AILabs Research Scientist

Research Scientist

Mission: Advance the lab's research agenda by designing experiments, publishing high-impact work, and turning novel ideas into reproducible, publishable results. Core focus: Combine deep technical work (models, theory, or systems) with clear communication and collaboration across the team and with external partners.

What you will do

• Research - Define and execute research projects; publish in top venues (e.g. NeurIPS, ICML, ACL, EMNLP, or domain-specific conferences).
• Prototyping - Implement and iterate on models and algorithms; work with the engineering team to move ideas from notebook to demonstrator.
• Collaboration - Engage with PhD students, postdocs and engineers; contribute to grant writing and external partnerships when relevant.
• Rigor - Maintain high standards for reproducibility, evaluation and documentation of methods and results.

What we do for you

We offer you the opportunity to join one of the world’s premier research centers in nanotechnology at its headquarters in Leuven, Belgium. With your talent, passion and expertise, you’ll become part of a team that makes the impossible possible. Together, we shape the technology that will determine the society of tomorrow.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and proud of our open, multicultural, and informal working environment with ample possibilities to take initiative and show responsibility. We commit to supporting and guiding you in this process; not only with words but also with tangible actions. Through imec.academy, 'our corporate university', we actively invest in your development to further your technical and personal growth. 

We are aware that your valuable contribution makes imec a top player in its field. Your energy and commitment are therefore appreciated by means of a market appropriate salary with many fringe benefits. 

Who you are

Required qualifications

• Experience: PhD in Computer Science, ML, NLP, or a related field (or equivalent research track record).
• Technical depth: Strong background in machine learning, deep learning, or natural language processing; proficient in Python and standard ML frameworks.
• Publication record: Evidence of impactful research (e.g. first-author papers at top conferences or journals).
• Mindset: Curious, rigorous, and able to work both independently and in a team.

Bonus points & culture

• The extras: Interest in distributed intelligence, edge AI, hardware-aware ML, or agentic systems.
• The vibe: Low-ego, collaborative; we value scientific rigor, open science, and long-term impact over short-term metrics.

IMEC and its affiliates will not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from a candidate. IMEC will consider unsolicited referrals and/or resumes submitted by vendors such as search firms, staffing agencies, professional recruiters, fee-based referral services and recruiting agencies (hereafter “Agency”) to have been referred by the Agency free of charge. IMEC will not pay a fee to any Agency that does not have a prior written agreement with IMEC, validated by its HR department, in place regarding a specific job opening and allowing to submit resumes.