Research Assistant

UE06: £34,610 - £39,906 per annum

College of Science and Engineering / School of Informatics 

Full-time: 35 hours per week 

Fixed-term: 6 months 

The University of Edinburgh is one of the world’s leading research universities, and the School of Informatics is one of the largest and most highly regarded centres for computer science and artificial intelligence research in Europe. 

The Opportunity: 

The University of Edinburgh has been awarded a generous donation from Amazon to conduct a study on the trustworthiness of AI/ML tools used in hiring and recruitment. The research will investigate the fairness and adversarial robustness of machine learning systems deployed in the recruitment space, such as automated resume screening, candidate assessment, and the detection of fraudulent, machine-generated applications. 

We are seeking a motivated Research Assistant (RA) with expertise in cyber security and privacy in applied research. Strong software engineering skills and good knowledge of ML/AI software development stacks are essential. The RA’s work will mostly consist of implementing experiments designed in collaboration with, and under the direct supervision of Dr Marc Juarez and a PhD student in the School. 

Your responsibilities will include: 

• Implementing, running, and documenting experiments that evaluate the fairness and adversarial robustness of AI/ML hiring tools, including LLM-based systems. 
• Developing and maintaining reproducible research software, experimental pipelines, and evaluation benchmarks. 
• Collecting and responsibly managing datasets used in the experiments (e.g., resume and career-trajectory data, including synthetic data). 
• Contributing to the analysis and write-up of results for publication at leading venues in security, privacy, and machine learning. 

Your skills and attributes for success: 

• A degree (BSc/MSc) in computer science, artificial intelligence, cyber security, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience. 
• Strong software engineering skills, particularly in Python, and good knowledge of ML/AI development stacks (e.g., PyTorch, Hugging Face). 
• Familiarity with applied research in cyber security and privacy. 
• Ability to design, implement, and clearly document rigorous, reproducible experiments. 
• Desirable: experience with large language models, adversarial machine learning, or algorithmic fairness; experience handling sensitive data responsibly. 

View the full job description (opens in a new browser tab)  

How to apply 

Please include the following documents in your application: 

- CV 

- Cover letter 

As a valued member of our team, you can expect:  

• A competitive salary.  
• An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work.  
• To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community. 
• Comprehensive Staff Benefits, including generous annual leave entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, a wide range of staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, and flexible work options. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page (opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the value of your pay and benefits.  

Championing equality, diversity, and inclusion 

The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter, and we are also a Stonewall Proud Employer, actively promoting LGBTQ+ equality.  

Prior to any employment commencing with the University, you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages (opens new browser tab) 

 
On this occasion the University will not consider applicants requiring sponsorship for this role. International workers will therefore only be able to take up this role if they can demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK. 

Key dates to note 

 
The closing date for applications is 14 September 2026.

Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm UK time. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.  
 

Informatics is the study of how natural and artificial systems store, process and communicate information. Research in Informatics promises to take information technology to a new level, and to place information at the heart of 21st century science, technology and society.  The School enjoys collaborations across many disciplines in the University, spanning all three College, and also participates as a strategic partner in the Alan Turing Institute and is home to a number of Centres for Doctoral Training.

The School provides a fertile environment for a wide range of studies focused on understanding computation in both artificial and natural systems. It attracts students around the world to study in our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Informatics is one of seven schools in the College of Science and Engineering, at the University of Edinburgh. It is recognised for the employability of its graduates, its contributions to entrepreneurship, and the excellence of its research. Since the first Research Assessment Exercise in 1986, Informatics at Edinburgh has consistently been assessed to have more internationally excellent and world-class research than any other submission in Computer Science and Informatics. The latest REF 2021 results have again confirmed that ours is the largest concentration of internationally excellent research in the UK. This contributes to our ranking of consistently being in the top 30 world-wide.

We aim to ensure that our culture and systems support flexible and family-friendly working and recognise and value diversity across all our staff and students. The School has an active programme offering support and professional development for all staff; providing mentoring, training, and networking opportunities.