Academic research assistant (m/f/x)

Saarland University is a campus university with an international reputation for research excellence, particularly in

computer science and in the life sciences and nanosciences. The university is also distinguished by its close ties to

France and its strong European focus. Around 17,000 students, studying over one hundred different academic

disciplines, are currently enrolled at Saarland University. Saarland University is officially recognized as one of

Germany’s family-friendly higher-education institutions and with a combined workforce of more than 4000 it is one

of the largest employers in the region.

The Department of Computer Science at Saarland University is inviting applications for one PhD positions

commencing at the earliest possible date.

Academic research assistant (m/f/x)

Reference number W2867, salary in accordance with the German TV-L salary scale1, pay grade: E13; duration: until

September 2029; further extension is possible up to a total duration of 4 years; volume of employment: between 75%

and 100% of standard working time.

Workplace/Department:

The Chair of Language, Computation, and Cognition (LaCoCo Lab), led by Prof. Michael Hahn, invites excellent

students holding a Master’s degree for a PhD student position.

The PhD position is part of Saarland university research groups of the Konrad Zuse School of Excellence in Learning

and Intelligent Systems (ELIZA)2 and will be located in Saarbrücken.

ELIZA is a graduate school in Artificial Intelligence funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Research and academic training within ELIZA focus on four key areas: (1) the foundations of Machine Learning (ML)

— including ML-driven fields such as Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing (NLP), or Robot Learning —, (2)

machine learning systems, (3) applications in autonomous systems, and (4) transdisciplinary applications of ML in

other scientific domains, ranging from the life sciences to physics.

Saarland University is one of the leading centers for computational linguistics and computer science in Europe and

offers a dynamic and stimulating research environment. It is famous for its interdisciplinary research in language,

translation, computation and cognition. The group is affiliated with both the Department of Computer Science and

with the Department of Language Science and Technology.

The Department of Language Science and Technology organizes about 100 research staff in ten research groups in

the fields of computational linguistics, psycholinguistics, speech processing, and corpus linguistics.

1

TV-L = collective agreement on remuneration of public sector employees in the German Länder

Both departments are part of the Saarland Informatics Campus, which brings together 800 researchers and 2000

students from 81 countries. We collaborate closely with the university’s Department of Computer Science, the Max

Planck Institute for Informatics, the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, and the German Research Center for

Artificial Intelligence (DFKI).

Our researchers and students come from all over the world, and our primary working language is English.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

 abilities & limitations of transformers and other LLM architectures,

 LLM interpretability,

 foundations of LLM reasoning,

 foundations of AI safety.

Job requirements and responsibilities:

 The position is intended to begin at the earliest possible date (start-date is negotiable in both directions, i.e.,

earlier start as soon as August 2026 or a later start are possible).

 Prior experience with research in Machine Learning or a related field

 Outstanding programming skills and algorithmic understanding

 Strong grades from a top degree program in a relevant field (e.g., Computer Science)

 Strong spoken and written communication skills in English

 Strong understanding of machine learning and language models

 Strong motivation for scientific research

 Strong interest in the research topics studied by the group

 Please also see the ELIZA PhD Program Requirements and Arrangements for ELIZA-funded PhD students here:

ELIZA PhD Program: Fully-Funded Positions

Your academic qualifications:

 Completed university studies in : A master’s degree in computer science, computational linguistics, or a related

discipline.

The successful candidate will also be expected to:

 Applicants are requested to submit their application, including a cover letter that specifies what qualifies you for

the position, an academic CV, a list of academic publications, your MSc thesis (or a current draft, or a comparable

piece of scientific writing), copies of academic degree certificates and names of two potential references. Please

also include a statement (up to 2 pages) in your application which outlines your motivation for applying to this

position (please specifically refer to one or more recent publications from our group).

What we can offer you:

 A flexible work schedule allowing you to balance work and family

 A broad range of further education and professional development programmes

 An occupational health management model with numerous attractive options, such as our university sports

programme

 Supplementary pension scheme (RZVK)

 Discounted tickets on local public transport services (‘Jobticket‘ of the SaarVV)

 Job bike leasing (JobRad)

We look forward to receiving your meaningful online application. Please quote reference number W2867 when

applying. Applications must be received by no later than 18. June 2026 and should be sent via email to Prof.

Michael Hahn at: mhahn@lst.uni-saarland.de

Prof. Michael Hahn

Saarland University

Chair of Language, Computation, and Cognition

Campus C7 4, room 3.19

66123 Saarbrücken

If you have any questions, please contact us for assistance. Your contact: Prof. Michael Hahn (mhahn@lst.unisaarland.de).

Pay grade classification is based on the particular details of the position held and the extent to which the applicant meets the requirements of the

pay grade within the TV-L salary scale. Part-time employment is generally possible.

If you have obtained a foreign university degree, a proof of the equivalence of this degree with a German degree by the Zentralstelle für

ausländisches Bildungswesen (ZAB) is needed before hiring. If necessary, please apply for this in time. You can find more information at

https://www.kmk.org/zeugnisbewertung.

Unfortunately, neither costs for attending an interview at Saarland University nor costs for any certificate evaluation by the ZAB can be reimbursed

in principle.

We welcome applications regardless of gender, nationality, ethnic and social origin, religion/belief, disability, age, and sexual orientation and

identity. In accordance with its policy of increasing the proportion of women, the University actively encourages applications from women.

Applications from severely disabled persons will be given preferential consideration in the event of equal suitability.

When you submit a job application to Saarland University you will be transmitting personal data. Please refer to our privacy notice for information

on how we collect and process personal data in accordance with Art. 13 of the Datenschutz-Grundverordnung. By submitting your application you

confirm that you have taken note of the information in the Saarland University privacy notice.