"Postdoctoral Scholar Position in Experimental High Energy Physics"

Position overview

Salary range: $69,073 - $82,836

Application Window

Open date: January 2, 2026
Next review date: Monday, Feb 2, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.
Final date: Tuesday, Jun 2, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

Position description

The experimental particle physics group at UC Irvine invites applications for a postdoctoral research position focused on accelerator-based searches for dark matter and on instrumentation and TDAQ R&D. The position entails mainly work within the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN's LHC, but some amount of time can be dedicated to small agile experiments searching for new physics, subject to mutual interest.

The UCI group consists of Profs. Andrew Lankford, Anyes Taffard, Daniel Whiteson and Andre Frankenthal. The group has a strong background in searches for physics beyond the Standard Model (Higgs sector, Exotica, SUSY) and is actively involved in the operation and maintenance of Muon systems (New Small Wheel) and of the ATLAS TDAQ system. For the High-Luminosity LHC era, the group is also engaged in the Phase-II upgrade of the Level-0 muon trigger using Monitoring Drift Chambers (MDT), and in the Event Filter track trigger (EFTracking). The group applies novel Machine Learning tools and techniques to both analyses and trigger upgrades, and leverages FPGA and heterogenous platforms for the latter. Finally, the group has experience and interest in developing novel high-rate trigger strategies (e.g., trigger-level analyses) for the HL-LHC. Prof. Frankenthal also participates in the PADME experiment, a small-scale experiment based at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati dedicated to searches for low-mass dark photons and other particles.

The postdoctoral researcher is expected to make significant personal contributions to ATLAS physics analyses and to the group's HL-LHC TDAQ upgrade program, working primarily with Prof. Frankenthal. As mentioned, upon mutual interest, there will also be the possibility to contribute to small-scale experiments like PADME. The applicant should have, or be about to gain, a Ph.D. in experimental particle physics, and is expected to have at least two years of active participation in a leading international particle physics experiment. The applicant should have expertise in data analysis techniques and software systems used in high energy physics, as well as in Unix-based operating systems, and C++ and Python programming languages. The position will be based at UCI and/or CERN based on needs and mutual agreement.

Application instructions:

Interested candidates should apply online at the UC Irvine's online application system, RECRUIT, located at https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF10006.

Candidates must submit in PDF format:

1. Cover letter
2. Curriculum Vitae, including publication list and major presentations
3. Research statement
4. Three reference letters (to be submitted by the reference writers).

For general information about this position, please contact Prof. Andre Frankenthal at asterenb@uci.edu.

Applications will be reviewed as received, starting from 2/7/2026. The position will remain open until filled.

More information on the UCI HEP group can be found at: http://www.physics.uci.edu/

Qualifications

Basic qualifications (required at time of application)
Applicants should have or be about to complete a Ph.D. or equivalent in Physics or Astronomy prior to application.

Application Requirements

Document requirements

• Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.
• Cover Letter
• Statement of Research
• Teaching Statement - See our guidance for writing a reflective teaching statement. (Optional)

• 3 letters of reference required