Postdoctoral Associate Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence

Job Description

The Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Virginia Tech invites applications for multiple Postdoctoral Associate positions in trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI). The successful candidates will conduct research aimed at making the decisions and behavior of AI models and agents more transparent interpretable to humans safe and reliable. Research may include developing methods to understand and explain AI decision-making; identifying evaluating and mitigating potential failures vulnerabilities or risks; and improving the robustness and reliability of AI systems in real-world settings.

Working with the faculty supervisor and collaborating researchers each Postdoctoral Associate will design and execute research studies disseminate results through peer-reviewed publications and presentations and develop open-source software datasets benchmarks models or other research artifacts that benefit the broader research community. The position will also contribute to the development of research proposals and mentor undergraduate students participating in related projects. The appointments provide opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and professional development in preparation for careers in academia industry government or the nonprofit sector.

Required Qualifications

Ph.D. in computer science electrical or computer engineering data science statistics applied mathematics or a closely related field completed by the appointment start date.
PhD must be awarded no more than four years prior to the effective date of appointment with a minimum of one year eligibility remaining.
Record of research in artificial intelligence machine learning or a closely related area documented through the curriculum vitae resume cover letter doctoral dissertation publications preprints or other research products identified in the application materials.
Record of designing and conducting computational or empirical research including research methodology implementation analysis or documentation as reflected in research projects publications dissertation work or other scholarly products identified in the application materials.
Programming proficiency relevant to AI or machine-learning research evidenced by research code software projects technical portfolios repositories publications or equivalent work products identified in the application materials.
Record of written and oral technical communication evidenced by publications dissertation work technical reports conference or seminar presentations teaching materials or other examples identified in the application materials.
Record of contributing to both independently led and collaborative research software publication or technical projects as documented in the curriculum vitae resume cover letter or other application materials.

Preferred Qualifications

Research expertise in one or more areas related to trustworthy AI such as explainable or interpretable AI AI safety robustness reliability uncertainty quantification model evaluation fairness privacy security human-AI interaction or the evaluation and alignment of AI agents.
Experience with contemporary AI systems including deep learning foundation models large language models multimodal models reinforcement learning or agentic AI systems.
Record of publication in peer-reviewed journals or selective conferences relevant to artificial intelligence machine learning human-computer interaction cybersecurity or related fields.
Experience developing and maintaining open-source research software reproducible workflows datasets benchmarks model evaluations or other community-facing research artifacts.
Experience contributing technical content to grant proposals sponsored-research reports or collaborative research plans.
Experience mentoring or supervising undergraduate or graduate researchers.
Experience evaluating AI systems in applied or real-world settings including work with interdisciplinary collaborators or external partners.

Overtime Status

Exempt: Not eligible for overtime

Appointment Type

Restricted

Salary Information

$63480 $68480 Commensurate with Experience

Hours per week

40

Review Date

November 2 2026

Additional Information

The successful candidate will be required to have a criminal conviction check.

About Virginia Tech

Dedicated to its mottoUt Prosim(That I May Serve) Virginia Tech pushes the boundaries of knowledge by taking a hands-on transdisciplinary approach to preparing scholars to be leaders and problem-solvers. A comprehensive land-grant institution that enhances the quality of life in Virginia and throughout the world Virginia Tech is aninclusive communitydedicated to knowledge discovery and creativity. The university offers more than 280 majors to a diverse enrollment of more than 36000 undergraduate graduate and professional students in eightundergraduate colleges aschool of medicine aveterinary medicinecollegeGraduate School andHonors College.The university has a significant presence across Virginia including Blacksburg the greater Washington D.C. area the Health Sciences and Technology Campus in Roanoke sites in Newport News and Richmond and numerousExtension officesandresearch institutes.A leading global research institution Virginia Tech conducts more than $650 million in research annually.

Virginia Tech endorses and encourages participation in professional development opportunities and university shared governance. These valuable contributions to university shared governance provide important representation and perspective along with opportunities for unique and impactful professional development.