Start date: as soon as possible
Advertised on: 21 February 2025
/ Application deadline: 24 March 2025
We are looking to fill a research and teaching position in computational linguistics at the Department of Language Science and Technology at Saarland University, as part of the research group of Prof. Alexander Koller.
This position offers great flexibility in developing your own research and teaching agenda, and collaborations with other research groups are encouraged. It is also flexible with respect to topic, as long as it connects thematically with topics of interest to the research group. These currently include accurate reasoning and planning with LLMs (including tool use); dialogue systems (in particular user adaptation and joint problem solving); and neurosymbolic models for NLP. You should have expertise in neural and/or linguistically principled methods in computational linguistics and be willing to take an active role in shaping the research and teaching environment of the department.
The position includes a teaching load of up to four hours per week in the BSc Computational Linguistics (in German) and/or the MSc Language Science and Technology (in English). Both programs attract excellent and highly motivated students; it is not unusual for our students to publish papers at peer-reviewed conferences before graduation. The MSc students in particular are a very international crowd, with two thirds joining us from abroad. You will typically teach two seminars per semester on topics of your choice, which will allow you to motivate students to do BSc and MSc theses under your supervision.
This is a position on the German TV-L E13 scale (100%). The starting salary of a 100% TV-L E13 position is approximately 57,000 Euros per year and increases with experience. The initial appointment will be for two years; the position can be extended up to the limits of the German law for academic contracts (WissZeitVG). The position is available right now; we could negotiate a start date that works for you.
Requirements
We are looking for candidates who have finished, or are about to complete, an excellent PhD degree in computational linguistics, computer science, or a related discipline. You should have demonstrated your research expertise through high-quality publications.
You must be proficient in English (spoken and written); the ability to teach in German is a plus.
About the group
Saarland University is one of the leading centers for computational linguistics in Europe, and offers a dynamic and stimulating research environment. The Department of Language Science and Technology consists of about 100 research staff in nine research groups in the fields of computational linguistics, psycholinguistics, and language science. It hosts the SFB 1102 “Information Density and Linguistic Encoding”.
Alexander Koller is the speaker of the new Research Training Group “Neuroexplicit Models of Language, Vision, and Action”, which is on track to grow into one of the largest centers for research on neurosymbolic models in the world. His group actively collaborates with colleagues at the university’s computer science department, the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, and the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security. The Saarland Informatics Campus brings together 900 researchers and 2500 students from 81 countries; SIC faculty have won roughly 40 ERC grants.
Saarland University is located in Saarbrücken, a city of roughly 180k people in the tri-border area of Germany, France, and Luxembourg. Saarbrücken combines a lively culture scene with a relaxed atmosphere, and is quite an affordable place to live in. Our department maintains an international and diverse work environment. The primary working language is English; learning German while you are here will make it easier to connect with the local culture, but is not necessary for your work.
How to apply
Please submit your application by email to apply-ak@coli.uni-saarland.de and include the reference number W2612. Preference will be given to applications received by 24 March 2025. (The original job ad says 16 March; I have extended the deadline to give applicants who found the job through corpora-list two weeks to prepare their applications.)
Include a single PDF file with the following information:
Saarland University especially welcomes applications from women and people with disabilities.
The legally binding version of this job ad is here: W2612.