Principal Research Engineer

Lead Research Technologist – Artificial Intelligence

Advanced AI R&D | Decision Support Systems

Location: Chelmsford - Hybrid

Salary: up to £90,000 Gross Per Annum

Operating at the forefront of advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and decision‑support technologies, delivering high‑impact solutions into defence, aerospace, and national security environments. Its teams work across complex, research‑led programmes, turning cutting‑edge AI concepts into deployable capabilities used in real‑world scenarios.

Engineering and research teams collaborate closely across disciplines and with external partners, combining deep technical expertise with applied innovation. The culture is highly technical, forward‑looking, and focused on delivering meaningful outcomes from advanced research.

Your role:

As a Lead Technologist, you will play a key role in shaping and delivering advanced AI capability across a range of complex programmes. This is a senior position combining technical leadership, research direction, and engineering assurance, suited to someone with strong depth in AI/ML and experience leading R&D activity.

You will lead the technical delivery of large AI projects, guiding multidisciplinary teams working across areas such as reinforcement learning, natural language processing, large language models, knowledge graphs, and AI applied to sensing domains including imagery, RF, radar, sonar, and acoustics.

Alongside delivery, you will identify emerging research opportunities, helping to shape future capability through partnerships with academic institutions and internal research teams. You will contribute to innovation, feasibility studies, and early‑stage concept development, ensuring research is both technically robust and aligned to real‑world applications.

A key part of the role involves providing engineering assurance across technical outputs, including proposals, publications, and project deliverables, while maintaining high standards of quality and consistency. You will also mentor and support the development of engineers and researchers, helping to build capability within a growing team.

Your background:

• PhD in a relevant discipline (e.g. AI, machine learning, data science, computer science, or related field)
• Significant experience (~10+ years) applying AI / ML within research or industry environments
• Proven experience leading or contributing to R&D teams or technical workstreams
• Strong experience delivering or overseeing technical outputs, including reports, proposals, or publications
• Experience providing engineering assurance or technical governance on complex programmes
• Ability to operate at both deep technical and strategic levels, influencing direction and outcomes
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to engage both technical and non‑technical stakeholders

Desired experience in one or more of the following areas:

• AI / ML for imagery and computer vision, including remote sensing
• Reinforcement learning
• Natural language processing and large language models
• Knowledge graphs and graph‑based neural networks
• AI applied to RF, electronic warfare, radar, sonar, or acoustics
• Autonomy and intelligent systems
• Evidence of published research in relevant journals or conferences

Due to the sensitive nature of this role, candidates must be eligible for UK security clearance, which may involve nationality and residency requirements.