PhD Student in AI research

Utah; Salt Lake City (UT); On-site; USD 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working hours

Professional career development opportunities

Access to strong computing resources

Competitive benefits package

Job summary

The University of Utah is seeking a Graduate Research Assistant (RA) for a PhD student role focused on AI research. You'll collaborate with faculty and developers to design and develop cutting-edge computational tools for major research projects.

This position offers a unique opportunity to work in a collaborative environment, gaining hands-on experience while contributing to high-impact interdisciplinary research.

Join us to explore the intersection of AI technology and scientific inquiry, enhancing AI-ready platforms for scholarly discovery.

Qualifications

• PhD Student supported on the Tuition Benefit Program.
• Solid background in computer science fundamentals.
• Experience with HTML and web technologies.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop computational tools.
• Assist in specifying software requirements.
• Develop user interfaces, APIs, and front-end technologies.

Skills

Computer science fundamentals

Algorithms

Data Structures

Object-oriented programming

HTML and web technologies

Server technology and databases

Containerization

Linux toolchains

Debugging skills

GitHub Actions

Education

PhD in Computer Science or related area

Tools

Docker

PostgreSQL

MongoDB

Elasticsearch

Flask

Django

Job description

Graduate Research Assist (RA)

PhD Student in AI research at the University of Utah.

Job Summary

We are seeking a highly talented PhD Student with experience and interest in state‑of‑the‑art AI technologies, data science, and research software engineering. This position offers the opportunity to work in a world‑renowned research institute alongside faculty, software engineers, PhD students, and PostDocs on the development of cutting‑edge AI‑ready/agentic infrastructure for data and model discovery.

Research Focus of This Position

• Design and develop systems that enable discovery and analysis of AI models used in scientific research publications.
• Identify and organize information about AI models mentioned or used in publications, model families, versions, checkpoints, architectures, tasks, scientific domains, and evidence of reuse, benchmarking, fine‑tuning, and comparison.
• Link papers, models, repositories, benchmarks, and supporting resources, and provide search, ranking, and visualization interfaces for model‑centric scholarly exploration.
• Work at the intersection of AI/NLP, scholarly knowledge extraction, software engineering, data infrastructure, and human‑centered discovery systems.

Opportunities for Professional Development

• Contribute to high‑impact interdisciplinary research.
• Publish and present work in relevant venues.
• Collaborate with experts in AI, data systems, and scientific computing.
• Gain hands‑on experience with production‑grade research software and infrastructure.
• Mentor students and junior developers.
• Shape the future of AI‑ready scholarly discovery platforms.

Work Environment

You will contribute to cutting‑edge computational methods for AI‑ready model discovery, research knowledge extraction, and scientific search systems.

We Offer

• Flexible working hours.
• Professional career development opportunities.
• Collaboration with a multidisciplinary and research‑driven team.
• Access to strong computing and research infrastructure.
• A competitive benefits package through the University of Utah.

Responsibilities

• Work with faculty, staff, and students to design and develop computational tools in support of research projects.
• Assist in specifying software requirements in coordination with faculty or team leads.
• Develop user interfaces, APIs, and front‑end technologies such as HTML5, SCSS, Vue, React, Typescript, D3.js, node.js, chart.js.
• Develop backend server components with Flask, Django, CKAN, ArangoDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, and Elasticsearch.
• Create and maintain build, testing, and deployment systems with Git, GitHub, Slack, Docker, AWS, CircleCI, Webpack, npm, and related tools.
• Write high‑quality, well‑documented code.
• Build CI/CD workflows to validate changes across multiple targets.
• Profile and optimize performance for data throughput and latency.
• Interface with collaboration partners and participate actively in a collaborative work environment to turn requirements into optimal solutions on a large scale.
• Contribute actively to team discussions on architectural design and solutions by continuously looking for improvements.
• Research and stay current with project‑related scientific literature.
• Identify and implement creative solutions to overcome problems.
• Mentor postdocs, students, and junior software developers for best software practices.
• Support the end‑user community by responding to user questions, fixing bugs, and incorporating feature requests.
• Help with the project website and discussion boards for user support, developer support, and announcements.
• Contribute to teaching activities by preparing and presenting educational seminars.

Minimum Qualifications

Current University of Utah graduate student supported on the Tuition Benefit Program.

Preferences

• Solid background and working knowledge of computer science fundamentals including algorithms, data structures, and object‑oriented programming.
• Experience with HTML and web technologies.
• Good knowledge of server technology and databases.
• Experience working with large codebases.
• Containerization (Docker) and building software for web deployment.
• Strong understanding of Linux toolchains and debugging tools.
• Debugging and critical‑thinking skills, including identifying bottlenecks, bugs, and devising solutions.
• Experience with GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or similar CI/CD systems.
• PhD in Computer Science, Scientific Computing, Data Science, Informatics, AI/ML, or a closely related area, or equivalent research experience.
• Experience contributing to scientific computing frameworks.
• Knowledge of RDMA, libfabric, or similar low‑level communication APIs.
• Experience with MCP and NLP integration.
• UI/UX design.
• Scientific visualization.
• Cybersecurity and AAI (OAuth2, Keycloak, etc.).
• Cloud deployment and Kubernetes.

Type

Benefited Staff.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The University of Utah values candidates with experience working in settings with students and is committed to improving access to higher education.

Veterans’ preference is extended to qualified applicants, upon request, consistent with University policy and Utah state law. Reasonable accommodations will be provided to individuals with disabilities upon request.

Consistent with state and federal law, the University of Utah does not discriminate based upon race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy‑related conditions, genetic information, or protected veteran’s status. The University does not discriminate on the basis of sex in the education program or activity that it operates, as required by Title IX and 34 CFR Part 106. The requirement not to discriminate in education programs or activities extends to admission and employment. Inquiries about the application of Title IX and its regulations may be referred to the Title IX Coordinator, the Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, or both.

To request a reasonable accommodation for a disability or if you or someone you know has experienced discrimination or sexual misconduct, including sexual harassment, you may contact the Director/Title IX Coordinator in the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX (OEO). For more information, please visit the University of Utah Non‑Discrimination page. Online reports may be submitted at the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX (OEo) at https://oeo.utah.edu.