You want to make a fundamental impact in machine learning and optimization? 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 Statistics and Mathematics Part-time, 30 hours/week Starting October 01, 2026, and ending after 6 years What to expect You will carry out cutting edge research in machine learning and related fields. You will closely work with faculty members at the institute. You will publish in top-tier venues of the field (JMLR, SIAM, NeurIPS, ICML, etc.) and present your work at leading conferences (ICML, NeurIPS, ICLR, etc.). The positions are focused on inference-time compute optimization of large neural architectures. This includes for example work on structure-aware training/optimization, data-mixture optimization pipelines, principled design strategies for compute-efficient agentic AI systems, and bilevel optimization for robust training. A mix of fundamental research with empirical evaluation (multi-GPU nodes with H100/B200 are available inhouse). Potential applications in supply chain optimization, energy markets, marketing and business analytics, and beyond. As a successful candidate you will be member of WU's PhD Label “Mathematics in Economics and Business” (a special track within the PhD Program in Economics and Social Science offering a modern interdisciplinary scientific education in mathematics and statistics for economics and business, see https://www.wu.ac.at/en/statmath/phd-label-mathematics-in-economics-and-business ). Teaching and Supervision: You will have teaching and supervision duties at the undergraduate level (2hrs of weekly teaching hours per semester). You will be investigating your research topic and spending a third of your working hours on writing your dissertation. What you have to offer Academic degree: You have a diploma/master’s degree in computer science, applied mathematics, engineering or similar that qualifies you for enrollment in a doctoral program at WU. Strong background in applied mathematics (statistics, optimization, machine learning, control theory) is desirable Good English as well as programming skills in Python, R or C/C++ Pedagogical and presentation skills. German language skills are not a prerequisite. You are willing to use multimedia teaching and learning formats. 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 For further information, you can contact Prof. Michael Mühlebach michael.muehlebach@wu.ac.at. You can find further information on Mühlebach’s research under https://www.wu.ac.at/en/statmath/faculty-staff/visiting-researchers 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 March 25, 2026 (ID 2697). We are looking forward to hearing from you!