Our department is continuously growing, and candidates are always welcome. The positions we are looking for are diverse, and we can support you at every stage of your academic career, from research assistant positions (HiWi) and fully funded PhD openings to (senior) researcher spots.
Our Work Culture
At Data Science and Its Applications, good research is synonymous with a good work environment. We endeavor to extend our ethical values into shared moral principles, providing our teammates with a safe, friendly, and healthily challenging work atmosphere. All our staff are entrusted with integral tasks and are expected to make vital decisions without deprioritizing their personal lives and private time.
In our daily work, we aim to enable cross-functional collaboration that promotes scientific innovation and encourages different modes of learning and development for everyone. Internal cohesion is paramount to our success as a group, so we listen to constructive criticism and make note of every person’s personalities and needs when planning ahead— together.
Our goal is for each DSA team member to feel empowered to do their best work and bring forward their boldest ideas.
Ways to Join Us
Full-time Positions
At DFKI, we hire full-time junior and senior researchers, engineers, and consultants to assist with project delivery.
This type of position is ideal for those who want to do hands-on research and development within a specialized team.
Location: Kaiserslautern or Berlin.
PhD Stipends
Our PhD students earn a tax-free stipend and work within our research department while being enrolled in a PhD program in Computer Science at the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU).
If you want to get a feel for our culture first, you could temporarily join as an assistant.
Research Assistants
Our research assistants (HiWis) are a key part of our operation, working alongside researchers to ensure the most comprehensive results for our projects and experiments.
Joining as a HiWi is a great way to test if we might be the right fit for your PhD or research career. Some of our key staff members started out as assistants.
Tips for Applicants
Documents we find very useful are CV, cover letters, grade transcripts.
Documents we don’t focus on are recommendation letters, confirmations you held some job, language or certificates, and online courses.
We pay special attention to cover letters. They are a great opportunity to get to know you as a person and a professional— and see if there is a match between your experience and the requirements of the job opening. Please refrain from AI generating your cover letter or using a generic template. We appreciate conciseness but value creativity and honesty above all.
To ensure fairness, it’s best to send in your CV without your photo. Links to your Github and, if applicable, Google Scholar profile are always a welcome addition. We do not use AI in our hiring process, including for CV screening.
Our Interview Process
Our interview process is designed to fairly assess the best match between the candidates interests, experience, and skills with the current requirements of our research group. It also offers the candidate the opportunity to learn more about the department and decide whether we are the right choice for them.
Our process consists of three stages, each a 30 minute video call:
An initial interview with two senior or full-time researchers focusing on technical and scientific knowledge. You will likely be asked to deliver a 5-minute presentation.
A personal interview with our deputy head of department. This interview focuses on personal, situational, and career-related questions. You will also have plenty of time to ask about the department and what it’s like working with us.
The final interview with our department head, Prof. Sebastian Vollmer. You will engage in a comprehensive scientific discussion and will be asked both general and specific questions about data science and ML.
On some occasions, you may be asked to complete a task after the 1st or 3rd interview. We only take this step in certain situations and will never misuse your time to do “free work” for us. If you have a recognised severe disability under German law, all interviews will also include a colleague who represents severely disabled people and who will ensure fairness and non-discrimination.