Research Engineer, Data Privacy Scientist, CSSH Program, AI Factory (RE3)

Barcelona Supercomputing Center; Barcelona; Presencial; EUR 50.000 - 70.000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

A leading research institution in Barcelona is seeking a Research Engineer to join their Computational Social Science and Humanities Laboratory. The role focuses on designing and implementing data privacy protocols, supporting AI initiatives, and ensuring compliance with regulatory frameworks. Candidates should have an MSc in a relevant field and expertise in privacy-preserving technologies. This full-time position offers competitive salary, training opportunities, and flexible working hours.

Servicios

Flexible working hours

Restaurant tickets

Private health insurance

Paid vacation days

Formación

• Demonstrated expertise in privacy-preserving techniques.
• Hands-on experience implementing algorithms in Python or R.
• Knowledge of GDPR and data protection legislation.

Responsabilidades

• Design data privacy protocols and infrastructure for AI Factory.
• Implement FAIR principles through advanced data management.
• Provide technical support for privacy-preserving AI model validation.

Conocimientos

Differential privacy

Federated learning

Secure multi-party computation

Encryption

Python

R

Good communication skills

Fluency in English

Educación

MSc in Computer Science or related field

Descripción del empleo

Context And Mission

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) is seeking a Research Engineer to join our Computational Social Science and Humanities Laboratory as part of the AI Factory initiative. The AI Factory is a European project accelerating AI adoption across industry sectors, particularly supporting SMEs and startups while strengthening the European innovation ecosystem.

The AI Factory, which utilizes MareNostrum5's specialized AI partition, relies on the secure and efficient management, sharing, and analysis of diverse and often sensitive datasets, including public administration and health data. This role will contribute to designing and implementing the necessary data infrastructure for the AI Factory ecosystem. This includes developing components such as a Data Broker for managing data access in adherence to GDPR, ensuring secure storage, transmission, and monitoring of sensitive data.

While Trusted Research Environments (TREs) will manage secure access for highly sensitive data, such as in healthcare and genomics, this position will primarily focus on building the broader, interconnected data infrastructure that supports all AI Factory initiatives. A key responsibility will involve implementing data curation practices, data privacy strategies, and adhering to FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) to facilitate data management and dataset coordination for AI Factory users.

This position provides an opportunity to contribute to AI readiness strategies, combining technical skills with effective data stewardship, and bridging computational innovation with practical AI implementation across European public and private sectors.

This project is funded by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, in accordance with Council Regulation (EU) 2020 / 2094 of 14 December 2020, and regulated by Regulation (EU) 2021 / 241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021, in the context of the “BSC AI Factory” project.

The BSC AI Factory project has received funding from the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 101234399. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Programme and Spain, Portugal, and Türkiye.

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Key Duties

• Design and help implement comprehensive data privacy protocols and infrastructure components for the AI Factory initiative, including data anonymization frameworks, development of differential privacy algorithms, and a GDPR-compliant Data Broker to manage access to sensitive datasets (public administration, healthcare, genomics)
• Implement FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) through advanced data management protocols, including development of metadata standards, data cataloging systems, semantic annotation frameworks, and privacy-preserving data sharing mechanisms for European research collaboration
• Provide technical support for privacy-preserving AI / ML model validation and statistical analysis, including development of statistical disclosure control methods, privacy utility trade-off analysis for research data sharing, and validation frameworks that ensure sensitive data applications maintain privacy guarantees and regulatory compliance
• Develop privacy-preserving research tools and computational workflows that enable secure analysis of sensitive social science and humanities datasets while maintaining regulatory compliance, including creation of data transfer impact assessments and controlled access mechanisms
• Document comprehensive data management methodologies, privacy-preserving practices, and regulatory compliance frameworks for the AI Factory ecosystem, including creation of technical guidelines, policy frameworks, and training materials for researchers and European SMEs using sensitive data infrastructure

Education

• MSc in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, or related field with demonstrated specialization in privacy-preserving technologies, cryptography, or data protection

Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience

• Proven expertise in privacy-preserving techniques including differential privacy, federated learning, secure multi-party computation, encryption
• Hands‑on experience with Python or R for implementing privacy-preserving algorithms and statistical disclosure control methods
• Knowledge of regulatory frameworks including GDPR, EU AI Act, and data protection legislation, with practical implementation experience

Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience

• Experience with statistical disclosure control and privacy utility trade‑off analysis for sensitive data applications
• Experience implementing privacy‑by‑design principles in data infrastructure or research environments
• Practical knowledge of FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) in regulated environments

Competences

• Good fluency in both spoken and written English
• Good communication skills for effective collaboration.
• Ability to work both independently and within a team.
• Hard‑working and highly organized.

Conditions

• The position will be located at BSC within the Computational Social Science and Humanities Laboratory.
• We offer a full‑time contract a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state‑of‑the‑art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance
• Duration : 3 years
• Holidays : 23 paid vacation days plus 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement
• Salary : we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona
• Starting date : asap