VP R&D AI/ML (Defense)

About the job

A Defense organization is seeking a VP AI for a key position involving meaningful, cutting-edge technological work.

The role involves developing solutions based on research and building top-performing models. The VP AI will lead the vision, strategy, research standards, and evaluation processes as the top authority in the organization's core AI domains.

As part of the role, the VP AI will directly manage the AI division, which includes all data scientists, machine learning engineers, and AI researchers.

Key Responsibilities:

• Leading AI management:
• Overseeing the recruitment, onboarding, professional development, mentoring, and training of all researchers and data scientists in the unit.
• Formulating research vision and strategy:
• Defining the strategic research domains (e.g., NLP, Computer Vision, Reinforcement Learning) and identifying breakthrough technological opportunities.
• Driving research intuition for adoption/development:
• Leading early-stage decision-making in the AI model development process (model training, model selection, use of existing models, hybrid/classical approaches, etc.).
• Defining research methodologies:
• Establishing work processes for algorithm research and development, including experiment management, model evaluation, and internal peer-review procedures.
• Managing tech stakeholders:
• Collaborating with academia and industry partners, initiating joint projects, and bringing in innovative external knowledge.
• Translating business problems into research questions:
• Converting complex operational needs into solvable AI/research challenges and defining clear success metrics.
• Ensuring quality and excellence:
• Holding overall responsibility for the technical quality and innovation of models and algorithms developed across all squads.
• Advising management: Serving as a senior advisor to the executive team and CTO on AI trends, risks, and opportunities.

Requirements:

• Mandatory: Master’s degree in a quantitative field (e.g., Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Mathematics).
• Strong Advantage: Ph.D. in a core machine learning/artificial intelligence discipline.
• At least 8 years of hands-on experience in AI/ML research and development.
• At least 3 years of experience managing and leading AI researchers or data scientists.
• Proven experience in leading impactful research projects through to production.
• Deep familiarity and hands-on experience with multiple AI domains, with Computer Vision as a must, and others such as NLP, signal processing, time-series analysis, etc.

Strong Advantage:

• Academic publications in top-tier conferences.
• Strong theoretical and practical understanding of machine learning and deep learning algorithms.
• Strong “AI sense” – intuition and ability to identify promising approaches for solving complex problems.
• Strategic and research-oriented mindset with the ability to build long-term research plans.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to simplify complex concepts.
• Proven leadership and mentoring skills, capable of nurturing top-tier researchers.
• Deep familiarity with data-centric AI methodologies.

If you’re interested in being part of meaningful work within a Defense organization, we’d be happy to receive your resume.