Doctoral Researcher in LLM Privacy and Security

The Department of Computing at the Faculty of Technology invites applications for a full-time Doctoral Researcher position. This role focuses on the privacy protection, security enhancement, and vulnerability research of Large Language Models (LLMs). The fixed-term position starts based on mutual agreement, and ends 30.6.2029.

Job description

This position is integrated into a high-impact European defense research project. As a PhD candidate, you will conduct deep-dive research into the security of LLMs within adversarial environments. You will join an elite, interdisciplinary team, collaborating closely with leading academic experts and industrial security architects across Europe.

The successful candidate will focus on one of following pillars throughout the LLM lifecycle:

• Privacy Preservation: Researching the application of Federated Learning, Differential Privacy (DP), or Homomorphic Encryption (HE) in LLM training and inference to prevent sensitive data leakage.
• Security Hardening: Developing robust defense mechanisms against adversarial threats such as Prompt Injection, backdoor attacks.
• Vulnerability Attack & Defense: Conducting automated "red-blue teaming" exercises to uncover latent model vulnerabilities and developing automated patching or filtering technologies.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and implement state-of-the-art secure LLM protocols and algorithms.
• Collaborate closely with top-tier European universities and industrial partners.
• Participate in project implementation and reporting activities.
• Contribute to academic life by supervising MSc and Bachelor students, and assisting in teaching activities.
• Engage in training opportunities including proposal writing, high-impact scientific publishing, and collaborative research with international teams.

Who we are looking for

Requirements

• MSc degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• A solid foundation in Computer Science with a deep understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and related algorithms.
• A strong interest in or prior experience with cybersecurity, or adversarial machine learning.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Interest in collaborative research with both academia and industry.
• Good communication skills in English (written and spoken). 
• Programming skills (e.g., Python, C++, Rust) and experience with deep learning frameworks.

Qualification requirements

The eligibility criteria for prospective applicants are defined in the University of Turku Rules of Procedure: university-of-turku-rules-of-procedure.pdf.

A person selected for the post of Doctoral Researcher is required to have a right to pursue a doctoral degree at University of Turku. In addition, when acquiring their degree or otherwise, they are required to have demonstrated the ability to undertake postgraduate studies and the capacity to complete a doctoral degree in accordance with the research plan.

Please note that before obtaining the study right for a Doctoral Program, the job title will be Project Researcher, and the duration of the contract is 6 months. The candidate is expected to apply for the study right in the next available call to e.g. the Doctoral Programme in Technology.

Thus, please check the student information and application criteria Doctoral Programme in Technology - Admission Criteria and Instructions for Applicants | University of Turku (please pay attention to the mandatory skill level in English).

Read more about the University of Turku's doctoral programmes and how to apply for study rights Join us for your doctoral studies at the University of Turku! | University of Turku

In exceptional cases, we may also consider applicants who have completed nearly all the studies required for a master's degree in a relevant field. In such cases, the job title at the start of the employment will be Research Assistant and the starting salary (OV1) is on average 2400 euros/month, depending on competence and experience. 

We value collegiality and promote equality, diversity, and inclusivity. We encourage all qualified applicants with different backgrounds to apply for our open positions.