Head of Research Programs

Applied research across all of Infozahyst’s engineering domains, from direction-finding algorithms and ML to antennas, metamaterials, and thermal design.

Required Skills

• Degree in engineering, physics, or applied mathematics.
• 10+ years of combined engineering and applied research experience, including 3+ years leading researchers or an R&D team across multiple projects.
• Proven track record of turning research results into fielded products: at least one algorithm, method, or prototype brought from initial hypothesis to deployment.
• Broad technical background covering the company’s full scope of work: signal processing and direction-finding algorithms, ML/AI, microwave and antenna engineering, analog & digital design, FPGA design, metamaterials, technical analysis and reverse engineering (both hardware and software), mechanical and thermal design. Deep expertise in one or two of these areas and working knowledge of the rest, sufficient to frame problems, challenge design approaches, and assess feasibility.
• Solid grasp of experimental methodology: hypothesis formulation, experiment design, metrics and baselines, statistical rigor, reproducibility, version control of code and data.
• Sound technical judgment: the ability to distinguish promising research directions from dead ends early and to stop work that is not converging.
• Ability to turn a loosely stated project problem into a researchable question with measurable success criteria, defined input data, and a definition of done.
• Experience managing a portfolio of concurrent research projects: scoping, staffing, prioritization, risk management, and status reporting.
• Experience preparing research results for production handover: documentation, interfaces, tests and benchmarks, integration notes.
• Experience defining acceptance criteria for research results and running technical peer review.
• Experience with research data management: datasets, labeling, metadata, versioning, and access control.
• Proficiency in MATLAB or Python for data analysis. Ability to read schematics, HDL code, mechanical drawings, and hands-on familiarity with lab instrumentation.
• Team leadership experience: hiring, mentoring, and growing researchers.
• Excellent communication skills, able to defend technical positions in writing and in discussion.
• Precise, concise engineering documentation in Ukrainian and English.

Preferred Skills

• Research degree (PhD) with a publication record. Patent record is desired.
• Working understanding of the EW/SIGINT domain: receive and effector chains, radio monitoring, direction finding, electronic attack.
• Experience commissioning and supervising external R&D at universities, research institutes, or with individual experts: scoping, milestones, acceptance of results.
• Familiarity with the UA defense development framework is desired.
• Experience delivering rapid proofs of concept under tight pre-sale or crisis deadlines.
• Experience specifying research infrastructure: compute, test benches, measurement instruments, licenses.
• Public technical activity: articles, conference talks, open-source contributions, etc.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the applied research portfolio: research themes, hypotheses, expected impact, and success criteria. Decide which initiatives to start and which to stop, in agreement with the Head of Engineering Excellence Center (HCEE) and in line with delivery priorities.
• Commission and oversee external R&D at partners (universities, research institutes, state bodies, individual experts) within agreed security and access boundaries.
• Run a single intake process for research requests from projects, covering context, goals, deadlines, metrics, input data, and expected artifacts. Return incomplete requests for clarification. Prioritize requests together with Delivery Managers (DM), escalate priority conflicts to HCEE, and keep both informed on scope, timelines, risks, and status.
• Assign a research group and a group lead to each initiative and agree on team composition, timeframe, and expected artifacts. Track progress, risks, blockers, and changes to hypotheses and experiment plans. Prevent scope creep.
• Set and enforce research methodology standards: hypothesis-driven experimentation, evidence requirements (tests, benchmarks, measurements, PoC), peer review before handover, and reproducibility with versioned code and data.
• Ensure availability and quality of research data: datasets, labeling, metadata, registries, versioning, and access policies. Align infrastructure needs with HCEE, including compute, tools, licenses, test benches, and measurement instruments.
• Deliver research results packaged for productization: documentation, interfaces, tests and benchmarks, and integration notes. Coordinate handover to project teams through DM, project managers, and tech leads, and provide implementation support within an agreed period.
• Organize, together with HCEE and DM, testing and adoption of research results in products, including collection of field data and feedback. Based on the results, close the research effort or launch the next iteration.
• Deliver rapid PoCs and risk assessments for pre-sale and critical decisions. Form a research task force when a release or demo is blocked, with priority agreed with DM.
• Maintain the research knowledge base: what was done, what was proven, and how to reproduce it. Initiate internal and external publications where they benefit the company. Coordinate white papers and patent applications, with review by domain SMEs and HCEE approval before external release.
• Act as deputy to the Head of Engineering Excellence Center for applied research. Own research and its transfer into products, while delivery management and system ownership remain with project teams.

Benefits:

• Employment in a stable and reliable company;
• Working remotely, but available to visit office in Kyiv once a month;
• Competitive salary;
• A 5-day work week with an 8-hour workday within the 9:00–20:00 time window;
• Support for personal and professional growth, including opportunities for training and reimbursement of its cost;
• Care for employee health through medical insurance, 18 working days of paid vacation, and sick leave coverage;
• Openness to new ideas and approaches, with healthy communication within the team;
• Unique and exciting projects;
• Involvement in a mission that brings us closer to victory!

Dear candidates, we will review your resume within 10 business days, and if the decision is positive, we will definitely contact you. If you do not receive feedback from us, it means that we are not ready to offer you this position at the moment.