Job Title: Pre-Doctoral Researcher
About the Role
This PhD position focuses on ensuring the responsible, safe, and secure deployment of AI systems with embedded large language models (LLMs), such as AI Agents. These systems are prone to privacy and security risks from malicious actors, including leakage of confidential information or injections for adversarial behavior.
The project involves systematically analyzing threat models, attack surfaces, and exploitation techniques (red-teaming) to identify critical risks in industrial contexts and develop effective defences (blue-teaming). This is crucial for building trustworthy AI systems.
Your Responsibilities
You will be working at the intersection of AI and Security as part of a new initiative between IBM Research Europe and Trinity College Dublin (TCD). As a pre-doctoral researcher, you will:
* Be registered at TCD and employed by IBM for the duration of the PhD
* Have access to resources and expertise at IBM Research and TCD
* Receive a substantial PhD salary (>40,000 euro per annum)
* Have TCD PhD program fees fully funded
Requirements
To be eligible, you must have:
* A degree in computer science, applied mathematics, engineering, or similar field
* Basics of Machine Learning and AI, including knowledge of ML fundamentals
* Programming skills in Python, version control, and ability to write complex code from scratch and extend existing code
* Excellent spoken and written English
Preferred Qualifications
Prior experience in GenAI approaches, advanced programming skills in Python, and data preprocessing using pandas are beneficial. Additionally, previously published academic papers can be an asset.
About IBM Research
IBM Research is the organic growth engine of IBM and an innovation engine for our customers and partners. We anticipate and examine 'What's Next in Computing' to create and integrate technologies that solve big challenges and unlock new opportunities.