Call for Founding Heads of R&D Laboratories

APPLICATION DEADLINE

15th December 2026, 11:59 PM CET

TURIN, ITALY

Hybrid arrangements may be negotiated.

Lead the next generation of artificial intelligence research for industrial innovation.

The Italian Institute of Artificial Intelligence (AI4I) invites applications from outstanding, entrepreneurial and ambitious researchers to establish and lead new R&D Laboratories at the intersection of frontier artificial intelligence and industrial transformation. Founding Heads will define the scientific identity of their Laboratories, build internationally competitive teams, create reusable AI assets, and translate research excellence into industrial, technological and societal impact.

AI4I is seeking outstanding AI researchers and scientific leaders capable of making major, original contributions to frontier artificial intelligence and its industrial application. Candidates are invited to propose a distinctive R&D Laboratory, define its scientific identity and set out a credible four-year path from research excellence to reusable technological assets, industrial validation and impact.

About AI4I's R&D Laboratories

R&D Laboratories are the cornerstone of the Institute's scientific and technological architecture. Each Laboratory may focus on foundational AI methods, enabling platforms or application-driven domains and is expected to grow beyond its initial endowment by attracting competitive research funding, industrial collaborations and technology-transfer opportunities.

AI4I Laboratories operate at the convergence of frontier research and real-world validation, primarily across TRL 2–6. They are expected to produce internationally visible science while creating reusable software, models, datasets, benchmarks, prototypes, IP and industrial demonstrators. Collaboration and cross-fertilization across Laboratories are strongly encouraged.

Labs are at the centre of an articulated organization:

• Collaboration: Collaboration and cross-fertilization between labs are strongly encouraged.
• HPC & AI Supercomputing Resources: An extensive GPU-based accelerated computing facility and high-performance data infrastructure is available to support lab activities.
• Engineering Support: A dedicated Engineering unit provides on-demand, specialized support in high-performance computing (HPC), software engineering, data engineering, and more.
• The Institute for Advanced Study: The FCSP Institute of Advanced Study, as an integral part of AI4I organization, provides continuous contact with and exposure to cutting-edge AI research at the world's leading academic and industrial organizations, enriching and supporting advanced research activities.
• Academic Collaborations: A broad network of collaborations with leading research institutions and universities, through joint research programs, international grants, and doctoral grants, provides opportunities to broaden and deepen the scope of research.
• Entrepreneurship: A "spin-off friendly" policy and a network of agreements with VC funds, accelerators, etc., encourage entrepreneurship among AI4I researchers. This is further facilitated by our physical proximity to key players in the deep-tech startup ecosystem.
• Business Development: A dedicated business development unit ensures continuous exposure to numerous industrial partners, expanding opportunities for research and development. It also supports securing additional funding opportunities such as European and national grants.

What We Are Looking For

AI4I is looking for leading AI researchers with the ambition and scientific depth to make major contributions to frontier artificial intelligence and its industrial application. The call is open to distinctive proposals across the full spectrum of foundational methods, enabling technologies and application-driven domains, and candidates are invited to define the scientific direction they consider most original and consequential.

Within this broad and open scope, AI4I has identified several areas of particular interest, reflecting current strategic opportunities for the Institute and its industrial ecosystem. The areas listed below are intended to highlight these opportunities rather than delimit the call: proposals outside them, spanning multiple areas or introducing entirely new research directions are equally encouraged, provided they are grounded in a compelling scientific vision and a credible path to industrial impact.

The areas of particular interest are:

• AI for Operations, Optimization and Industrial Decision Systems: AI, optimization and control for forecasting, planning, scheduling and decision-making under uncertainty in production, logistics, supply chains, transport and energy.
• Domain Foundation Models, Multimodal Industrial AI and AI Resources: Multimodal learning, knowledge representation and structured reasoning for the adaptation and verticalization of foundation models and reusable AI resources in industrial domains.
• Agentic AI for Cyber-Physical Systems AI agents that autonomously design, evaluate and improve policies and algorithms through closed-loop interaction with simulators, digital twins and real-world systems, under physical, safety and operational constraints.
• Efficient Embodied AI: Efficient and deployable AI across the HPC-to-edge continuum, including compression, co-design, distributed learning, Edge AI, TinyML and embodied models.
• AI for Materials Discovery, Automated Experimentation and Circularity: AI-driven discovery and optimization of materials, chemicals and manufacturing recipes through active learning, scientific agents and self-driving laboratories.
• Digital Twins, Synthetic Data and Scientific–Industrial Simulation: Reusable AI methods for digital twins and simulation, including surrogate modelling, uncertainty quantification, synthetic data, virtual commissioning and sim-to-real transfer.
• Cognitive Security Technologies: AI for protecting industrial, software and cyber-physical systems through vulnerability discovery, threat detection, response automation and human-in-the-loop security operations.
• Collective Intelligence and Collaborative Multi-Agent Systems: Open collectives of AI agents, humans, robots and digital infrastructures, with a focus on coordination, decentralized learning, interoperability and transparent governance.
• Human-Centered AI for Adaptive Human–Machine Collaboration: AI for human–robot and human–AI collaboration, shared autonomy and adaptive interaction across complex industrial and safety-critical environments, combining multimodal learning, game theory, optimization and representation learning.

What We Offer

• A renewable four-year appointment, with a pathway to a permanent position based on performance against agreed KPIs and targets.
• Salary range: €70,000 – €120,000 + 25-35% MBO gross/year (depending on experience) and relocation support.
• A start-up grant, with scope and phasing determined through the Laboratory's approved strategic and financial plan.
• Potential tax exemption of up to 90% for eligible researchers relocating to Italy, subject to applicable law and individual eligibility.
• Access to high-end computing, data, engineering, deployment and industrial co-design infrastructure.
• The opportunity to recruit and shape an international team of researchers, engineers, postdoctoral fellows and PhD candidates.
• Support for competitive grants, industrial partnerships, IP, licensing, spin-offs and public–private research programs.

Your Role as Founding Head

As the Head of an R&D Lab, you will design, establish, and lead one of the Institute's core research laboratories. You will be responsible for defining the R&D plan for your lab: setting a long-term vision and short- and long-term goals; attracting world-class talent, delivering scientific and technological breakthroughs; and positioning the Institute as one of the world's leading centers for AI research and innovation. With support from the Institute's core support functions and engineering infrastructure, your responsibilities will include:

• Scientific and Strategic Leadership: Designing cutting-edge AI Research & Development programs and solutions, meeting milestones, and achieving defined success metrics. Monitoring AI advancements, identifying opportunities for high-impact innovation.
• Team Building: Leading a team of AI researchers and engineers to execute advanced research and develop practical software or platforms.
• Outreach: Collaborating with marketing and business development teams to promote AI4I, expanding its reach and influence.
• Revenue Generation: Attracting external funding from private and public sources to support the growth of your lab, including EU programs and strategic industry partnerships.
• Project Management: Managing multiple projects simultaneously, establishing schedules, and resolving bottlenecks to ensure smooth execution. Acting as an interface between the Institute and external partners and users.
• AI Assets Development: Overseeing the creation and maintenance of reusable frameworks, libraries, and APIs aligned with industry needs.

Key Success Metrics

Performance will be assessed through annual and multi-year KPIs agreed during the appointment and aligned with the approved strategic plan. Core dimensions include:

• Scientific excellence: quality and visibility of peer-reviewed publications, invited contributions, benchmark adoption and international scientific positioning.
• Technology and reusable assets: TRL progression, reproducibility, prototype maturity, software, models, datasets, benchmarks, standards, patents and deployment readiness.
• Industrial and societal impact: validated use cases, pilots, partner retention, adoption evidence and measurable improvements in productivity, quality, resilience, safety or sustainability.
• Financial growth: competitive funding, industrial revenue, leverage beyond the initial endowment and credible licensing or spin-off opportunities.
• Leadership and management: team development, hiring, delivery on time and budget, risk management, governance and contribution to cross-Laboratory initiatives.

Candidate Profile

We seek leaders with:

• Strong track record in AI research and development, with a deep understanding of methods and architectures.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex, multidisciplinary R&D programs, from design to implementation.
• Ability to interact across academic, industrial, and institutional settings.
• Experience in applying AI in sectors such as advanced manufacturing, autonomous systems, human-machine interaction, or software development.

Preferred qualifications

• A PhD in a relevant field.
• Previous leadership of a research group, Laboratory, center, major project or multidisciplinary program, both in public institutions or in centers for corporate R&D.
• Experience in European R&D programs, public–private consortia or industrial research partnerships.
• Ownership or development of patents, software, open-source projects, datasets, standards or other AI assets.
• Experience as a founder or co-founder, or a track record in technology transfer, licensing or venture creation.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted exclusively through the online application form by December the 15th 2026, 11:59 PM CET. Applicants should identify the primary scientific area addressed by the proposal and may indicate relevant connections with the areas of particular interest outlined in this call.

Required application materials:

• Curriculum Vitae: including a complete publication record or links to an authoritative publication profile.
• Motivation Letter: maximum 800 words, explaining the candidate's motivation, fit with AI4I and ambition as a Founding Head.
• Strategic Plan for the proposed R&D Laboratory: prepared by completing the AI4I Strategic Plan & Onboarding Worksheet supplied with the call. Recommended length: 8–10 pages.
• Three academic or professional references: providing name, role, institution, email address and relationship to the applicant.
• Optional supporting material: selected patents, publications, project evidence, demonstrators and links to code, data or repositories such as GitHub or Hugging Face.

The Strategic Plan & Onboarding Worksheet asks candidates to provide evidence on: scientific and technical originality; industrial applicability and AI4I synergies; team-building; four-year budget and revenue plan; execution roadmap and milestones; software, data, infrastructure and equipment needs; durable Laboratory assets and deliverables; KPIs, risks and governance. Concise annexes may be added where needed, but the supplied worksheet remains the required core layout.

DOWNLOAD HERE: The Strategic Plan & Onboarding Worksheet

Note: Due to the high volume of applications, while we strive to provide individualized feedback whenever possible, we may not be able to respond to every applicant. Only candidates whose applications are selected for further consideration will be contacted directly.

Diversity and Equal Opportunity

AI4I is committed to building diverse, inclusive and internationally oriented teams and is an equal opportunity employer. Applications from candidates of all backgrounds are welcomed, and applications from groups that remain underrepresented in artificial intelligence and research leadership are strongly encouraged.

About AI4I

The Italian Institute of Artificial Intelligence (AI4I) was established to conduct transformative, application-oriented research in artificial intelligence and to strengthen scientific excellence, technology transfer and industrial innovation. Based in Turin, AI4I brings together ambitious researchers, advanced computing and engineering infrastructure, industrial partners and national and European research programs. Its mission is to create AI methods, technologies and assets that generate real-world impact across industry, services and public administration, with particular attention to manufacturing and the broader industrial value chain.

AI4I — Corso Castelfidardo 22, 10129 Turin, Italy