Director of Legal
- Recruiter
- Reed Talent Solutions
- Location
- HQ Central London
- Salary
- Salary c. £135,000 pro rata + Benefits
- Posted
- 08 Mar 2023
- Closes
- 05 Apr 2023
- Job Title
- Lawyer
- Practice Area
- Commercial Contracts, Employment, Intellectual Property
- Contract Type
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part Time
Director of Legal, ARIA
Salary c. £135,000 pro rata
Permanent, part-time*
HQ Central London
‘’ We are looking for a founding Director of Legal to work across all aspects of ARIA’s activities, and to play a key role in building the agency from scratch.
This is a standalone role within the newly formed Advanced Research + Invention Agency, an R&D funding agency designed to make bold bets that complement and amplify the UK’s world-class research ecosystem. Our mandate: create new capabilities that can benefit the UK and advance human progress.”
About ARIA
Launched in January 2023 with a £800M budget, ARIA was formed to create transformative science and technology capabilities that will benefit the UK and help humanity thrive. ARIA is about to take bold and experimental steps that complement and amplify the UK’s world-class research eco-system.
Role Summary
Reporting into the Chief Financial and Operating Officer (CFO/COO), you will be responsible for leading, managing and advising on all ARIA contractual commitments with a focus on our programmes, partnerships, grants, collaborations and procurements. This role will be involved in all legal aspects of the organisation and will work closely with ARIA’s Programme Directors seeking to deliver at pace through a range of contractual mechanisms.
The CFO/COO team at ARIA will serve as the operational support function for the agency. This will be a small, foundational team executing at pace on a whole range of activities core to ARIA’s success. We will provide the underpinning support to enable ARIA Programme Directors to move with confidence and at speed in their contractual needs. Above all, you’ll need a flexible mindset (we’ll be defining as we go), and excitement for the support function we are creating.
What You’ll Do
- Lead and advise on all Drive and Build Programme commitments with partners and suppliers. See our website for information on these two modes.
- Advise the Executives (and Board when required) on governance issues in relation to the ARIA Act, ARIA’s Framework Document and the respective prescribed codes of conduct.
- Define ARIA’s partnership and potential co-funding approaches.
- Advise on litigation, HR/employment law and data privacy requirements.
- Design ARIA’s IP policy and other asset ownership principles.
- Advise on all aspects of legal compliance, in particular on any Subsidy Control issues.
- Create ARIA’s first suite of legal principles, constructs and templates.
- Instruct, engage and manage external lawyers to encourage efficient use of legal resources.
- Apply effective risk optimisation techniques and ensure the Executives are up to speed on the changing legal and regulatory environment.
Who You Are
- You are a qualified lawyer with extensive expertise in a broad spread of legal areas to cover grants, intellectual property, employment, Joint Ventures and other partnering or collaboration models, procurement, corporate governance and finance.
- You have worked in both the private and public sector (or at least closely aligned to public sector mechanisms) and have experience of managing external legal firms.
- You have a strong understanding of the UK Research and Development institutional landscape, and/or experience working closely with scientists, engineers, technologists.
- You are a creative problem solver with an ability to simplify issues and documentation respectively. You are comfortable with uncertainty and thrive in a highly dynamic, fast-paced and early-stage startup environment.
- You have excellent leadership and stakeholder skills along with an inclusive, collaborative, hardworking and engaging style to deliver results.
- You are passionate about improving the world with science, and highly motivated by the opportunity to build ARIA.
Additional Information
*We are ideally looking to appoint somebody into the role on a part time basis (25 hours per week minimum) however, we can provide flexibility. If you are seeking full time employment (or seeking a specific amount of part time hours), we would still like to hear from you.
You will be expected to spend 60% of your working hours in the central London office near Kings Cross.
Recruitment Process:
On the link to apply you will be asked to submit your CV along with a personal statement of no more than 2 pages of A4, explaining your interest in and suitability for the role.