I'm sure a lot of people will reflexively run in the opposite direction but IBM still has a large research organization.

Also their lab isn’t anywhere I’d want to live.

Interestingly enough, a lot of senior ibm labs folks have joined jpmorgan or similar organizations over time

between westchester and nyc one has a lot of varying environments to live in if working at IBM Research. I used to commute up to it from Manhattan without any problem (nice reverse commute in general). Hawthorne (now closed) was a bit easier than Yorktown, but both were fairly easy (if memory serves me correct, yorktown was only an additional 15 minutes or so).

Freelance product design is a good field for this type work, but you don't really see it concentrated into a unified r/d location like bell had often.

Also @dsgnr you're posts are currently hell banned

Thanks, product design is something I've also considered. I'd guess Apple/MS style companies are probably still the best bet, even though you're more restricted than what it probably was at Bell.