintaining scientific ambition. Translate FRO impact into the stories and metrics that unlock sustained UK public and private support.

Board & FRO Governance: Represent Convergent on the boards of UK-based FROs. Bring strategic oversight, ensure compliance with UK-specific requirements (charity law, employment law, etc.), call bullsh*t when needed, and help founders navigate operating in the UK research ecosystem whilst maintaining FRO velocity.

Ecosystem Building & External Representation: Attend the right conferences and convenings. Build relationships with university technology transfer offices, research institute directors, and heads of department. Publish in Research Professional, speak on panels, brief parliamentarians and civil servants, and generally make Convergent a known and trusted name in UK science.

UK Team Building & Operations: Support organizational design decisions and hiring for Convergent\'s growing UK team—could include roles in operations, programming, fundraising, communications, or technical support. Where appropriate, directly manage new hires. Work with our US-based operations team to ensure consistency where it matters and localization where it helps.

Requirements

The Ideal Person For This Role

You\'ve operated in both the startup world and the UK science/policy world, and you believe research can move much, MUCH faster. You\'re equally comfortable whiteboarding with a systems biologist and navigating UKRI grant portals. You\'ve built teams and systems from the ground up. You understand that "government-funded" doesn\'t have to mean "endless meetings and no progress," but you also know the UK has particular operational requirements that must be respected. You\'re comfortable with ambiguity and able to evolve the role as our UK presence matures. Version 1 of Convergent UK is working. Your job is to build Version 2 and set the stage for Version 3.

You might be:

• A former operator who wants to build institutions at larger scale
• An ex-ARIA Program Director or technical specialist who wants to work more directly with founding teams
• A startup operator who wants to bring the innovation mindset to science
• A recovering academic administrator who figured out how to make British science move quickly and wants to do it at scale

Must-Have Superpowers

• UK science ecosystem fluency: Deep understanding of British research funding (UKRI, ARIA, Innovate UK), university structures, charity/nonprofit regulations, and how to navigate UK science policy without drowning in process
• Program management: Experience designing, running, and iterating cohort-based programs, accelerators, residencies, or similar. You know how to create transformative experiences for participants
• Strategic + ops chops: Can build five-year roadmaps and also fix the thing that\'s broken today
• Board experience: Comfort with governance, fiduciary responsibility, and making tough calls. Bonus if you understand UK charity governance specifically
• Relationship builder: Extensive network across UK research institutions, funding bodies, or policy circles. People return your emails and actually want to help you
• Excellent judgment under uncertainty: Can pressure-test strategy, identify red flags, and make calls with incomplete information
• Strong written and verbal communication: Can write for Nature, UKRI grant applications, board memos, and Twitter without changing who you are
• Empathy for scientists + healthy disrespect for academic incentives: You want to help brilliant researchers succeed, but you\'re not precious about "how things are traditionally done"
• Comfort with wearing many hats (that may all be on fire)

Bonus Points

• Experience at ARIA, UKRI, Innovate UK, or similar as program director/manager/technical specialist
• Track record of securing large UK government grants or running programs for unconventional research models
• Deep relationships at Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, UCL, Edinburgh, or other top research universities
• Experience with technology transfer or spinning out companies from UK universities
• Previous startup experience in the UK

Benefits

Base salary: £150,000 - £200,000 a year

Benefits to include pension contributions, healthcare and other standard workplace benefits.

We\'re committed to offering competitive, mission-aligned compensation that reflects the value you\'ll bring. For each role, we set a salary range using market benchmarks and internal leveling, and we place offers within that range based on relevant experience, skills, and scope. This range is applicable to hires in the Greater London/Cambridge area and will be geographically adjusted for someone outside those locations. As a nonprofit, our compensation practices are designed to align with our compensation philosophy and tax requirements.

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