[Hiring] Research Scientist / Research Engineer @Mi-6

Role Description

As a Contract Research Scientist or Research Engineer, you will work with MI-6’s R&D team on specific research and technical development themes that match your expertise.

• Formulate hypotheses, investigate existing research, design technical approaches, develop algorithms or systems, conduct experiments, and evaluate results.
• Research is expected to lead to concrete outputs that can be tested, assessed, and developed further, including:
  • Code
  • Algorithms
  • Analytical methods
  • Experimental systems
  • Prototypes
  • Technical evaluations
  • Documented research findings
• The scope, duration, and level of involvement will be determined for each project based on your expertise, availability, and the needs of MI-6’s R&D activities.

Example Research Areas

• Machine learning, Bayesian optimisation, experimental design, and uncertainty estimation
• AI and LLM applications for scientific research
• Scientific computing, computational chemistry, and materials simulation
• Materials and chemical data analysis
• Image, spectral, time-series, and multimodal data analysis
• Knowledge extraction and structuring of research data and context
• Laboratory automation, robotics, and experimental equipment control
• Measurement systems and automated experimental workflows
• Software and data infrastructure for scientific research
• Other technologies that can enable new forms of materials R&D

What You Will Do

• Define research questions and formulate testable hypotheses
• Review relevant academic and technical literature
• Design appropriate technical and experimental approaches
• Develop and test algorithms, models, methods, or systems
• Implement prototypes that demonstrate technical feasibility
• Design or conduct experiments and analyse the resulting data
• Evaluate results, limitations, and uncertainty
• Document methods, results, and conclusions so that others can reproduce or extend the work
• Collaborate with MI-6 researchers, engineers, product teams, and other specialists

Requirements

• Expertise in a scientific or technical field relevant to MI-6’s R&D
• Experience independently conducting research or technical development
• Ability to formulate hypotheses and design appropriate methods for testing them
• Ability to produce concrete technical or research outputs
• Ability to communicate clearly about methods, results, limitations, and uncertainties
• Ability to collaborate with people from different technical backgrounds
• Ability to communicate and collaborate in English

Preferred Experience

• A PhD or equivalent research experience
• A strong research or engineering track record in a relevant field
• Experience applying academic research to industrial or product contexts
• Experience developing working prototypes or research software
• Experience designing or conducting physical experiments
• Experience working across multiple disciplines
• Publications, patents, OSS contributions, GitHub repositories, technical presentations, or other demonstrable research and technical outputs

We Are Looking For

We are looking for researchers and engineers who can bring deep expertise into MI-6’s R&D while working effectively with people from different disciplines. You should be comfortable working on questions whose answers are not yet known, translating expertise into testable approaches, and producing outputs that allow the next stage of research or development to proceed. We particularly welcome people who are interested in connecting their own field of expertise with materials science, AI, software, experimental science, or laboratory automation.