Senior Researcher (Data Science & AI)

Position Overview We are seeking a motivated and technically strong Researcher or Senior Researcher with a background in Data Science, Natural Language Processing, and Artificial Intelligence. The candidate will support research and development projects related to homeland security, public safety, intelligence analysis, and operational decision support. The ideal candidate should have strong research capability, practical experience in applying data science methods, and the ability to work with multidisciplinary teams. Experience from a research institute, university, applied research lab, or similar research and development environment will be highly valued. Key Responsibilities • Conduct applied research in Data Science, NLP, AI, machine learning, and agentic AI technologies. • Design, develop, and evaluate models, algorithms, prototypes, and analytical solutions for homeland security related use cases. • Work with structured and unstructured data, including text, documents, logs, reports, open-source information, and operational datasets. • Support the development of AI-enabled or statistical tools for intelligence analysis, decision support, automation, and workflow improvement. • Translate research ideas into proof-of-concepts, prototypes, and technical reports. • Collaborate with internal stakeholders, engineers, domain experts, and external research partners. • Review research literature, emerging technologies, and industry trends to identify relevant methods and opportunities. • Prepare research proposals, project documentation, technical papers, presentations, and progress reports. • Ensure research work follows ethical, security, privacy, and governance requirements, especially when handling sensitive data. Required Qualifications • PhD in Data Science, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Statistics, • Computational Linguistics, Engineering, or a related research field. • Strong foundation in data science, machine learning, statistical analysis, and experimental research methods. • Experience with programming languages such as Python, and common data science or AI libraries. • Ability to design experiments, evaluate model performance, interpret results, and communicate findings clearly. • Good technical writing skills for research reports, proposals, documentation, and presentations. • Ability to work independently while contributing effectively in a team environment. • Singaporean only Preferred Qualifications • Experience as a research fellow, research engineer, research scientist, university researcher, or member of a research institute. • At least 2 years of relevant research or applied research and development experience. • Experience leading or coordinating a small team with diverse domain knowledge and technical skills will be an added advantage, but is not mandatory. • Experience developing NLP solutions such as text classification, information extraction, entity recognition, topic modelling, semantic search, summarisation, or knowledge discovery. • Exposure to AI agents, agentic workflows, large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, knowledge graphs, or intelligent automation. • Experience working on homeland security, public safety, defence, law enforcement, intelligence, risk analysis, or related domains. • Publications, patents, technical reports, or demonstrated contributions to research projects will be an advantage. Technical Skills • Data science and machine learning • Natural language processing and text analytics • Python programming • Statistical analysis and model evaluation • Data preprocessing, feature engineering, and exploratory data analysis • Machine learning and deep learning frameworks such as scikit-learn, PyTorch, TensorFlow, or similar • Large language models and generative AI tools • Data visualisation and technical reporting Key Competencies • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills • Research curiosity and ability to explore new technical areas • Ability to translate complex problems into practical research directions • Good communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders • Adaptability to work across wide-ranging research topics • High level of integrity, confidentiality, and responsibility when working with sensitive domains Nature of Work • The role involves research and development in projects related to homeland security and national or public safety. • The candidate may work on diverse topics, including data science, NLP, AI agents, intelligence analytics, and decision-support systems. • While the research scope is broad, the primary focus of this role will be on Data Science. Suitable Candidate Profile • This role is suitable for a candidate who has strong research training, practical AI development experience, and an interest in applying data science to real-world security challenges. • The candidate should be comfortable working with ambiguity, exploring new technologies, and collaborating with people from different disciplines.