Postdoc position on AI alignment and safe AI available at EPFL DLAB

Description

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position at EPFL, to be hosted by the Data Science & AI Lab, headed by Prof. Robert West.

We seek a candidate who will lead ground-breaking research projects with the goal of building safe AI that truly cares about human interests. Instead of viewing alignment as mere postprocessing of pretrained models (“lipstick-on-a-pig alignment”), you will contribute to our agenda of “raising” models that will be continuously aligned throughout the training process, starting from token 1 in pretraining.

To this end, you will combine synthetic data generation, mechanistic interpretability, LLM pre- and posttraining, and model evaluation in novel ways.

Responsibilities

• You will contribute to the Swiss AI Initiative, in particular by incorporating your research results into Apertus, SwissAI’s open, transparent, multilingual language model.
• You will work in a stimulating, open, and international research environment consisting of many highly talented and motivated students, embedded in a strong network of academic and industrial collaborators.
• Project work with MS and PhD students is expected.

Profile

Candidates should have completed, or be near completion of, a PhD with a strong international publication record in AI or NLP. Strong programming skills and experience with machine learning frameworks are required.

We offer

• A stimulating and international working environment
• Competitive salary and excellent working conditions
• Opportunity to perform state-of-the-art research in one of the most dynamic scientific institutions in Europe.
• Opportunity to interact with internationally renowned experts, and with a strong team of postdoctoral researchers and PhD students

Other benefits

• Competitive salary (starting at around CHF 88,000 p.a.)
• An extremely well funded national research system
• An office next to a stunning lake and even more stunning mountains
• Generous travel support

English is the main language spoken at EPFL, and Lausanne is highly international, such that no French language skills are required.

Application Information

Only applications submitted through the online platform are considered. You are asked to supply:

• A brief cover letter (pdf, up to 2 pages).
• A CV with a publication list.
• A research statement (pdf, up to 3 pages).
• Contact details for 3 referees.

Contract Start Date : 04/01/2026