At one point i was considering going for a research engineer position. That seems a bit rarer than a straight PhD program, but involves pretty much exactly wha

At one point i was considering going for a research engineer position. That seems a bit rarer than a straight PhD program, but involves pretty much exactly what you describe. Pay of course won't be what you're used to in industry, but in my experience (several friends hold such positions) you have excellent job security and a very laid-back work life. I think you often are expected to already hold a PhD to guarantee that you'll actually be familiar enough with the things you're building out/for, though YMMV. Source: i'm an escaped academic.