PhD or postdoctoral position in the field of LLM Training

Conduct research in the field of applied mathematics and computer science Write research papers, articles, and present results at leading international conferences. We publish in venues such as ICML, NeurIPS, ICLR, JMLR, AISTATS, and more Interact with national and international teams of mathematicians and computer scientists

The research groups of Prof. A. Lucchi and Prof. I. Bogunovic at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Basel invite applications for a PhD or postdoctoral position focused on Large Language Models (LLMs), including pre-training and post-training. The successful candidate will work on developing and improving methods for LLM reasoning, with applications including mathematical reasoning, decision-making, and adaptation to specialized domains. The project will involve designing and running large-scale experiments, developing fine-tuning and reinforcement learning approaches, and studying how LLMs can generalize more reliably across tasks and reasoning domains. We are looking for candidates with a strong background in machine learning, excellent implementation skills, and an interest in combining ambitious empirical work with conceptual and theoretical insights. The goal of this work is to push the capabilities and reliability of modern AI systems on challenging reasoning problems.

• PhD applicants must possess a Master's degree in mathematics, theoretical physics, computer science, or a related field.

• Postdoctoral applicants must hold, or be close to completing, a PhD in one of these areas.

• Candidates should have an exceptional academic record, a strong background in machine learning, and a robust mathematical foundation.

• They are also expected to have strong coding and implementation skills, with the ability to run large-scale experiments.

• Prior research experience is advantageous for PhD applicants, while postdoctoral applicants are expected to have a strong publication record in machine learning, artificial intelligence, optimization, or related areas.

• Excellent communication skills and fluency in English (spoken and written) are required.

• We also seek to increase the number of women and other groups in areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourage such groups to apply.