Associate Professor in Software Engineering for Intelligent Interactive Systems

At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 44,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

About the position

The Department of Computer Science at NTNU Gjøvik campus is looking for a candidate for an Associate Professor position in Software Engineering for Intelligent Interactive Systems. The position focuses on advancing research and education in the engineering of intelligent systems designed to perceive, reason, and interact with humans in natural, trustworthy, and socially meaningful ways.

The successful candidate will be affiliated with the Educational Technology Laboratory and will strengthen its research activities, including work on Social Robots, which will be the primary research home for this position. The lab investigates the design, development, and deployment of socially intelligent systems that interact with humans in natural, trustworthy, and beneficial ways. Its research spans responsible and trustworthy human–robot interaction, multimodal perception that combines natural language processing and computer vision, assistive technologies for active ageing and workplace well-being, and the conditions for responsible AI deployment in care and community settings. The new hire is expected to lead and grow the lab's social robotics research strand, contribute to its international collaboration network and strengthen the department's software engineering research profile in AI-enabled application development.

Your immediate leader is the head of the Intelligent Systems and Analytics unit.

Duties of the position

The candidate is expected to:

• Play a leading role in research and research-based education in software engineering, with a specialization within intelligent interactive systems. This includes securing highly competitive research funding, such as ERC and FRIPRO grants.
• Take part in the department's research strategy, including shaping the future the direction of intelligent interactive systems, with emphasis on responsible and trustworthy human–robot interaction, the integration of AI/ML components into socially deployed systems, transparency and accountability in AI-driven interactive behavior, and software engineering practice for real-world robotic applications.
• Contribute to the department's educational profile and an excellent learning environment in collaboration with colleagues, students and external stakeholders.
• Deliver high-quality teaching at undergraduate, graduate and PhD levels, primarily in software engineering, full-stack development, and programming.
• Supervise and mentor BSc students, MSc students, PhD candidates and postdoctoral fellows.
• Engage in applications for external funding, e.g. from the Research Council of Norway, European research and educational agencies, the industry sector and other available sources.
• Engage in interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation activities.
• Communicate relevant parts of their research through public outreach, industry engagement, and dissemination activities.
• Participate in the management of research, education and other relevant academic activities in agreement with the Head of Department.

Required qualification criteria

You must have the following qualifications required for the position of associate professor:

• The candidate must have a PhD in computer science, or a related field.
• The candidate must document a relevant research track record (e.g., peer-reviewed publications, active collaborations, and evidence of research independence) in software engineering with a focus on the design and construction of intelligent interactive systems.
• The candidate must demonstrate strong programming skills and experience.
• The candidate should demonstrate excellent teaching skills and the ability to teach and develop courses across bachelor and master programmes, and contribute, where needed, to foundational computer science courses (e.g., software engineering, full-stack development, programming).

The candidate must document relevant basic competence in teaching and supervision at a university/higher education-level, as referenced in the NTNUs guidelines for academic positions. If this cannot be documented, you will be required to complete an approved course in university pedagogy within two years of commencement. NTNU offers qualifying courses.

New employees who do not speak a Scandinavian language by appointment is required, within three years, to demonstrate skills in Norwegian or another Scandinavian language equivalent to level three of the course for Norwegian for speakers of other languages at the Department of Language and Literature at NTNU.

Preferred qualifications

• Research experience in the field of social robotics with responsible and trustworthy AI-human-robot interaction.
• Have experience in developing specialized platform applications, such as social robotic applications, using relevant frameworks and tools.
• Familiarity with software architecture patterns appropriate to intelligent interactive systems.
• Experience integrating AI or ML components into interactive systems for purposes such as multimodal perception, natural language processing and dialogue management, emotion or intent recognition, or behavior and decision-making.
• Familiarity with frameworks and ecosystems (e.g., Robot Operating System) relevant to intelligent interactive systems.
• Experience with more than one programming language relevant to the design and implementation of intelligent interactive systems.
• Experience in teaching software engineering, web development, or AI/ML courses.
• Experience in interdisciplinary collaboration with industry or public-sector partners.

Personal qualities

• Enthusiastic: Has the drive to take the extra step to include all students and maintain a good dialogue with them.
• Willing to learn: Will develop excellent competence over the duration of employment and will learn from experience and feedback from others.
• Team player: Will work excellently together with colleagues, students and external stakeholders.
• Communication: The successful candidate will be able to relay information with clarity and ease, both orally and in writing, and solve any challenges that may appear using transparency and honesty.
• Taking initiative: The successful candidate will seek out new opportunities at work, initiate activities and projects by working independently.

Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

• Exciting and challenging tasks in a strong international academic environment
• An open and inclusive work environment with dedicated colleagues
• Favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• Employee benefits

Application Process

You can find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.

Salary and conditions

As an Associate Professor (code 1011), you are normally paid from gross NOK 690.000 – 885.000 NOK per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. As required by law, 2% of this salary will be deducted and paid into the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU.

After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

For the necessary professional and social interaction, it is a prerequisite that you are physically present and available to the institution on a daily basis.

About the application

Your application and supporting documentation must be in English.

The attachments (including a description of your scientific work) must accompany the application as these documents form the basis of the application assessment. Publications and other scientific work must follow the application.

Please note: the application will only be assessed on the basis of the information we have received by the application deadline. Therefore, make sure that your application clearly shows how your skills and experience meet the criteria described above. The application and all attachments must be sent electronically via Jobbnorge.no. If you are invited to an interview, you must bring certified copies of certificates and diplomas upon request.

If, for any reason, you have taken a career break or have had an atypical career and wish to disclose this in your application, the selection committee will take this into account, recognizing that the quantity of your research may be reduced as a result.

Your application must include:

• Application letter containing the experience, competence and motivation for the position.
• CV, diplomas, and certificates
• A description of the scientific/academic works you consider most relevant, which you particularly wish to be factored into the assessment (up to 10 items)
• Research plan
• A teaching portfolio, in which your teaching competence is compiled and presented systematically, (See guidelines for applicants: Documentation of educational competence
• Link(s) to code repositories or other artefacts demonstrating programming experience
• Details of projects for which you have served as project manager, including information on financing, duration, and size
• Names and contact information for three relevant referees

It is important that you both document and reflect on your competence. You are encouraged to use the NTNUs competence matrix as a guide for documentation of your competence.

Joint work will also be considered. If it is difficult to identify your specific input to a joint project, you must include evidence of your contributions.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates. Our assessment of the pedagogical skills will be based on documented pedagogical material, forms of presentation in your academic works, teaching experience, PhD, and Masters supervision, and any other relevant pedagogical background. Both quality and scope will be taken into consideration, and an open scientific practice will be recognized.

NTNU is obliged by the evaluation criteria for research quality in accordance with The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment – DORA and the obligations in the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) on responsible assessment of research and recognition of a wider range of academic contributions to science and society. This means that we will pay particular attention to the quality and academic range demonstrated by your scientific work to date. We will also pay attention to research leadership and participation in research projects. Your scientific work from the last five years will be given the most weight.

Your application will be considered by an expert committee. Candidates of interest will be invited to an interview, and to deliver a trial teaching session.

General information

Diversity is a strength, and at NTNU we aim to be an employer that reflects the diversity in society and that makes use of the potential of the population's collective skills. Our vision is Knowledge for a better world and our values are creative, critical, constructive and respectful. We believe that an organization that is equal, diverse, and gender-balanced is essential for us to achieve our goals.

We strive to attract employees with different skills, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to even better problem solving of our societal mission in research and education.

If you think this position is relevant and interesting, we encourage you to apply, regardless of gender, functional ability, and cultural background, or whether you have been out of work for a period of time.

At NTNU we want to increase the proportion of women in scientific positions. We have a number of measures to promote equality.

The city of Gjøvik has a population of 30 000 and is a town known for its rich music and cultural life. The beautiful nature surrounding the city is ideal for an active outdoor life! The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world.

As an employee at NTNU, you must continually maintain and improve your professional development and be flexible regarding any organizational changes.

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation. You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

For the sake of transparency, candidates will be given expert evaluations of their own and other candidates. As an applicant you are considered part of the process and are stipulated by rules of confidentiality.

If you have any questions regarding the position, please contact Deepti Mishra, e-mail deepti.mishra@ntnu.no.

If you have questions regarding the recruitment process, please contact HR, e-mail hr@idi.ntnu.no

Application deadline: 27 October 2026.

NTNU - knowledge for a better world

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) creates knowledge for a better world and solutions that can change everyday life.

Department of Computer Science

We are the leading academic IT environment in Norway, and offer a wide range of theoretical and applied IT programmes of study at all levels. Our subject areas include hardware, algorithms, visual computing, AI, databases, software engineering, information systems, learning technology, HCI, CSCW, IT operations and applied data processing. The Department has groups in both Trondheim and Gjøvik. The Department of Computer Science is one of seven departments in the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering.