Principal Scientist

Job description

About the Role As Principal Scientist, you will provide deep technical leadership across the development of disruptive technologies and capabilities. You’ll work closely with engineers, scientists, product leaders and defence customers to identify opportunities, develop new concepts, test hypotheses and turn research into practical, scalable systems. You will be expected to operate at both strategic and technical depth — setting scientific direction while being close enough to the technology to challenge assumptions, guide experiments and solve difficult problems. About You At Arkeus, we value Innovation, Responsiveness and Accountability. That means we’re looking for someone who: Innovates — challenges conventional thinking and pursues technically ambitious ideas. Responds — moves quickly from hypothesis to experiment, learns from failure and adapts. Takes accountability — owns technical outcomes and is willing to make difficult calls when the evidence demands it. You don't need to have every answer. You do need to know how to find the answer. Key Responsibilities Define and lead the scientific roadmap for disruption technologies and capabilities. Identify emerging technologies, research opportunities and technical approaches that could create a significant operational advantage. Develop and test novel concepts through modelling, experimentation, prototyping and field trials. Translate complex scientific problems into practical engineering challenges and deliverable outcomes. Work across disciplines including sensing, optics, AI/ML, signal processing, physics, autonomy, electronics and systems engineering. Provide technical leadership to scientists and engineers, raising the scientific and engineering capability of the team. Partner with Product and Engineering to transition research concepts into robust, deployable technology. Engage with defence customers, research organisations, universities and industry partners. Define experiments and technical demonstrations that rapidly validate or kill ideas. Build intellectual property, technical knowledge and differentiated capability for Arkeus. Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders. Represent Arkeus externally through technical partnerships, research programs and relevant industry forums. Your Experience and Skills We're looking for a deep technical thinker and builder — someone who has demonstrated they can take difficult, ambiguous scientific problems and turn them into real-world capability. You will likely have: A PhD or equivalent advanced technical expertise in a relevant scientific or engineering discipline. Significant experience in advanced R&D, applied science or deep-tech product development . A track record of taking research from concept → experiment → prototype → operational capability . Deep expertise in one or more relevant areas such as: Physics / applied physics Optics / photonics Electromagnetics Signal processing RF / sensing AI / machine learning Control and autonomous systems Electronic warfare / countermeasure technologies Advanced materials or energy systems Strong mathematical, analytical and experimental capabilities. Experience working across multidisciplinary technical teams. The ability to distinguish genuinely transformative technology from incremental improvement. Strong communication and technical storytelling skills. Experience working within defence, aerospace, national security or another highly regulated/high-consequence environment is highly desirable. Why Join Arkeus We make incredible things, you will be working in a company at the forefront of innovation in Australia. You will collaborate with exceptional leaders who have 40+ years of combined experience in autonomy, optics and defence. You will be learning from — and contributing to — the best in the field. You will become part of a close-knit, ego-free team where ideas compete on merit, not seniority. Low politics, high trust. The kind of team you will still be talking about in ten years. You will work hard and be expected to bring your best — and in return, you will grow faster than you ever would at a large organisation. You will work on technology that is already deployed in real environments — protecting lives and strengthening security across defence and national security applications. You will receive a competitive, market-benchmarked salary, structured career pathways built to grow with you, and the opportunity to participate in our Employee Share Option Plan (ESOP). You will have the opportunity to mentor bright emerging talent through our highly sought-after intern program and strong connections with leading universities. If this sounds like you, please apply even if you don't check every box listed above and join our growing team in improving security and saving lives! Who we are Arkeus builds AI-powered sensing systems that help autonomous platforms detect, track and understand what's happening in the most complex and contested environments. Our technology is deployed across defence and national security applications — already protecting lives and strengthening security across the U.S. and allied markets. Backed by QIC, Main Sequence, R+VC, Salus Ventures, Folklore Ventures, DYNE Ventures and Beaten Zone Venture Partners, Arkeus is entering a major growth phase. We are a small, fast-moving company with the energy and ambition of a start-up and the technical credibility of a world-class defence technology provider. We work at the intersection of optics, autonomy, robotics and real-time AI and we deploy what we build. If you want to ship technology that matters, not technology that ships decks, this is where you belong. Check it yourself on News | Arkeus We have developed an inclusive, transparent and engaging culture that focuses on building a diverse workforce — realising that to attract the very best, we need to ensure our culture is ready to welcome people from all ages, genders and backgrounds.