PhD student in AI-Assisted Software Engineering

PhD student in AI-Assisted Software Engineering

Linkoping

Reference number IDA-

We are looking for a PhD student in AI-Assisted Software Engineering.

As a PhD student in AI-Assisted Software Engineering, your primary duty will be to conduct cutting‑edge software engineering research in the context of cyber‑physical systems and AI agents.

Mission: This project is funded by the ELLIIT Call G, the Excellence Center at Linköping–Lund in Information Technology. The project aims to systematically detect and reduce software development waste (SDW) in the context of large‑scale AI‑assisted development and operations (Dev Ops) for complex software systems. We take a broad, sustainability‑driven perspective on SDW to identify development practices that consume excessive amounts of energy, developer time, or computational costs.

Novel techniques will be developed for SDW detection and reduction in the context of cyber‑physical systems.

Context: The large‑scale development of cyber‑physical systems (CPS) increasingly relies on automation to simultaneously improve productivity and quality. AI assistants based on large language models (LLMs) are actively used to partially automate tasks such as coding (e.g., Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude Code) and testing. Moreover, such AI assistants are integrated into the Dev Ops pipelines of software‑intensive systems to continuously harness data collected during the entire lifecycle.

In critical CPS, Dev Ops includes long‑running simulations to analyze a design candidate, while surrogate models can be trained to provide an approximate analysis. Feedback cycles vary from seconds to weeks, and the computation is spread between different tools.

Tasks: Your project aims to address the overarching research question of how to detect and reduce software development waste in AI‑assisted Dev Ops of complex software‑intensive CPSs. Your research will first identify software development waste in the context of CPSs, and then develop novel techniques for waste detection and reduction. The developed techniques will be evaluated on open benchmarks and assessed in an industrial context with our collaborators.

As a PhD student, you will devote most of your time to doctoral studies and the research projects of which you are part. Your work may also include teaching or other departmental duties, up to a maximum of 20 per cent of full‑time.

You have graduated at Master’s level in Computer Science / Software Engineering / Artificial Intelligence or completed courses with a minimum of 240 credits, at least 60 of which must be in advanced courses in Software Engineering / Artificial Intelligence. Alternatively, you have gained essentially corresponding knowledge in another way.

We are looking for an enthusiastic person to join our research group. You should enjoy working as part of a leading international research group in software engineering and be willing to learn from your co‑workers and to share your knowledge and experience with them in return.

Independent thinking and scientific curiosity are essential personal qualities in a candidate. You will be expected to engage with colleagues and cooperate in supporting the activities of the research group. You must have excellent oral and written communication skills in English. Oral and written communication skills in Swedish are a merit. You must also demonstrate programming skills, and preferably, some expertise in working with advanced AI techniques.

Publications of international caliber in leading conferences and journals of software engineering are a merit. International recognition and proofs of research excellence are also meritorious.

The employment has a duration of normally four years’ full‑time equivalent. Extension of employment up to five years is based on the degree of teaching and institutional assignment. Further extensions may be granted in exceptional circumstances. You will initially be employed for one year, after which your employment will be renewed for a maximum of two years at a time, depending on your progress through the study plan.

The exact starting date for this position is by agreement, preferably, before September 1 st 2026.

The salary of PhD students is determined according to a locally negotiated salary progression.

More information about employment benefits at Linköping University is available here.

We welcome applicants with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives – diversity enriches our work and helps us grow. Preserving everybody’s equal value, rights and opportunities is a natural part of who we are. Read more about our work with:
Equal opportunities.

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