Research Program Evangelist - AI

Role overview

Zoho APAC is building a product-connected research lab to push forward capabilities in large language models (LLMs) and speech technologies such as ASR and TTS. The team is hiring a Research Program Evangelist who can shape the research agenda, support and mentor early-career researchers and engineers, and speak about the lab’s work externally with authority and clarity.

This position is aimed at experienced technical professionals who may not yet have deep specialization in LLMs or speech, but who have led complex, fast-changing technical work before and can absorb new domains quickly. The role is centered on judgment, speed of learning, and influence rather than direct implementation work.

What you will do

• Set the research direction and keep the roadmap aligned with product priorities.
• Convert product needs into research questions that can be tested and measured.
• Decide what to prioritize, what to sequence next, and what to stop based on impact and practicality.
• Assign execution to a distributed research and engineering group, then assess results through structured summaries.
• Make sure the work stays usable in real deployment settings, including cost, latency, and scale constraints.
• Represent the lab in selected industry, academic, and community events.
• Build disciplined research processes and coach early-career team members.

What this role is not

This is not a deep-theory research position, and it is also not a marketing-style evangelism role. The core focus is on guiding research, delegating execution, and representing the lab, rather than carrying out day-to-day hands-on implementation.

Required qualifications

• At least 8 years of experience in software engineering, systems, applied research, or a closely related technical area.
• Proven experience mentoring or guiding junior engineers or researchers.
• Strong verbal and written communication ability.
• Comfort working in fast-moving, continuously changing technical environments.

Preferred experience

• Exposure to AI/ML systems, especially LLMs or speech-related technologies.
• Understanding of research practices such as literature review, experimentation, and evaluation.
• Experience sharing technical work at meetups, conferences, or academic sessions.

What we look for

• High learning agility and the ability to become productive quickly in unfamiliar technical areas.
• Experience leading complex technical programs from start to finish.
• Strong technical judgment and ease in making decisions under uncertainty.
• Clear communication with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Comfort working with distributed teams across different geographies.

Onboarding and growth

The first 60 to 90 days will focus on immersion in current LLM and speech research, internal systems, and product requirements. This is suited to someone who can ramp up quickly and take ownership early in ambiguous problem areas.

Hiring philosophy

The hiring approach values judgment, learning speed, and influence. Deep domain expertise is welcome, but it is not mandatory.