Research Assistant (Fixed Term)

University of Cambridge - Department of Computer Science and Technology

Location: Cambridge

Salary: £33,002 to £35,608

Hours: Full Time

Contract Type: Fixed-Term/Contract

Placed On: 28th January 2026

Closes: 8th February 2026

Job Ref: NR48668

Location: West Cambridge

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 8 months.

We are looking for a talented roboticist to join our team and take part in an exciting project on co-design of robot hardware and control, with a focus on dexterous mobile manipulation.

We are creating a global optimization framework for the co-evolution of hardware (sensors, morphology, actuation, and materials) alongside machine learning methods that autonomously master contact-rich manipulation tasks. By integrating scalable adaptive simulation with active learning, the project aims to enable efficient hardware-in-the-loop optimization. The ultimate goal is to substantially reduce the cost and time for customizing robots by evolving beyond the limitations of purely anthropomorphic designs.

This opportunity is for a research assistant with practical 'full-stack' robotics experience from industry or long-term involvement in academic research. We have experts in optimization, reinforcement learning, and soft robotics working with our team. We would like to bring onboard a researcher whose strengths are in robot control or mechanical engineering, who is enthusiastic about teamwork to unify individual research efforts into a strong well-performing framework.

Project funding and support

In addition to the stated salary, the project funding will cover employer on-costs and institutional costs associated with employing research staff (reflecting the full cost of delivering the research environment), as well as compute and hardware resources needed for the project.

The Department of Computer Science and Technology is an academic department that encompasses computer science along with many aspects of engineering, technology and mathematics. We have a worldwide reputation for academic research with consistent top research ratings. The Department has an open and collaborative culture, supporting revolutionary fundamental computer science research, strong cross-cutting collaborations internally and externally, and ideas which transform computing outside the University. Please follow the link at: https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk to find out more about our department.

In addition to the base salary stated above, the successful candidate for this post will receive an additional 2.5% supplement to their pay.

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please click 'Apply' above.

Please provide a CV and covering letter. If you upload any additional documents which haven't been requested, we will not be able to consider these as part of your application.

Please quote reference NR48668 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK. Please note that we provide the support of applying for the relevant visa (if required) and we reimburse the cost of the first visa.