The department Knowledge Technologies for Social Sciences (KTS) conducts research at the intersection of information retrieval, natural language processing (NLP), human information interaction and machine learning as foundation for innovative web portals and platforms for the search and use of research data. GESIS is currently conducting a major effort to explore big data in combination with artificial intelligence-based methods to generate new insights and infrastructures for the social sciences. Examples include techniques for opinion mining, stance detection, or classification of online behavior and interactions as observed in social web platforms and other data-intensive environments. In this context, we offer an exciting opportunity to conduct excellent research and develop innovative methods and infrastructures for mining and understanding heterogeneous Web data using techniques from NLP and deep learning. Special emphasis will be placed on transparency, fairness, and reproducibility of the methods used.

Your tasks will be:

• Research in natural language processing (NLP) and information extraction (IE), e.g. on tasks such as text mining, sentiment analysis, named entity recognition, and text summarization to extract meaningful insights from unstructured text data
• Working and collaborating with an interdisciplinary team of computer scientists and social science researchers to create innovative infrastructures for access and analysis of digital behavioral data, such as data mined from the social web or mobile apps
• Developing efficient methods and APIs for analyzing, accessing and processing large volumes of digital behavioral data, with a focus on reliability, reproducibility, and efficiency
• Publishing and presenting your research within and outside of GESIS and at top-tier research venues
• Co-supervision of team members and PhD students

Your profile:

• Doctoral/Ph.D. degree in computer science or related fields and (internationally) visible publications in one or more of the following areas: information extraction, NLP, machine learning, information retrieval, big data, web mining and archiving
• Experience in software development for NLP, ML, and scalable analytics (Python, Java, or Scala)
• Preferably worked with big data frameworks (e.g., Spark, Hadoop)
• Desirable: experience in coordinating scientific projects and research teams
• Ability to communicate fluently in English

What we offer

• A fast-growing, international, and interdisciplinary research environment with strong ties to regional and international labs and experts in related fields
• Access to unique corpora of Web-mined data, user interaction logs, and computational infrastructure for collecting and processing behavioral data
• Flexible working hours and the possibility of up to 60% mobile working within Germany
• Very good conditions for reconciling work and family life, e.g. subsidies for childcare for children who have not yet attained the age of compulsory schooling
• Holistic company health management and discounted participation in the university’s sports programme
• Generous support for your pension provision as a direct insurance policy
• Promotion of your skills through further training measures

Please apply via email @ hajira.jabeen@gesis.org before 15th November.