As an Advanced Research Programs Lead, you will not only have an opportunity to build your own technical team but will also be a creative catalyst to help drive innovative development across the company. You will be a valued member of a team of passionate, service-focused professionals, located all around North America. Ideally, you will work from our office in Ballston, Arlington, VA but we are open to other ARA office locations and teleworking with the right candidate.

What you’ll do as the Advanced Research Programs Lead

• Pursue advanced research projects within your area of expertise to drive innovation and build work in new business areas with an emphasis on DARPA.
• Work across the company to help ARA staff members and subject matter experts prepare innovative concepts and ideas, and set-up and facilitate face-to-face meetings to present the concepts to X-ARPA PMs.
• Develop and maintain business relationships with DARPA PMs and senior leadership as well as key industrial partners
• Provide input into a long-range business plan and develop a detailed associated marketing/business plan, to include a marketing strategy(s) to develop work within the “ARPAs”, DARPA, IARPA, ARPA-E, and ARPA-H.
• Capture and interpret market intel (directly from customers and indirectly from publications, trade shows, and other sources) and share intel with others through regular communications and through entry into ARA’s customer resource management (CRM) system
• Serve as the ARA Customer Portfolio Manager (CPM) for DARPA
• Assist with preparation/delivery of briefings to ARA senior leadership
• Assist ARA business units with X-ARPA marketing activities to ensure professional and compelling marketing/proposal offerings.
• Lead ARA’s Advanced Concepts Team (ACT); evaluate internal creative research and development ideas. Make seedling awards for promising concepts and provide feedback and guidance to researchers.

Desired Advanced Research Program Manager Qualifications

• Ph.D. degree or equivalent in physics, engineering, mathematics, chemistry, biology, or other hard science

About ARA

ARA is an employee-owned international research and engineering company recognized for providing technically superior solutions to complex and challenging problems in the physical sciences. The company, founded in Albuquerque, NM, in 1979, currently employs over 1,500 professionals and continues to grow.

ARA offices throughout the United States and Canada provide expertise across a broad range of engineering and science technologies. Our Better Fuels Group develops and deploys innovative fuels technologies, converting waste products to renewable fuels, and creating high value products for a sustainable future. ARA employs traditional refinery equipment and novel water-based technologies to make fuels and chemicals, including sustainable jet fuel that meets petroleum specifications without blending and diesel fuel that is virtually indistinguishable from petroleum.

At ARA, employees are our greatest assets. We realize that employee ownership spawns greater creativity and initiative along with higher performance and customer satisfaction levels. ARA provides employees the tools, training, and opportunities to take active roles as owners. The culture is challenging; innovation and experimentation are the norm. Our employee-owners are the keys to our success, and they share our achievements through career advancement and through company contributions to the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The motto, “Engineering and Science for Fun and Profit” sums up the ARA experience.