"Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Machine Learning"

We are seeking two full-time Postdoctoral Research Assistants in Machine Learning to join the Foerster Lab for AI Research group at the Department of Engineering Science (central Oxford). The post is funded by ERC (or UKRI) and is fixed term to 31 December 2028.

We are seeking two candidates for a research project focused on developing the foundations for artificial intelligence (AI) agents capable of supporting and collaborating with humans in complex, real-world settings. You will be responsible for researching and developing novel algorithms and techniques to achieve the project’s objectives, with a particular emphasis on efficient and safe learning approaches for collaborative multi-agent reinforcement learning tasks. You will contribute to advancing FLAIR’s research capabilities and play an active role in expanding its research portfolio.

The role includes implementing developed techniques and algorithms in high-quality software that adheres to group standards and evaluating them on large-scale benchmarks. You will take an active role in maintaining and further developing the lab’s research codebase.

You will contribute to the supervision and mentorship of DPhil students, CDT students, fourth-year project students, and interns. You will also participate actively in the day-to-day activities of the Foerster Lab, including providing technical guidance to students and engaging in reading groups and other scholarly activities.

The position involves writing research papers for submission to leading journals and conferences, presenting work at national and international venues, and contributing to scientific reports and publications. You will also support the Lab’s industrial partnerships through site visits, technical demonstrations, and meetings, and assist in the preparation of project reports and grant proposals.

You should possess a PhD or DPhil (or near completion of) in Machine Learning or Maths.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to jakob@robots.ox.ac.uk.

For more information about working at the Department, see www.eng.ox.ac.uk/about/work-with-us/.

Only online applications received before midday on 1 April 2026 can be considered. You will be required to upload a covering letter/supporting statement, including (i) a brief statement of research interests describing how your past experience and future plans align with the advertised position; (ii) a TL;DR (maximum 240 characters) summarising why you would be an excellent fit for the role; and (iii) a table summarising your full-paper publications, indicating the number of first-author and middle-author papers, broken down by conference. You must also upload a CV and provide the details of two referees as part of your online application.

The Department holds an Athena Swan Bronze award, highlighting its commitment to promoting women in Science, Engineering and Technology.

Agentic AI, Human-AI coordination, Zero-shot Coordination, multi-agent learning

Contact Person: Professor Jakob Foerster

Vacancy ID: 185469

Closing Date & Time: 01-Apr-2026 12:00

Pay Scale: RESEARCH GRADE 7

Contact Email: jakob.foerster@eng.ox.ac.uk

Salary: £39,424 - £47,779 per annum