TU-ID: 192

"Reasonable Artificial Intelligence"

TU Wien is Austria’s largest institution of research and higher education in the fields of technology and natural sciences. With over 26,000 students and more than 4000 scientists, research, teaching, and learning dedicated to the advancement of science and technology have been conducted here for more than 200 years, guided by the motto "Technology for People". As a driver of innovation, TU Wien fosters close collaboration with business and industry and contributes to the prosperity of society.

The Faculty of Informatics at TU Wien invites applications for a full time Assistant Professor position (all genders) with tenure track. The position has a focus on Reasonable Artificial Intelligence and is affiliated with the Institute of Logic and Computation, Research Unit Databases and Artificial Intelligence. The estimated starting date is April 2026 . The work contract is initially limited to six years. The candidate and TU Wien can agree upon a tenure evaluation, which when positive, opens the possibility to change the position to Associate Professor with an unlimited contract.

TU Wien is among the most successful technical universities in Europe, and it is Austria’s largest scientific- technical research and educational institution. The Faculty of Informatics, one of the eight faculties at TU Wien, plays an active role in national and international research and has an excellent reputation. The main areas of research include Computer Engineering, Logic and Computation, Visual Computing & Human-Centered Technology, as well as Information Systems Engineering.

TU Wien is looking for a candidate with a high profile in symbolic AI, with particular emphasis on logical foundations of abstraction. The candidate should demonstrate a strong scientific background in theories and methods for abstraction in symbolic AI, including investigations on cognitive aspects such as explainability and understandability, and be capable of advancing the state of the art by developing bilateral AI approaches, which bridge the strengths of symbolic and sub-symbolic reasoning.

The following non-exhaustive list highlights some of the areas that a successful candidate is expected to have demonstrated scientific expertise in:

• Logic-based formalisms
• Foundations for abstraction and generalization
• Methods for computing abstractions
• Formal models for understandability of AI systems
• Empirical studies on human understanding of explanations

The ideal candidate should have relevant postdoctoral experience in securing third-party research funding and a compelling research vision. We expect publications in top conferences and/or journals in the areas of Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Representation and Reasoning. We are particularly interested in candidates who will complement our existing expertise and lead to fruitful collaborations not only with other members of the Faculty of Informatics but with TU Wien in general.

Besides research, the duties of an Assistant Professor at TU Wien Informatics include graduate and undergraduate teaching (in English and German) as well as contributing to usual management and faculty service tasks. We expect the position holder to provide leadership in delivering and developing courses in the Master program of Logic and Artificial Intelligence, as well as to teach courses in all programs of the Faculty of Informatics.

Tasks:

Abstraction and generalization abilities are crucial in AI systems for being able to detect relevant details and common characteristics in the problems and for transferring knowledge to unforeseen problem instances. Recent data-driven AI systems’ approaches to abstraction and generalization lack transparency, guarantees, and basic reasoning abilities. This calls for symbolic approaches that enable reasoning with provable properties, and rule-based representations being at the core of symbolic AI allowing for transparency. Establishing the foundations for abstraction and generalization in symbolic AI will not only achieve guaranteed abilities but also aid in human-understandability of the decision making by providing higher-level views.

Your profile:

Applicants are expected to have the following essential qualifications:

• PhD or doctoral degree in Computer Science or related subjects
• Post-doctoral experience at a university or other research institution
• Outstanding scientific reputation, proven by publications in internationally prestigious scientific conferences and journals, editorial and scientific expert work, organization of workshops and conferences etc.
• Outstanding research and publication record
• Excellent reputation in the international scientific community
• Experience in raising research funds at a highly competitive level (e.g., FWF and WWTF-projects) and managing scientific research projects, in particular the acquisition and management of an independent, early-career research project (similar to an FWF Hertha Firnberg Project)
• Experience in interdisciplinary collaborations
• Experience in university teaching
• Pedagogical and didactic skills
• Administrative and organizational skills
• Experience in the supervision of scientific work of students
• If the candidate’s knowledge of German is not sufficient, the willingness to learn German is expected

We offer:

• A tenure-track position with a full career path, consisting of the following milestones:
• At the beginning of the employment, a qualification agreement is signed with the university
• Upon successful fulfilment of the qualification agreement within 5 years, the candidate is promoted to associate professor with tenure
• Subsequent excellent achievements may lead to promotion to full professor
• Excellent working conditions in an attractive research environment
• An attractive salary, including additional contributions to a pension fund
• A position in a city with an exceptional quality of life
• Additional benefits for employees can be found at the following link: Benefits

General information can be found at the following links:

• TU Wien
• Faculty of Informatics
• The 4 research foci of the Faculty of Informatics
• Institute of Logic and Computation
• Research Unit Databases and Artificial Intelligence
• Living in Vienna

TU Wien is committed to increasing the proportion of women in particular in leadership positions. Female applicants are explicitly encouraged to apply. Preference will be given to women when equally qualified, unless reasons specific to a male applicant tilt the balance in his favour.

People with special needs are equally encouraged to apply. In case of any questions, please contact the confidant for disabled persons at the university, Mr. Gerhard Neustätter.

The employment starts as University Assistant with a minimum salary of EUR 5,014.30 gross (14 x per year) according to the collective bargaining agreement for a PostDoc. After signing the qualification agreement, the employment continues as Assistant Professor with a minimum salary of EUR 5,904.00 gross (14 x per year).

We look forward to receiving your application until February 26th, 2026.

Applications have to include the following documents:

• A detailed curriculum vitae
• A letter of motivation
• A teaching statement: 2 pages maximum
• A research statement: brief summary of past research activities, as well as a convincing outline of planned research activities, and an explanation of their contribution to the scientific profile of the Faculty of Informatics; 4-6 pages maximum; incl. abstract
• A list of publications sorted by journals, conference papers, and other publications
• Copies of the applicant’s three most important publications related to the position together with an explanation of their relevance should be uploaded under the category: +add more documents
• Certificates of doctoral and diploma degrees should be also uploaded under the category: +add more document

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