Postdoctoral Fellow in Large Language Models

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About the position

Are you ready to take your research career to the next level? We offer an exciting 3-year postdoctoral position that gives you the opportunity to develop a strong profile as researcher. You will also gain valuable experience that might be relevant for your further career.

Large language models (LLMs) are today a central research topic within generative Artificial Intelligence.  Even though international models from companies like OpenAI, Google, Meta and DeepSeek have shown their potential for value creation and business transformation, there are many unsolved issues that require research on both technical and societal aspects.  Central to this postdoctoral position are new responsible techniques for efficient training and adaptation of LLMs for smaller languages like Norwegian, and approaches for dealing with sensitive data and explainability and trust issues.

You will be part of a national initiative on Norwegian large language model training and the applications of these models in selected domains.  In particular, you will be exploring how LLMs can be efficiently pre-trained, fine-tuned and aligned to applications in the financial sector.  You will be working closely together with financial institutions to analyze potential LLM use cases and investigate how LLMs can be successfully developed and deployed in real financial solutions.

The purpose of a postdoctoral position is for the employee to build up a researcher profile and competence that qualifies the person to apply for a position as associate professor. The position may also provide other competence with relevance for the postdoctoral fellow's further career. Become part of our research environment and take the next step in your career with us.

Your immediate leader is the Head of the Norwegian Research Center for AI Innovation at NTNU
 

About the project 

The position is funded by the Norwegian Research Center for AI Innovation – NorwAI – and will be based at the Department of Computer Science in Trondheim. SFI NorwAI is a center for research-based AI Innovaton hosted at NTNU in Trondheim, Norway. Research areas cover competences that the Norwegian industry needs to develop cutting-edge theories, methods and technology, for efficient, effective and responsible exploitation of data-driven AI in industrial solutions.  Currently the center concentrates their activities on three domains:  Finance, Media, and Industry 4.0.

The NorwAI consortium consists of 17 partners from industry, universities and research institutes. The postdoctoral fellow will work in cooperation with the partners of NorwAI , but also with PhD candidates and other postdoctoral fellows at the center and the department as a whole.

Duties of the position

• Explore novel techniques for pre-training, fine-tuning and aligning LLMs for financial tasks
• Contribute to academic publications and popular science dissemination
• Be an integral part of NorwAI as well as engage in relevant Dept. of computer science research communities including in DART group 
• Apply for research funding and write applications and report on progress to funding sources 
• Engage in relevant international workshops, seminars and events thus travel should be expected
• Supervise students, help them with their research projects, and advise on methodology and academic writing 

Required selection criteria

• You must have completed a doctoral degree in Artificial Intelligence or what corresponds to that 
• Excellent programming skills
• Experience with using generative LLMs in NLP applications
• If you are in the final phase of your doctorate and can document that the thesis has been submitted or that the defense date has been confirmed, your application can be considered even if you have not defended. NOTE: Documentation of the obtained doctorate must be presented before you can take up the position. 
• You must have excellent written and oral English language skills. 
   

PLEASE NOTE: For detailed information about what the application must contain, see paragraph “About the application”.

As a result of the new Act relating to universities and university colleges with associated regulations of 01/08/2024, NTNU has, during a transitional period (for decisions on employment in recruitment positions before 1 August 2025), chosen to use the terms of employment in the old regulations of 31 January 2006 no. 102 on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, research fellow, scientific assistant and specialist candidate

Preferred selection criteria

• Familiarity with the financial domain or other similar domains
• Experience with pre-training and/or fine-tuning LLMs
• Good oral and written presentation skills in Norwegian/Scandinavian

Personal characteristics

Working as a Postdoctoral fellow requires that you

• Are open, curious and result oriented.
• Have a keen interest working in interdisciplinary teams.
• Be highly motivated to publish in academic conferences and journals within the area of the position.
• Communicate information and results with clarity and ease, both orally and in writing.

Emphasis will be placed on personal qualities.

We offer 

• Exciting and stimulating tasks in a strong international academic environment
• Open and inclusive working environment with committed colleagues  
• Favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• employee benefits

Diversity

Diversity is a strength, and at NTNU we aim to be an employer that reflects the diversity in society and that makes use of the potential of the population's collective skills. Our vision is Knowledge for a better world and our values are creative, critical, constructive and respectful. We believe that an organization that is equal, diverse and gender-balanced is essential for us to achieve our goals.

We strive to attract employees with different skills, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to even better problem solving of our societal mission in research and education.

If you think this position is relevant and interesting, we encourage you to apply, regardless of gender, functional ability and cultural background, or whether you have been out of work for a period of time.

Salary and conditions

As a Postdoctoral Fellow (code 1352) you are normally paid from gross NOK  594 500 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.

As an employee at NTNU, it is important to keep yourself up to date with academic and organizational changes and to adapt to them. 

For the necessary professional and social interaction, it is a prerequisite that you are physically present and available to the institution on a daily basis.

About the application 

The attachments (including a description of your scientific work) must accompany the application as these documents form the basis of the application assessment. The documents must be in Norwegian or English. 

Please note: the application will only be assessed on the basis of the information we have by the application deadline. Therefore, make sure that your application clearly shows how your skills and experience meet the criteria described above.

The application must include:

• Transcripts and diplomas for Bachelor's-, Master's- and PhD degrees. If you have not yet completed your PhD, you must provide confirmation on your estimated date for the doctoral dissertation, or confirmation that your PhD thesis has been submitted. Documentation of a completed doctoral degree must be presented before taking up the position.
• CV.
• A copy of the doctoral thesis. If you are close to submitting, you can attach a draft of the thesis. 
• Detailed research plan.
• Up to three academic publications.
• Possible recommendation letters.
• Name and contact information of three referees.
   

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. Description of the documentation required can be found here. If you already have a statement from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir), please attach this as well.

Joint works will be considered. If it is difficult to identify your contribution to joint works, you must attach a brief description of your participation.

If you have had leave or another break in your career, it is important that this is stated in your application so that the selection committee can take this into account and that the amount of your research may be reduced as a result.

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

NTNU recognizes a wide range of academic contributions and is committed to follow evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment DORA and the obligations in CoARA (responsible assessment of research and recognition of a greater breadth of academic contributions in accordance with NTNU's social mission).

General information 

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

If you have any questions about the position, please contact center director professor Jon Atle Gulla, email: jag@ntnu.no. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact coordinator Karolina Storesund, email: karolina.storesund@ntnu.no.

The appointment is carried out in accordance with the principles of the State Employees Act, and Export control (legislation that regulates the export of knowledge, technology and services). Candidates who, after assessment of the application and attachments, are considered to be in conflict with the criteria in the latter act, will not be able to be employed.

Please note that the person hired will work with critical infrastructure and areas affected by controls on the export of strategic goods, services and technology. Candidates who do not meet the requirements for the necessary security clearance, access clearance and authorization as described in the National Security Act, the Export Control Act and the Act on the Implementation of International Sanctions (the Sanctions Act) cannot be considered (e.g. candidates from, among others, Russia, Iran, North Korea, China).

If you find this position interesting, and in accordance 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: 31.03.2025

For practical information about working at NTNU, please visit this webpage. 

The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the tech 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.