The Nucleate UK x ARIA Partnership
In a world where talent can move anywhere, the UK must create the best environment for scientists and founders to build transformative companies. Despite creating many impactful inventions in biotechnology over the last 50 years, the UK’s limited biotech ecosystem and translational infrastructure have prevented it from reaching its full potential.
As an Activation Partner with ARIA, Nucleate is committed to creating and supporting a community of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs working at the cutting edge of science. We aim to foster an entrepreneurial mindset and drive the development of generation-defining biotech companies within ARIA’s Opportunity Spaces.
Who you are
You are a proactive and highly organised individual who thrives on turning ambitious plans into measurable outcomes. You take ownership of end-to-end delivery, coordinating across people, timelines, and workstreams without losing sight of the bigger picture. You’re financially literate and comfortable owning a budget, preparing reports for funders, and ensuring compliance. You’re also systems-minded: you enjoy building the tools and processes that make delivery more reliable and scalable. Above all, you care deeply about mission-driven work and take pride in creating the structures that enable a community of scientists and founders to do their best work.
Job Description
As Systems & Operations Associate, you will lead the delivery of Nucleate UK’s projects funded by the ARIA partnership and build the operational backbone that makes them run. This role spans end-to-end oversight of different projects, of financial operations, and development of the platforms and tools that support team coordination and impact reporting. You will collaborate closely with the Director of ARIA Partnership, the Global Director of Operations, and the Nucleate volunteer and FTE base to ensure programme excellence, financial accountability, and operational scalability.
Key Objectives
Systems Management:
- Own the end-to-end delivery of select ARIA-funded projects, coordinating scheduling, communications, and logistics across all workstreams.
- Key projects include:
- Lighthouse: Our proprietary biotech talent database built to identify and connect researchers, institutions, and translational actors aligned with ARIA's opportunity spaces.
- Catalyse: our biotech 101 educational programme delivered online across the UK.
- Lead impact reporting across programmes, tracking key milestones and outcomes to support accountability to ARIA and other stakeholders.
- Engage directly with ARIA to ensure the correct deployment and optimisation of these projects with ARIA and the wider biotech ecosystem.
- Support our student volunteers in developing datasets, templates, and other tools that feed into the wider objectives of the ARIA partnership.
Finance:
- Lead budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting to support informed decision-making and compliance for the UK in accordance with the ARIA partnership.
- Manage vendor contracts, expense processing, and payroll for the UK team, ensuring alignment with grant requirements and Nucleate’s internal policies.
- Collaborate with the Global Finance team to maintain accurate financial records and ensure timely delivery of reporting materials.
- Develop the national operational budget in coordination with UK National Directors and the Global Director of Operations.
- Prepare financial documentation for grant milestones, audits, and internal performance reviews.
Platform Development:
- Work with the Director of ARIA Partnership to develop and maintain internal SOPs, ensuring documentation and workflows are scalable and adaptable as Nucleate UK grows.
- Create and implement tools that streamline onboarding, training, and volunteer engagement, ensuring a consistent and high-quality experience for all programme participants.
- Oversee and manage internal databases, ensuring data integrity and accessibility for reporting and decision-making.
- In collaboration with the Director of Community and the volunteer team, build and maintain digital infrastructure for marketing, communication, and engagement (e.g. newsletters, social media, CRMs).
Outcomes
You will have led the delivery of a high-performing national programme that measurably advanced the UK’s biotech ecosystem. Your financial stewardship will have ensured accountability to ARIA and compliance across all grant milestones. The operational platforms and data systems you built will have given the team the clarity and tools needed to track, report, and amplify their impact. Through your efforts, Nucleate UK will have operated with rigour, coordination, and purpose, connecting the next generation of biotech founders to transformative opportunities.
Qualifications/Skills
- Proven experience in project management, ideally delivering multi-stakeholder programmes in a startup, nonprofit, or academic environment
- Experience managing budgets, financial reporting, or grant compliance processes comfort with financial accountability to external funders is a strong plus
- Strong organisational and time management skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams and deadlines independently
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, able to coordinate across diverse teams and represent the programme externally
- Proficiency with digital tools and platforms (e.g. Notion, Airtable, CRMs, Luma, GSuite, Microsoft Office)
- Experience supporting events, community initiatives, or fellowship programmes is a bonus but not required
Key Information:
Salary Range: £65,000 - £75,000 per year
Benefits: Life Insurance, Medical/Dental/Vision Insurance, Mental Health and Wellbeing support
Location: Hybrid with weekly attendance to London offices
Employment Type: Full-time
Next Steps:
To apply, please send your CV (two references mandatory) and cover letter containing answers to the following prompts:
- Tell us about a programme or initiative you managed end-to-end. What were your responsibilities, how did you coordinate across teams, and what did success look like?
- Share an example of managing budgets or financial reporting. How did you ensure accuracy and alignment with organisational or funding requirements?
- Describe a time you built or improved an internal system or process. What problem were you solving, what tools did you use, and how did you measure its impact?
Please send both documents as a single PDF with the subject line “Systems & Operations Associate Application – Nucleate UK” to by Friday 03/07/2026.
Values:
A great fit at Nucleate will align with our values:
- We strive for positive impact: we empower science and people that improve the world. We care about doing the most good the soonest.
- We explore new ideas with curiosity and courage: we are open-minded. We take calculated risks. We are always willing to hear out your ideas.
- We collaborate among ourselves and with others: we say what we think. We admit mistakes. We are candid, but helpful.
- We say what we’ll do, and we do what we say: we work hard to help our people succeed. We follow through.
- We include diverse backgrounds and viewpoints: every person has a seat at our table. We are conscious of our biases. We welcome new perspectives.
- We are humble: we serve our teams. We are fortunate for our community support, and we put in effort to keep it.
- We leave a ladder down: we identify the next generation. We empower the next generation.
- We collaborate in a fast-paced environment: we embrace change, adapt quickly, and support one another to meet ambitious goals.
Diversity:
At Nucleate, we celebrate diversity and strive to create an inclusive environment for all team members. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, as diverse perspectives are vital to our success.
