R&D Lead

About this role

R&D Lead

The Lead of R&D will spearhead technology discovery, applied research, and technical innovation across backend, APIs,

web, mobile, cloud, and emerging platforms. This role focuses on identifying, validating, and de-risking new technologies

and enabling their transition into product engineering teams.

This position does not own day-to-day product engineering or feature delivery but works closely with Product Engineering

to influence future platforms and architectures.

Experience Level: 12+ yrs

Skillset Required: Docker, Kubernetes, DevSecOps, CI/CD pipeline, Expertise in one or more of: Java, Node.js, Go

(Golang), C / C++, JavaScript / TypeScript

Key Responsibilities

• Lead technology research and discovery initiatives across backend systems, APIs, web, mobile, cloud, and emerging
• domains.
• Identify, evaluate, and prototype emerging technologies, tools, frameworks, and architectural patterns relevant to
• the company’s strategic roadmap.
• Drive proof-of-concept (PoC), spike solutions, and experimental platforms to validate feasibility, scalability, security,
• and performance.
• Establish structured research → validation → handoff model to transition successful innovations to Product
• Engineering teams.
• Act as a technical thought leader, influencing long-term architecture, platform evolution, and build-vs-buy decisions.
• Partner with Product Management, Product Engineering, Security, and QA teams to ensure research outcomes align
• with business and compliance needs.
• Ensure research outcomes adhere to security, quality, regulatory, and compliance standards from inception.
• Track industry trends, academic research, open-source ecosystems, and startup innovations to maintain a
• competitive technology edge.
• Define success metrics for R&D initiatives and regularly communicate outcomes to executive stakeholders.

Requirements

• Required Skills and Experience
• 12+ years of experience in R&D, applied research, platform engineering, or innovation leadership.
• Proven experience leading cross-functional technical research teams and exploratory initiatives.
• Strong background in distributed systems, cloud-native architectures, and modern application stacks.
• Demonstrated ability to translate research and experimentation into production-adoptable solutions.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent research tracks with varying levels of maturity.
• Deep understanding of multi-cloud and hybrid cloud strategies (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Ability to review, guide, and influence production-level code without being the primary implementer.
• Strong architectural judgment with a security-first mindset.

Good-to-Have Qualifications

• Experience establishing R&D best practices, including experimentation frameworks and technical evaluation
• criteria.
• Familiarity with DevSecOps principles, CI/CD pipelines, and secure software supply chains.
• Hands-on expertise in one or more of:
• Java
• Node.js
• Go (Golang)

• C / C++

• JavaScript / TypeScript
• Experience with containers and orchestration: Docker, Kubernetes.
• Exposure to identity, security, cryptography, or authentication technologies (strong plus).