Open Postdoctoral Researcher Position

The Cryptography and Privacy Engineering Group (ENCRYPTO) at the Department of Computer Science of the Technical University of Darmstadt is offering a position for a postdoctoral researcher (PostDoc) in Cryptography and Privacy Engineering for doing cutting-edge research in applied cryptography and in particular secure multi-party computation. The full position is to be filled as soon as possible and initially until up to January 31, 2025 with the potential of extension beyond that date.

What we do

The mission of the ENCRYPTO group is to demonstrate that privacy can be efficiently protected in real-world applications. For this, we bridge the gap between theory and practice by combining cryptographic protocols and algorithm engineering methods. Our focus is on the development of novel and optimized cryptographic protocols, tools, and open-source software prototypes that efficiently protect sensitive date in diverse applications. Please refer to https://encrypto.de/topics for further information.

The fully funded position is associated with the ERC Starting Grant “Privacy-preserving Services on the Internet” (PSOTI). In PSOTI (https://encrypto.de/PSOTII), we are building privacy-preserving services on the Internet. The focus of the PSOTI project is to develop protocols for privately processing data among untrusted service providers using secure multi-party computation. In this project, we are building privacy-preserving alternatives for common applications such as email, file sharing, and forms. Also, the rapidly growing topic of privacy-preserving machine learning is of general interest to the ENCRYPTO group.

What you do

As a postdoctoral researcher at ENCRYPTO, your primary responsibility is doing cutting-edge research in applied cryptography. For this, you will collaborate closely with the scientific staff at ENCRYPTO as well as our external collaborators from academia and industry. The goal are publications at top-tier security and cryptography conferences and journals. Additionally, your role encompasses project management and optionally guiding the design and implementation of prototypes. You can also engage in our teaching activities and supervise thesis students as well as student research assistants.

Why ENCRYPTO

We provide an open and international working environment for excellent research in a sociable team. TU Darmstadt is ranked as a top research university for IT security and cryptography in Europe and computer science in Germany. The position is based in the “City of Science” Darmstadt, which is very international and livable, and well-connected in the Rhine-Main area around Frankfurt. No German language skills are necessary, and TU Darmstadt offers a Welcome Center and language courses.

We work in a flexible hybrid working mode in presence in new offices and also mobile, depending on individual preferences and collaboration setups. TU Darmstadt offers a free job ticket for public transport (Landesticket Hessen) in the whole state of Hesse.

Your Profile

• You have completed a PhD degree (or equivalent) from a top university in IT security, computer science, applied mathematics, electrical engineering, or a similar field.
• Several publications at top venues (CORE Rank A*/A) for IT security / applied cryptography (such as S&P, CCS, NDSS, USENIX Security, EUROCRYPT), ideally on cryptographic protocols and secure computation, are required.
• Experience in supervising students and project management is needed.
• Experience in software development and programming is beneficial.

We require that you are self-motivated, creative and able to work in a team. We expect that you want to do excellent research on challenging scientific problems with practical relevance. As the working language of the ENCRYPTO group is English, you must be able to discuss, write, and present scientific results in English, whereas knowledge of the German language is not required for this position.

The fulfillment of the duties likewise enables the scientific qualifications of the candidate.

How to Apply

Your application must consist of a single PDF containing a letter of motivation that states why you are interested and qualify for this particular position, your current curriculum vitae and a list of publications with CORE rankings, certificates (PhD, M.Sc., B.Sc., and high-school diploma) with detailed transcripts of records and grades, and two letters of recommendation (or names who can write them).

Please send your complete application with subject “Application Postdoc: YOUR NAME” to application@encrypto.cs.tu-…. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Schneider.

Start date: As soon as possible.

Application deadline: None.

TU Darmstadt intends to increase the number of female employees and encourages female candidates to apply. In case of equal qualifications applicants with a degree of disability of at least 50% or equal will be given preference. Wages and salaries are according to the collective agreements on salary scales, which apply to the TU Darmstadt (100% E14 TV-TU Darmstadt).