PhD Candidate in Compiler Technologies

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NTNU is a broad-based university with a technical-scientific profile and a focus in professional education. The university is located in three cities with headquarters in Trondheim.

At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 43,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.

   

About the job

Compiler technologies represent a convenient opportunity to automate complex code analyses and transformation to obtain improved characteristics in the output code. 

Modern initiatives rely on a multi-layer approach to code compilation, which offer a modular approach to domain-specific optimisations. 

Your project is expected to contribute to cutting-edge research initiatives leveraging, analysing, and exploiting wearable computing systems for harsh deployment conditions via code optimisations and simulation technologies. 

You will join a team of international researchers with diverse backgrounds to address the challenges presented by a common problem, and to improve over the current state-of-the-art both with theoretical findings and with technological advances. 

You will be expected to regularly engage in critical and constructive discussions with academics from your supervision team, members of your research group, and other research groups within the computer science department. 

For a position as a PhD Candidate, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree. 

Your immediate leader is the head of the Computing group.

Duties of the position

• Acquire and maintain cutting-edge knowledge of the field 
• Coordinate with the supervision team to agree on research directions  
• Actively participate in a network of European partners to tackle common challenges  
• Author and co-author scientific manuscripts in academic English 
• Participate in approved relevant international events to disseminate research results 
• Fulfil administrative and teaching duties required (if applicable)

Required selection criteria

• You must have a relevant background in Computer Engineering or any other related field. 
• Your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree program, where 120 credits are obtained at master's level.
• You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master's degree program, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared with NTNU's grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic basis. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be assessed if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education. 
• Master's students can apply, but the master's degree must be obtained and documented by 31 March 2025. 
• You must meet the requirements to access and perform research on dual-use technologies according to Norwegian regulations on Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology.
• You must meet the eligibility requirements to work on a European Defence Fund project. 
• You must meet the requirements for admission to the doctoral program in Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering.
• Knowledge of fundamentals of C++ programming. 
• Competence in code optimisations.
• Knowledge of hardware/software co-design principles, and computer architectures.
• Good written and oral communication skills (English).

The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, Phd candidate, research assistant and specialist candidate and Regulations concerning the degrees of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) and Philosodophiae Doctor (PhD) in artistic research national guidelines for appointment as PhD, post doctor and research assistant 

Preferred selection criteria

• Experience with large C++ code bases 
• Experience with MLIR and/or LLVM frameworks  
• Experience with Precision Tuning and/or other approximate computing methods 
• Experience with one or more heterogeneity-aware code acceleration paradigms (OpenCL, CUDA, SYCL, etc.)  
• Track record of open-source code contributions 
• Strong motivation, with evidence of independent research skills relevant to the project

Personal characteristics

• Is good at anticipating problems and identifying logical solutions as well as contradictions and inconsistencies 
• Develops effective, sensible and practical solutions to problems 
• Sees the big picture and takes broader considerations into account 
• Acquires new knowledge quickly, and is able to use existing knowledge in new ways

Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

• exciting and stimulating tasks in a strong international academic environment
• an open and inclusive work environment with dedicated colleagues
• favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• employee benefits

Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from gross NOK 532 200 per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund. 

The period of employment is 3 years. Possibility of 4 years with 25% teaching duties included for the right candidate. 

Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme in Computer Science within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.

The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU. 

After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution daily.

About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English.

Publications and other scientific work must follow the application. Please note that your application will be considered based solely on information submitted by the application deadline. You must therefore ensure that your application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience fulfill the criteria specified above. 

The application must include: 

• CV and certificates.
• Transcripts and diplomas for bachelor's and master's degrees. If you have not completed the master's degree, you must submit a confirmation that the master's thesis has been submitted. 
• Project proposal.
•  If you have, publications or other relevant research work.

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor's and master's education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here. If you already have a statement from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, please attach this as well.

We will take joint work into account. If it is difficult to identify your efforts in the joint work, you must enclose a short description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates. 

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment - DORA.

General information

Working at NTNU

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is our strength. We want to recruit people with different competencies, educational backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to solving our social responsibilities within education and research. We will facilitate for our employees’ needs.

NTNU is working actively to increase the number of women employed in scientific positions and has a number of resources to promote equality. 

The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the innovation capital of Norway with a population of 200,000. The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world. Professional subsidized day-care for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and possibilities to enjoy nature, culture and family life and has low crime rates and clean air quality.

As an employee at NTNU, you must at all times adhere to the changes that the development in the subject entails and the organizational changes that are adopted.

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation. You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Stefano Cherubin . If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact human resources, hr@idi.ntnu.no.

If you think this looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates attached. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation.  

Application deadline: 31.01.25