PhD Position “Foundation Models & Efficient LLM Training” – DS-NLP Lab @HSG (m/f/d)

100 % (limited from 01.11.2026)

Your tasks

• You will work on your doctoral thesis in the area of foundation model training and efficient learning methods
• You design and conduct research on training dynamics of large language models, including scaling behavior, optimization, and generalization
• You incorporate linguistic insights into the development and analysis of language models, with a particular focus on token weighting strategies and their effects on training dynamics
• You engage in teaching activities (approx. 2 SWS per semester), including tutorials, exercises, and supervision of Bachelor’s and Master’s theses and projects
• You support the chair in organizational and research-related tasks

Your profile

• You hold a master’s degree in computer science, machine learning, computational linguistics, or a related field
• Desirable: prior research experience or publications in NLP, ML, or related areas
• You have strong programming skills in Python
• Desirable: experience with PyTorch or TensorFlow/Keras
• You have experience or strong interest in:
• Training large language models (transformers)
• Efficient training techniques (e.g., LoRA, quantization, sparsity, distillation)
• Scaling laws, training dynamics, or evaluation of generative models
• Dataset construction and large-scale data processing
• Desirable:
• Background or interest in linguistics or computational linguistics, particularly in relation to tokenization and token weighting strategies
• You are able to work independently, structure your research, and manage your time effectively
• You are motivated to contribute to teaching and collaborative research

We offer
fully funded PhD position in a dynamic and fast-growing research area
Access to modern compute infrastructure
Support for publishing at top-tier conferences
A collaborative and international research environment
Full supervision and mentoring throughout your PhD journey

We are looking forward to your online-application stating the job ID

Fit and Healthy

Inspirational Work Environment

At the HSG, as Europe’s leading business university, we operate in an entrepreneurial environment where you will meet highly qualified, ambitious experts – both regionally and internationally. For example, you benefit from a modern IT infrastructure and, in our library via HSGswisscovery, from nationwide access to the wealth of scientific information available.

Executive Education

We support internal and external executive education opportunities. Our internal executive education programme offers you a practical, dedicated and didactically mature transfer of knowledge in the form of seminars, e-learning, coaching and collegial advice. We support task-specific external training and executive education financially as well as with regard to the time required.

Network

We promote our culture of cross-functional collaboration and create space for forging valuable relationships – also with external partners. Regular exchanges and internal events help to strengthen these relationships and make them long-lasting.

Family & Career

We provide our employees with flexible work time models with a variable number of hours per week. As a family-friendly employer, we offer part-time positions, 16 weeks of maternity leave and a subsidised crèche, as well as support with childcare during the vacations.

Equal Opportunities

The University enables equal opportunities for all employees and students. This applies to degree courses and work, as well as academic careers, university management positions and the reconciliation of studies, work and private commitments. We are committed to this with various measures in the areas of teaching, research, administration and the Presidency.

Fit and Healthy

We help you stay fit and healthy. In addition to our diverse range of sports activities at the university, most of which are free of charge, and campaign weeks for corporate health management, we also offer you fruit in the workplace. In our canteen you will find a wide selection of freshly prepared meals – from vegetarian to fish dishes – at discounted prices.

Further information on working at the HSG can be found here.

For job-related questions

Prof. Dr. Siegfried Handschuh
Full Professor for Data Science and Natural Language Processing

The next generation of language models will not come from scaling alone. We need a better understanding of how models learn, which information matters during training, and how linguistic insights can make learning more efficient.

Anja Boxleinter
Officemanager

A successful recruitment process thrives on transpar-ency and mutual respect. Submit your application – I look forward to getting to know you.

Your place of work

University of St.Gallen

«A place where knowledge is created» – As one of Europe’s leading universities of economics and business administration, the University of St.Gallen (HSG), Switzerland, is committed to the education of over 10’000 students. The HSG is one of the largest employers in the region and provides an attractive and innovative environment for more than 3’500 researchers, educators and professional staff.

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