Associate Director - Compute - Economic R&D MAP

Associate Director

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Salary: £70,752 per annum.
Band: UKRI Band G.
Contract Type: Open-ended.
Hours: Full-time/ Part Time. (minimum 0.8 FTE) (flexible working available)
Location: Polaris House, Swindon, Wiltshire - Hybrid working available.

Closing Date: 20/03/2026

TheR&D Missions Accelerator Programme is the Government’s flagship new Mission-led R&D programme to transform people’s lives and drive economic growth.

The programme has a £500m budget to galvanise the private sector, third sector and academia to develop new innovative solutions to the biggest problems facing society today. The programme will catalise cutting‑edge research, technology, service solutions and IP aligned to the UK Government’s five National Missions and deliver the milestones in the Plan for Change.

The programme is currently developing its approaches across the Missions. Joining at this stage presents a real opportunity to establish and drive the strategic and operational direction of the programme and set the agenda for the UK’s approach to 2030.

Innovation in Compute:
Infrastructure for AI Inference

Traditional approaches to compute infrastructure and data centres involving large‑scale, energy intensive, centralised architectures, located at traditional hotspots, are too slow, costly and rigid to meet growing demand. The UK needs to urgently develop energy‑efficient, low‑latency AI compute infrastructure and associated software orchestration to manage distributed edge‑compute environments, enabling dynamic workload allocation, energy optimisation, and system resilience at scale.

It is envisaged that the Compute Challenge will include creating an architectural framework for delivering modular computation and processor approaches and configurations to AI inference, although there is still opportunity to work with partners to shape its direction.

This is your opportunity to drive economic growth, support new jobs, and position the UK as a global leader in innovation. As an Associate Director, you’ll collaborate with national experts to drive strategic innovation, foster stakeholder partnerships, and tackle industry challenges head‑on. You’ll play a pivotal role in aligning research and commercial priorities, while leading high‑impact projects that support the UK’s economic goals.

As Associate Director, you will bring energy, high standards, a desire to do things differently and an understanding of urgency and pace. You will join the Challenge senior leadership team, helping to shape the strategic direction of the Challenge specific R&I in the UK while delivering this flagship programme.

This is a unique opportunity to lead in a significant cross‑sector programme that creates real world impact through collaborative, evidence‑led innovation. The role combines programme delivery, strategic leadership, stakeholder engagement and senior‑level management.

The role requires self‑awareness, excellent personal resilience, as well as a high level of personal motivation to achieve widespread impact, along with strong influencing skills and levels of personal resilience.

You will be expected to act in the absence of the Challenge Director and will deputise for the Challenge Director as required.

• Provide strategic leadership for the design and delivery of Challenge specific R&I, ensuring it is ambitious, independent, and trusted across research, policy, and public sectors and delivers real‑world impact at pace.
• Shape and implement challenge‑wide approaches to commissioning, governance, and innovation funding that reflect UKRI’s values, including excellence, transparency, and public benefit.
• With in-depth knowledge of industry, use business acumen to engage widely to bring people together and problem solve.
• Lead horizon scanning and capability development to ensure the R&D MAP helps establish a sustainable, high‑quality, and interdisciplinary innovation ecosystem.
• Represent R&D MAP and UKRI in national and international fora.

• Lead engagement with a wide range of stakeholders across business,…