Vice President Research And Development

Job Title:

Department

Reporting To:

About us:

1. Leadership & Strategy:

• Lead the R&D/Engineering team to innovate and design products that align with the companys vision for the UAV/UGV industry.
• Develop and execute the R&D roadmap, ensuring the timely delivery of projects in line with company objectives.

2. System Architecture Leadership

• Lead system-level architecture decisions across avionics, propulsion, flight control, power systems, and software stacks.
• Ensure platform modularity and scalability for future variants, payloads, and mission profiles.
• Architect robust battery systems including smart BMS integration, power distribution, and thermal management ensuring performance across diverse flight profiles.
• Drive innovations in energy efficiency, fast charging, and redundant power backup systems for critical operations.

3. Product Reliability & Field Validation

• Drive design-for-reliability (DFR), environmental testing, and field validation frameworks.
• Implement hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing and performance monitoring under real-world conditions.
• Champion robust component selection, mechanical durability, and EMI/EMC compliance.
• Build feedback loops from field failures into design improvements.
• Establish quality gates and failure analysis processes for drone and payload systems.
• Define validation protocols for battery safety, cycle life, thermal stability, and fail-safe behavior under different environmental and payload conditions.
• Lead decisions on battery chemistry, cell quality, BMS tuning, and charging infrastructure for enhanced mission reliability.

4. Reliability Engineering & Design Validation

• Build reliability engineering functions: HALT, HASS, MTBF analysis, FMEA, fault injection, and environmental validation.
• Define lifetime targets for components and systems and lead accelerated life testing.
• Implement a design for serviceability mindset, minimizing field repair complexity.

5. Technology & Innovation Pipeline

• Define and maintain a 23 year technology roadmap for sensors, navigation, autonomy, and AI/ML-driven analytics.
• Create IP and innovation culture patents, trade secrets, new technologies (e.g., swarming, edge AI, autonomy in GPS-denied environments).

6. Manufacturability & Production Handoff

• Manage, mentor, and grow a high-performing engineering team by fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation.
• Set clear performance goals for team members and provide regular feedback on progress and development.

8. Project Management:

• Ensure timely delivery of R&D projects within scope, budget, and quality standards.
• Utilize agile methodologies and project management tools to oversee multiple projects concurrently.
• Handle the coordination of resources, prioritization, and risk management across all ongoing R&D projects.

9. Regulatory & Safety Ownership

• Lead the interface with DGCA, MoD, global standards like ASTM, FCC/CE, MIL-STD, and EASA-type certifications.
• Champion internal compliance frameworks for functional safety, RF emissions, flight logs, and telemetry retention.

Requirements:

1. Proven track record in delivering hardware products with >95% field uptime.
2. Deep understanding of rugged electronics design, thermal & power management, and real-time systems.
3. Exposure to IEC/ISO/DO standards for product safety, environmental compliance, and flight certifications.
4. Exposure to materials, fabrication and moulding processes.
5. Experience in battery pack design, BMS integration, and flight endurance optimization.
6. Exposure to safety standards like UN38.3, IEC 62133, and BIS certification for Li-ion systems.
7. Industry exposure to UAV or automotive is preferred