Research Engineer F/M Differential Privacy and Fairness-Aware AI

Inria, the French national research institute for the digital sciences; France; Sur place; EUR 60 000 - 80 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

A leading research institution in France seeks an experienced Research Engineer to contribute to the AI-PULSE project, focusing on aligning privacy, utility, and fairness in AI. The successful candidate will design and analyze machine learning algorithms and collaborate with national and international partners. Strong Python skills, a Master's degree in a relevant field, and proficiency in English are required. This role offers a full-time temporary contract with competitive compensation and ample opportunities for professional development.

Prestations

Partial reimbursement of public transport costs

7 weeks annual leave plus 10 extra days off

Possibility of teleworking (90 days/year)

Access to vocational training

Complementary health insurance under conditions

Qualifications

• Strong Python development skills and experience with open-source projects.
• Proficiency in English and basic knowledge of French.
• Strong analytical, communication, and collaboration skills.

Responsabilités

• Design and analyze new locally private and fairness-aware ML algorithms.
• Collaborate with Privatics members and contribute to research visits to international partners.
• Prototype methods and contribute to open-source code repositories.
• Publish and present results at top-tier international conferences.

Connaissances

Python development skills

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Collaboration skills

Formation

M.Sc. in Computer Science, Statistics, or related fields

Description du poste

Inria, the French national research institute for the digital sciences

Organisation/Company Inria, the French national research institute for the digital sciences Research Field Computer science Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Established Researcher (R3) Application Deadline 8 Feb 2026 - 00:00 (UTC) Country France Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 38.5 Offer Starting Date 1 May 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Reference Number 2026-09710 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Context.This research engineer position is part of the ANR JCJC projectAI-PULSE (Aligning Privacy, Utility, and Fairness for Responsible AI), led byHéber H. Arcolezi within the Privatics team at Inria Grenoble.
AI-PULSE addresses a key open question in responsible AI: can we design practical machine learning systems that satisfy strong privacy guarantees [1] and fairness [2] constraints simultaneously, without sacrificing utility?

The research engineer will play a central role in the project’s core engineering tasks. The work will build on preliminary findings that local differential privacy (LDP) can help decrease biases [3, 4] instead of always worsening them, a challenging conventional assumption in the field [5].
The position will be embedded in a network of national and international collaborations, especially with ÉTS Montréal and UQAM, and includes opportunities for short- and medium-term research visits, collaborative development, and joint publications.

We are looking for a candidate who can bring new expertise to the team and/or help strengthen collaborations within the project consortium. The postdoc will work closely with project members to deliver high-impact theoretical and practical contributions to responsible AI.

Starting Date.Flexible start in early 2026.

Selected references.

• [1] Dwork, Cynthia, and Aaron Roth. "The algorithmic foundations of differential privacy." Foundations and Trends® in Theoretical Computer Science 9.3–4 (2014): 211-407.
• [2] Barocas, Solon, Moritz Hardt, and Arvind Narayanan. Fairness and machine learning: Limitations and opportunities. MIT press, 2023.
• [3] Makhlouf, Karima, et al. "A systematic and formal study of the impact of local differential privacy on fairness: Preliminary results." 2024 IEEE 37th computer security foundations symposium (CSF). IEEE, 2024.
• [4] Makhlouf, Karima, et al. "On the impact of multi-dimensional local differential privacy on fairness." Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery 38.4 (2024): 2252-2275.
• [5] Bagdasaryan, Eugene, Omid Poursaeed, and Vitaly Shmatikov. "Differential privacy has disparate impact on model accuracy." NeurIPS 2019

Assignment.The recruited research engineer will collaborate with the project team to:

• Develop and rigorously evaluate new methodological frameworks that combine differential privacy and fairness-aware learning for real-world ML applications.
• Explore decentralized learning scenarios, including federated learning, to address privacy and fairness simultaneously when data must remain local.
• Translate research outputs into open-source building blocks, contributing to a broader DP-Fairness Toolkit for the research and practitioner community.

Research Topics.Possible directions include (but are not limited to):

• Design of new locally private mechanisms for high-dimensional or structured data that account for fairness constraints.
• Development of scalable prototypes and benchmarks for practical deployment in privacy-sensitive settings.

These outcomes will directly support the milestones of AI-PULSE and contribute broadly to the responsible AI research landscape.

Main activities.

• Design and analyze new locally private and fairness-aware ML algorithms.
• Collaborate with Privatics members, and contribute to research visits to international partners.
• Prototype methods and contribute to open-source code repositories.
• Publish and present results at top-tier international conferences.

Profile.We are looking for a candidate with:

• M.Scin Computer Science, Statistics, or related fields.
• Strong Python development skills; experience with open-source projects is valued.
• Strong analytical, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Proficiency in English.

Languages FRENCH Level Basic

Languages ENGLISH Level Good

Additional Information

• Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
• Leave: 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 extra days off due to RTT (statutory reduction in working hours) + possibility of exceptional leave (sick children, moving home, etc.)
• Possibility of teleworking (90 days / year) and flexible organization of working hours
• Professional equipment available (videoconferencing, loan of computer equipment, etc.)
• Social, cultural and sports events and activities
• Access to vocational training
• Complementary health insuranceunder conditions

From 2,692 € (depending on experience and qualifications).

Selection process

Applications must be submitted online on the Inria website.

Processing of applications sent by other channels is not guaranteed.