Job Description

:

Grade 6, salary range: \xc2\xa331,396 - \xc2\xa336,024

College of Science and Engineering, School of Informatics

Full time, 35 hours per week (part time would be considered)

1 year (funding ends on 31/03/2026)

1 post available

The School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh is inviting applications for several Research Assistant positions to join our recently established Quantum Software Lab in collaboration with the National Quantum Computing Center (NQCC) ( ).

The Opportunity:

The aim is to expand the research activity of our team, which has a strong tradition of high-quality research in quantum informatics within the University of Edinburgh. The Quantum Software Lab currently consists of approximately 40 members, including eight permanent staff, led by Prof. Elham Kashefi, Personal Chair in Quantum Computing, who is also working as the Chief Scientist of the National Quantum Computing Centre.

We strongly encourage applications from female researchers, minority ethnic groups, first generation academics/STEM and other underrepresented groups in academia. We also are very open to applications from those with non-traditional career paths, including those with family, caring or health career breaks, or those who have moved to academia from a career in another sector.

The successful candidates will work on the Quantum Advantage Pathfinder (QAP) programme. QAP is the core research program in the Quantum Software Laboratory (QSL) and consists of a replicable and scalable framework for conducting use case driven investigations into practical quantum advantage. The Research Assistant will collaborate with government, industry, and academia to develop full-stack solutions that meet the needs of our economy and society.

Working alongside our world-class team of researchers, the Research Assistant will ensure the success of this ambitious product cycle programme by combining multi-disciplinary expertise across cyber security, quantum algorithms, Quantum machine learning, verification, error mitigation, benchmarking, quantum simulation and more.

Knowledge, skills and experience

Essential:

• Degree in appropriate field (Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics, or any other relevant field )

The following criteria are not yes/no factors, but questions of degree. Recruitment will aim at selecting those candidates with the best possible performance in all these criteria.

• Experience of research in quantum computing, quantum chemistry, computer systems, machine learning, or cryptography
• Proven expertise in the techniques needed to undertake the research in question
• Demonstrated quality of research performance
• Ability to work both independently under appropriate supervision and as part of a team.
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly, orally and in writing.

For enquiries, please contact Prof. Elham Kashefi (ekashefi@ed.ac.uk)

Click for a copy of the full job description.

Only interviewed candidates will be offered feedback.

As a valued member of our team you can expect:

An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work. We give you support, nurture your talent and reward success. You will benefit from a competitive reward package and a wide range of staff benefits, which includes a generous holiday entitlement, a defined benefits , staff discounts, , flexible working and much more. Access our for further information and use our to find out the total value of pay and benefits provided.

The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.

If invited for interview you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our webpages.

The University may be able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. This will depend on a number of factors specific to the successful applicant.

Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.

About Us: As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow\'s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.

About the Team:

Informatics is the study of how natural and artificial systems store, process and communicate information. Research in Informatics promises to take information technology to a new level, and to place information at the heart of 21st century science, technology and society. The School enjoys collaborations across many disciplines in the University, spanning all three College, and also participates as a strategic partner in the Alan Turing Institute and, with Heriot-Watt University, in the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics.

The School provides a fertile environment for a wide range of studies focused on understanding computation in both artificial and natural systems. It attracts students around the world to study in our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and currently has approximately 1000 undergraduate students, 320 MSc students and 350 PhD students. Informatics is one of seven schools in the College of Science and Engineering, at the University of Edinburgh. It is recognised for the employability of its graduates (demand exceeds supply), its contributions to entrepreneurship, and the excellence of its research. Since the first Research Assessment Exercise in 1986, Informatics at Edinburgh has consistently been assessed to have more internationally excellent and world-class research than any other submission in Computer Science and Informatics. The latest REF 2014 results have again confirmed that ours is the largest concentration of internationally excellent research in the UK. This contributes to our ranking in the top 15 CS departments world-wide according to the latest Times Higher Education ranking.

We aim to ensure that our culture and systems support flexible and family-friendly working and recognise and value diversity across all our staff and students. The School has an active programme offering support and professional development for all staff; providing mentoring, training, and networking opportunities.

University of Edinburgh