[Hiring] Technical Research & Development Specialist (R&D) @Hunt St

Role Description

Looking for Philippines-based candidates.

As a Technical Research & Development Specialist (R&D), your primary value is uncovering genuine technical uncertainty, identifying failed approaches and experimental logic, challenging unsupported assumptions, and delivering rigorous, audit-ready first-pass assessments.

This role offers a clear growth trajectory:

• Progress from Technical Research & Development Specialist (R&D) to Senior R&D Technical Specialist.
• Help lead and mentor a team of 2–4 technical specialists.
• Opportunity to help build AI-enabled internal and public-facing tools that assess R&D activity quality and streamline claim preparation.

Key Responsibilities:

• Technical Assessment & Uncertainty Discovery:
  • Find Core R&D & Technical Uncertainty: Interrogate client transcripts and source materials to extract genuine technological uncertainties, hypotheses, experiments, failed approaches, observations, and conclusions.
  • Check Material Claims Against Source: Rigorously verify every assertion against original client data.
  • Deliver High-Quality First-Pass Assessments: Prepare accurate, comprehensive initial technical work for review.
• Client Discovery & Investigation:
  • Observe & Lead Technical Interviews: Attend technical client interviews alongside the R&D Tax Manager.
  • Develop Material Follow-Up Questions: Formulate the five highest-value follow-up questions for every case.
• Advanced AI Workflow & System Improvement:
  • Interrogate Source Material via AI: Use AI to analyze and extract insights from transcripts and technical documentation.
  • Adversarial AI Self-Testing: Use AI to challenge your own work before submission.
  • Continuous Workflow Optimization: Suggest better prompts, interview questions, and quality-control processes.

Tools & System:

• Claude
• ChatGPT
• Microsoft Office
• Google Workspace
• Monday.com (or similar project management software)

Qualifications

• 3–5+ years of experience as a scientist, engineer, or technical professional with practical industry experience in engineering, software development, product development, testing, validation, or failure investigation.
• Experimental Thinking: Deep understanding of hypotheses, technical uncertainty, testing, iteration, failure modes, and systematic learning.
• Technical Judgment: Ability to distinguish genuine experimentation from work that was simply hard, slow, new, or expensive.
• Critical Technical Skepticism: A strict habit of checking claims against source evidence.
• Ownership: Ability to progress work independently without repeated chasing.
• Clear Communication: Excellent spoken and written English, with the ability to unpack complex technical concepts.

Requirements

• Sufficient software-development literacy to understand technical limitations, failed architectural approaches, testing frameworks, and code logic.
• Daily, practical experience using Claude, ChatGPT, or similar tools for complex technical analysis.
• Prior experience working with Australian, UK, or US businesses.

Benefits

• Remote work flexibility.
• Opportunity for career growth and mentorship.
• Engagement as an independent contractor.

What Success Looks Like

• Month 1–3: Rapidly master the discovery process by observing client interviews and producing accurate initial work.
• Month 6: Dependably formulate the top five high-value follow-up questions and deliver strong first-pass assessments.
• Month 12: Independently handle transcripts and technical documentation to prepare complete, audit-ready technical assessments.

Work Arrangement & Expectations

• This is a remote role set up as an independent contractor engagement.
• Successful candidates will be expected to disclose any existing ongoing roles, clients, or commitments that may affect availability.
• May be asked to update LinkedIn profile or confirm the engagement publicly once the role is established.