Director of R&D

About the Position

Director of Research & Development

Location: Hybrid – Timonium, MD

Travel: Up to 10%

Preferred Location: Within one flight of Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI), with preference for candidates located within driving distance of AiRISTA headquarters in Timonium, Maryland.

Compensation: Up to $200,000 annually

Benefits:

• 10 days Paid Time Off (PTO)
• 401(k) with 1% match
• Standard Healthcare package with Dental and Vision (70% company paid)

Responsibilities

Product & Solution Development

• Create and maintain an active solutions roadmap in close collaboration with Product Management across hardware and software solutions.
• Drive the development and delivery of new solutions that support the company’s product strategy.
• Ensure alignment between market requirements, product roadmaps, and engineering execution.

Program & Project Management

• Ensure the product roadmap is translated into active sprints and release cycles using Agile methodologies.
• Implement and optimize the use of project management and Agile tools.
• Ensure projects are properly documented and key metrics are available to support decision-making.

Technology Research

• Lead technology research initiatives to evaluate and adopt relevant technology advancements.
• Support ongoing innovation efforts across software, hardware, and embedded technologies.

Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop the R&D organization.
• Manage a team of software and hardware developers.
• Establish an effective balance between full-time employees and contractors to support business needs and maintain operational flexibility.

Customer Support & Continuous Improvement

• Manage Tier 3 product support through the company’s ticketing system.
• Incorporate customer feedback and support learnings into future product planning and releases.

Quality, Documentation & Process Improvement

• Assess, improve, and standardize development processes, procedures, and documentation.
• Support compliance with applicable ISO standards.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across the R&D function.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in the technology industry, including networking and software development.
• Minimum 7 years of management experience leading teams of at least 10 software and hardware developers.
• Strong knowledge of:
  • Networking and routing
  • Protocol analysis
  • Firewall and server setup
  • Troubleshooting live data traffic
• Experience with modern programming languages including:
  • C#
  • JavaScript / TypeScript
  • Python
  • Java
  • Go
• Experience developing web-based and/or cloud-native applications.
• Familiarity with:
  • RESTful APIs
  • SQL and NoSQL databases
  • Microservices architecture
• Experience with Microsoft Office and project management software.
• Strong communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently and provide status updates to key stakeholders.

Nice to Have

The following certifications are highly desirable:

• Project Management certification
• Scrum Master certification
• CWNA
• CWSP
• WCNA

We Offer

• Competitive salary up to $200,000 annually
• 10 days Paid Time Off (PTO)
• 401(k) with 1% match
• Standard Healthcare package with Dental and Vision (70% company paid)

About the Company

AiRISTA develops Real-Time Location System (RTLS) solutions that combine software, hardware, wireless technologies, and analytics to help organizations monitor and manage assets, people, and workflows.

Why Join Us?

At NEKLO, we love learning new things and sharing experiences. Along with the active work on custom software development projects, we also contribute to the Magento community achievements. We are proud to maintain a friendly atmosphere in our team and we always prepare a warm welcome for the newbies!

Contact Us

For more details, contact our recruiter:

Elena Tsitkova

Recruiter