Senior Director of Research and Innovation

The Senior Director of Research and Innovation leads the organization’s strategy to discover, incubate and prototype breakthrough cybersecurity technologies that drive sovereign capability and commercial growth. Reporting directly to the Chief Product and Technology Officer, this role ensures that advanced research translates directly into market solutions and establishes Cyberani as a regional powerhouse in cybersecurity and sovereignty in KSA and MENA.

• Define and execute a multi-year innovation roadmap that supports Cyberani’s vision and goals in cybersecurity technology, hardware, software, network, OT, encryption, etc.
• Define the 12- to 18-month technological horizon for Cyberani, aligning R&I initiatives.
• Identify emerging trends, disruptive technologies and new business models relevant to the industry.
• Prioritize deep‑tech innovation opportunities based on strategic fit, ROI and their capacity to secure national critical infrastructure.

• Establish and manage all innovation initiatives in a single consolidated portfolio, balancing short‑term pilots with long‑term research initiatives.
• Lead a highly specialized agile tiger team of researchers and rapid‑prototyping engineers.
• Ensure cross‑functional collaboration among R&D, Product, Strategy and Delivery and external academic partners.
• Drive all R&I projects to a functional Minimum Viable Product (MVP) within a 90- to 120‑day timeframe, subsequently transferring architecture and code to the core product teams.

• Forge strategic research pipelines with elite academic institutions (e.g., KACST, KFUPM, KAUST) to funnel theoretical discoveries into Cyberani’s applied engineering environment.
• Act as Cyberani’s primary PoC for research and innovation topics with national regulators, RDI, NCA.
• Translate complex technical paradigms into clear business value propositions for executive leadership.

• Secure funding through internal channels or external grants where applicable.
• Recruit, mentor and lead a high‑performing innovation team across Cyberani: applied researchers, OT security specialists, prototyping engineers, etc.
• Foster an environment that encourages creative thinking, experimentation and calculated risk‑taking.
• Champion open‑innovation practices, including partnerships with startups, academia and external research labs.
• Develop and manage the innovation budget, allocating resources to high‑impact initiatives.

• Define KPIs for research and innovation (e.g., MVP‑to‑Product integration rate, time‑to‑MVP, etc.).
• Implement dashboards and reporting mechanisms to track progress and demonstrate value.
  
  Conduct post‑mortems on completed projects to capture lessons learned and improve future processes.

Minimum Master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science or a related field. PhD degree in a relevant cybersecurity, computer science or engineering discipline is highly preferred.

12 years of experience.

Progressive experience with at least 5 years in a leadership capacity driving applied research, R&D or deep‑tech product innovation.

• Strong strategic thinking and ability to translate innovation insights into actionable plans.
• Uncompromising technical depth and fundamental understanding of the current technology landscape, specifically regarding OTICS security, applied cryptography and high‑assurance environments.
• Proven track record of defining and executing projects that transition complex concepts into successful scalable products.
• Ability to manage budgets, rigorously assess technology risk and negotiate strategic technical partnerships.