Project staff member (pre-doc)

  • Vienna University of Economics and Business
  • IT
  • Research, development, teaching
  • Part time
  • published till: 2026-05-20

You want to understand how things are connected and make a fundamental impact? We offer an environment where you can realize your full potential. At one of Europe’s largest and most modern business and economics universities. On a campus where quality of work is also quality of life. We are looking for support at the 

Institute for Data, Process and Knowledge Management
Part-time, 30 hours/week
Starting September 01, 2026, and ending after 3.5 years
 
Qualified candidates with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply for this position. If necessary, a reduction of the extent of employment is possible.
 
Do you want to dive into a state-of-the-art research on large language modeling and information retrieval?
 
We are seeking a highly motivated prospective PhD student to join the newly established Vienna Research Group funded by WWTF and led by Dr. Svitlana Vakulenko. The objective of the group is to develop novel approaches to modeling knowledge specifically designed for use by an LLM. The group is positioned within the Institute for Data, Process and Knowledge Management, which boasts world-class excellence in reasoning, data management and knowledge representation research. We offer an environment where you can accelerate your learning outcomes, receive guidance and support to realize your full potential.
 
The ability of Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate contextually relevant natural language responses is truly impressive, and a growing number of people are using them on a regular basis to address their information needs. However, since LLMs are parametric models unlike databases, they were not designed to reliably store data. While they are trained on massive amounts of textual data from the Web and are likely to pick up factual knowledge from it, their responses are, while usually fluent and grammatically correct, often not factually correct, which makes them to appear plausible and effectively deceive their users. Alternative RAG approaches that condition LLM generation on a set of retrieved search results also fail in many cases, when information needs are more complex, and search results are not optimal.

What to expect

  • Exciting research projects: You will be investigating and understanding the limitation of the current LLM-based approaches in the context of information retrieval applications as well as designing and evaluating novel LLM-based approaches for storing and retrieving large volumes of textual data.
  • Support Activities: You will be encouraged (but not required) to get involved in preparing new project proposals, workshop/conference organization, Bachelor and Master student supervision as well as teaching activities.
  • Teamwork: You will be collaborating with legal researchers and practitioners by testing the research prototypes within a real-world setting.
  • Learning from top researchers: The program will provide career development guidelines, advice and support for students with innovative business ideas, and workshops for developing presentation and other soft skills.

What you have to offer

  • Academic degree: You have completed a master's degree that qualifies you for enrolling in a PhD program at WU in one of the following subject areas:
    • Computer Science
    • Mathematics
    • Information Systems
    • or a related field of study
  • Language skills: You are fluent and able to express yourself very well in both spoken and written English
  • Programming skills: You have knowledge of programming languages such as Python
  • Additional skills: Experience with software/research projects leveraging LLMs or other machine learning models
  • Motivation: Strong motivation to conduct research in the field of knowledge representation and information retrieval, an interest in diving into the cutting-edge research and experimenting with large language models

 

If you feel the profile fits you, and you are interested in the job, we look forward to receiving your application.

Applications should include the following information:

  • a CV listing all education and work experience, awards/grants, stays abroad, link to your GitHub account, workshops, hackathons, publications (if applicable);
  • a letter of motivation;
  • Master thesis (or pre-final draft: if your thesis is not yet finished, please, submit a statement by the thesis main supervisor confirming feasibility of finishing your degree by September 01, 2026);
  • two recommendation letters.

WU is dedicated to the principle of equal opportunities and is strongly committed to diversity and inclusion. Since WU seeks to increase the number of its female employees in academic and management positions, qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply. Women with equal qualifications are given priority. 

Do you have any questions, or do you require additional information? Please contact: svitlana.vakulenko@wu.ac.at

What we offer you

  • Six weeks of vacation/Extra vacation time
  • Flexible working hours
  • Training opportunities
  • A wide range of benefits, from an in-house medical officer to athletic activities and a meal allowance to a variety of employee discounts
  • Meaningful work in an open-minded, inclusive, and family-friendly environment
  • A modern campus with spectacular architecture in the heart of Vienna
  • Inspiring campus life with over 2,400 employees in research, teaching, and administration and approximately 21,500 students
  • Excellent accessibility by public transportation

Curious? Visit our website and find out more at www.wu.ac.at/benefits

The minimum monthly gross salary amounts to €2,832.08 (14 times per year). This salary may be adjusted based on job-related prior work experience. In addition, we offer a wide range of attractive social benefits.

Do you want to join the WU team?
Then please submit your application by May 20, 2026 (ID 2759).
We are looking forward to hearing from you!