Aviation Impact Accelerator Director

University of Cambridge - Department of Engineering

Placed On: 4th February 2026

Closes: 18th February 2026

Job Ref: NM48734

The Aviation Impact Accelerator (AIA) is a leading research and knowledge exchange initiative. AIA's mission is to provide decision makers in government and industry with the whole system tools and insight necessary to map, understand, and embark on the pathways to net zero.

AIA is based in the Engineering Department's Whittle Laboratory which is located in West Cambridge. The Whittle Laboratory which was opened in 1973 by Sir Frank Whittle and is a Research Group within the Energy Division of the Department of Engineering. The Whittle lab Is focused on accelerating zero-carbon flight and land-based power.

To deliver AIA's ambitious mission we are looking for a highly motivated, experienced, and collaborative individual to lead the AIA team as the Director. Under this remit, the AIA Director is responsible for creating and delivering the initiative's strategy and delivering the services that fulfil AIA's mission, predominantly through research; first order modelling, development of interactive tools, strategic multi-stakeholder convening and stakeholder engagement.

The Director will routinely work with high-level executives including international CEOs, international policymakers, Government Ministers, Board members and senior executives, and senior functional specialists to deliver AIA's work. The Aviation Impact Accelerator currently has international academic partners including MIT, Imperial College London, UCL, University of Melbourne, TU Delft, and University of Technology Sydney. The AIA is currently running collaborations with industry and government players including Boeing, IATA, Rolls-Royce, Sustainable Markets Initiative, World Economic Forum, Royal Air Force, UK Government Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Department for Transport. The AIA has already influenced UK policy in terms of the UK Sustainable Aviation Fuel Mandates and is currently working with the EU and US on helping to develop international policy. This is indicative of the level of engagement that will be the hallmark of AIA, and the role of the Director in building and maintaining these high-level networks, and in leading the teams that deliver the work.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate an ability to produce high-impact, practical strategic and operational plans, ideally with some experience of doing so in public, private or university settings through a collaborative approach. Excellent interpersonal, networking and communication skills are an essential requirement for this role to engage and build strong working relationships with senior decision-makers to develop work programmes and build stakeholder communities around a common vision. You will have the ability to understand the needs for improved knowledge exchange data, whole-system modelling, evidence and metrics to key stakeholders, and deliver complex work programmes to schedule. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a strong commitment to driving evidence-led decision making and practice.

If you think you are the right candidate for this role, then we would be delighted to hear from you.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 18 months in the first instance.

Please ensure that you include both a CV and covering letter within your application which should detail how you feel you meet the criteria in the person specification.

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to aia-ops@eng.cam.ac.uk. If you have any queries regarding either the vacancy or the application process, please contact the HR Office in the first instance on hr-office@eng.cam.ac.uk or 01223 332615.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.