PhD Position Code Review Efficiency at the Future of Software Engineering (FUSE) lab

Delft University of Technology; Delft; On-site; EUR 60.000 - 80.000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technological institution in the Netherlands seeks a PhD candidate to join a collaborative research project with Meta. The role focuses on leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance software engineering practices. Candidates should possess a Master’s degree in a relevant field and demonstrate strong research capabilities. Salary ranges between €3059 - €3881 gross monthly with additional benefits, in a dynamic research environment.

Benefits

Customizable compensation package

Discounts on health insurance

Monthly work costs contribution

Flexible work schedules

Qualifications

• Proficiency in the English language.
• Ability to create experimental prototypes and demonstrators.

Responsibilities

• Join a research lab investigating AI's impact on software engineering.
• Develop tools for enhancing the productivity of software engineers.
• Conduct rigorous research applying findings into practice.

Skills

Research focus

Data fluency

Critical thinking

Engineering mindset

Team player

Good listener

Education

Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or related field

Job description

Want to rethink the future of software engineering at scale? Join researchers from TU Delft and Meta Platforms as a PhD student in the newly established FUSE Lab!

Job description

As generative artificial intelligence is transforming the daily work of software engineers, TU Delft and the Meta Dev Infra team join forces in a research lab to investigate how we can leverage AI to advance the daily experience and productivity of software engineers at the scale of Meta's tens of thousands of software engineers.

Across several tracks, we will develop tools that rethink the future of software engineering. Our work will be informed by sound theories and supported by empirical data. In this project, we will use AI as an opportunity and address the challenges that emerge due to AI. Our goal is to conduct rigorous research, apply our results in practice at Meta, and to educate the students of TU Delft about the new insights we gather. We will focus on open science, sharing our results to help developers across the world.

Code Review Efficacy

The reviewing track will explore ways to make code reviewing more effective and efficient. A major element is how LLM tools relate to reviewing, either when code is produced by them (in which case a human must review plausible-looking but possibly incorrect code), or when they can assist the reviewing of code created by humans. Other related research involves making reviews more closely tied with the project's history and the semantics of the reviewed code.

If you do not meet some of the optional requirements listed, we encourage you to still apply and explain how your unique experience and skills can contribute to our research.

Job requirements

Required (by the Graduate School of TU Delft):

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field.
• Proficiency in the English language.

Additional requirements:

• Research focus, characterized by curiosity, data fluency, and critical thinking.
• Engineering mindset, including ability to create experimental prototypes and demonstrators.
• Team player, good listener, and ready to help.

Conditions of employment

Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1.5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months. Followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2.5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from €3059 - €3881 gross per month, from the first year to the fourth year based on a fulltime contract (38 hours), plus 8% holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.

As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline‑related and research skills.

The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

The PhD positions will be fully at TU Delft, with strong collaboration with Meta.