Institute faculty and staff
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Postdoc positions at ELLIS Institute Finland
The call will open in early January. The call page is still being finalized.
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ELLIS Institute Finland is a newly established world-class research hub in AI and machine learning – and we are growing!
We are now seeking postdoctoral researchers to join ELLIS Institute Finland and its wider research community. We welcome applications across all areas of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and related fields. Your research can be theoretical, applied, or span both.
What we offer
We offer independent postdoctoral researcher positions within the groups of experienced supervisors, with opportunities to work on ambitious, high-impact projects.
Research environment
You will join a cooperative and multidisciplinary environment for AI research:
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Cutting-edge computational resources, including EuroHPC LUMI, one of the world’s fastest and greenest supercomputers, and an upcoming pan-European AI-optimized supercomputer (available by 2027)
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Close collaborations with other top machine learning researchers in Europe and globally
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Broad range of possibilities to work with companies and startups, fostering innovation and real-world applications of AI
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An inclusive and international workplace, with English as the working language
We are strongly committed to offering everyone an inclusive and non-discriminating working environment and warmly welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds to join our academic community.
Job details
Key information about the positions:
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The positions will be located at one of the Finnish universities partnering with ELLIS Institute Finland. The specific university depends on the primary supervisor’s affiliation.
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All positions are fully funded and the salaries are based on the Finnish universities’ pay scale.
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Positions are typically offered for up to three years. Starting dates are flexible.
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All positions are negotiated on an individual basis.
Who we are
ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems) is a major European initiative in AI with a mission to strengthen Europe’s AI landscape by connecting top researchers, attracting talent, and fostering strategic collaborations. ELLIS unites leading machine learning researchers in Europe and operates as a multi-centric, pan-European AI Lab, currently spanning 44 research sites.
ELLIS Institute Finland was launched in 2025, and it is the second institute in the ELLIS network, partnering with Finnish universities. The Institute aims to make machine learning more readily and widely applicable, and better at working with people – a focus we call the fundamentals of applied AI. This is a key part of fundamental machine learning research, where the Institute builds on the strengths of its faculty, including data-efficient probabilistic machine learning, generative modelling, amortized inference, interactive and cooperative machine learning, and transformative multidisciplinary collaboration.
Supervisors in this call
Wider ELLIS community in Finland
Meet the wider ELLIS community in Finland
Why Finland
Finland consistently ranks among the top countries in education, equality, safety, and quality of life. It is one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world, with a strong emphasis on design, creativity, and startup culture. Finland also leads Europe in venture capital investments relative to GDP. Whether alone or with family, Finland offers an excellent quality of life. It is a safe, politically stable, and well-organized Nordic society where equality is highly valued, and corruption is low. The country provides extensive social security and a globally recognized free, high-quality education system.
Finnish work culture values a low level of hierarchy, fostering collaboration and innovation. Finland has also been repeatedly ranked as the happiest country in the world, according to the World Happiness Report. For more information about living in Finland: www.infofinland.fi/en/frontpage and finland.fi.
Requirements
Key requirements for the positions:
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You hold (or expect to shortly receive) a PhD in computer science, statistics, electrical engineering, mathematics or a related field.
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You have previous experience in machine learning, statistics, artificial intelligence or a related field, preferably demonstrated by publication record in a top-tier venue in machine learning-driven fields*. Other merits demonstrating suitability for a researcher position can also be considered.
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The positions require the ability to work both independently and as part of a team in a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary environment.
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Excellent command of written and spoken English is required.
*) NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, JMLR, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, IJCV, PAMI, RSS, CoRL, TRO, IJRR, Science Robotics, ACL, EMNLP, KDD, AAAI, IJCAI, COLT, UAI, AAMAS, AISTATS, TACL, SIGIR, WSDM, ACM Multimedia, SIGGRAPH, KDD, ACM FAccT, Web Conference
How to apply
The call will open in early January and close in early February 2026. A link to an online application portal will be added once the call opens.
Required documents (in English and in PDF format):
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Cover letter (1–2 pages)
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CV
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List of publications, highlighting up to five key papers with links
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Transcript of doctoral and earlier studies
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Degree certificate of your latest degree – if you don’t yet have a PhD degree, a plan of completion must be submitted
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Contact details of 2–3 senior academics who can provide references
Further information
See the FAQs below.
For inquiries, please email contact@ellisinstitute.fi.
FAQ
ELLIS Institute Finland operates in partnership with Finnish universities (Aalto University, Hanken School of Economics, LUT University, National Defence University, Tampere University, The University of the Arts Helsinki, University of Eastern Finland, University of Helsinki, University of Jyväskylä, University of Lapland, University of Oulu, University of Turku, University of Vaasa, and Åbo Akademi University) and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
The postdoc positions are based at different universities partnering with the Institute, depending on the primary supervisor.
Possible supervisors can be found here (ELLIS Institute faculty) and here (wider ELLIS community in Finland).
Matching the candidates with the suitable supervisors will be done during the review process. In the application form, you may specify which supervisors you are interested working with or leave this open, in which case we will assist in finding suitable matches during the selection process.
All the positions are fully funded and the salary is based on the Finnish universities’ pay scale. The starting salary depends on the level of the position and the previous experience and is typically increased as the experience grows. All employees have access to the occupational health care services and are covered by the Finnish national health insurance system.
The starting date can be negotiated and depends on what suits you and the supervising professor the best. Generally, we hope you can start as early as possible.
Postdoc contracts are normally made for up to three years, depending on what best fits the postdoc and the topic they are working on.
Please submit a carefully written, max. 2-page motivation letter in which you explain:
- What you are interested in doing in the Institute and how your past experience and current interests align with this.
- Which topics you are interested in working with and, if possible, specific supervisors you would like to work with.
- If you have more specific plans for the future direction of your research.
Typically, we expect at least one of the referees to be at the level of independent investigator, principal scientist, group leader, lecturer or professor. Postdoctoral referees can be considered as well. Classmates or PhD students are not accepted as referees.
We will contact only the referees of shortlisted candidates.
We will hire several candidates from this call. The exact number of positions depends on the number of suitable candidates and on how well the research interests of the candidates and the supervising professors match.
Candidates are assessed based on their academic merits (e.g. publications, study records, teaching), and other relevant experience, e.g. working in/with industry or software development. During the process candidates are also matched with the supervisor they would work with.
The review process is as follows (minor changes to the schedule are possible):
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Review against eligibility criteria - early to mid-February
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Review by supervising professors and interviews of the shortlisted candidates - mid-February to early March
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The review process will be finalized in mid-/late March and the offers sent after that
Yes, it is possible to apply if you are close to obtaining your PhD degree. Please include a plan of completion in your application.
Yes, you can apply to work with multiple supervisors in this call with a single application. In the application form, you may specify which supervisors you are interested working with or leave this open, in which case we will assist in finding suitable matches during the selection process. You will also be asked to describe your research interests using a few keywords.
You may receive multiple job offers through this call. You are completely free to choose which offer you want to accept. We will coordinate the timelines of any offers to ensure you have sufficient time to make your decision.