Research Scientist – Knowledge & Semantics
Location: Chelmsford (Hybrid – 2 days per week)
Salary: Up to £70,000 (depending on experience) + 10% bonus
A leading organisation in the defence and security space is seeking a highly motivated Research Scientist to lead work in knowledge and semantics. This role offers the opportunity to lead a specialist R&D team working at the intersection of machine learning, NLP, and graph technologies, contributing to real-world challenges across defence, security, and commercial sectors.
Key Responsibilities:
* Lead a team of researchers and engineers across projects involving NLP, knowledge graphs, and LLM applications
* Design and deliver research programmes, collaborating with universities and innovation partners
* Develop prototypes, proof of concepts, and technical solutions in graph machine learning and semantic technologies
* Secure funding through successful proposal writing and manage stakeholder engagement
* Contribute to multi-disciplinary teams including work in reinforcement learning, computer vision, RF & EW, and sonar
Essential Skills & Experience:
* PhD qualified with a minimum of 4 years’ postdoctoral or commercial research experience
* Proven leadership of R&D teams (minimum of 5 developers)
* Strong background in NLP, text mining, knowledge graphs, or graph ML
* Proficient in Python, with experience using frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow
* Demonstrated ability to secure and deliver R&D funding
Desirable Skills:
* Experience with graph ML libraries (e.g. PyTorch-Geometric, PyKeen), knowledge graph tools (e.g. Neo4j)
* Familiarity with query languages like Cypher or SQL
* Understanding of ontology design and semantic reasoning approaches
If you're driven by complex problems and cutting-edge technology, this is your opportunity to make a lasting contribution.