Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Machine Learning Closing date: Oct 09, 2026

Oxford, United Kingdom

ENGINEERING SCIENCE

Careers

Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Machine Learning

Salary

£39,424 to £47,779 per annum

Closing date

Oct 09, 2026 12:00PM

Share on BlueSky

Share on Facebook

Share on LinkedIn

Description

We are seeking a full-time Postdoctoral Research Assistant to join Torr Vision Group at the Department of Engineering Science, central Oxford. The post is funded by Coefficient Giving and is fixed-term to the 30th June 2027.

We are seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to investigate the safety, security, control, and capabilities of advanced AI systems , with a particular focus on increasingly autonomous and agentic models. The research will examine frontier AI systems that interact with operating systems, APIs, software tools, other agents, and complex environments, moving beyond text generation towards systems capable of planning, pursuing objectives, and executing long-horizon tasks.

A central focus will be agentic safety, adversarial robustness, and AI control . This includes agent hijacking, prompt injection, adversarial manipulation, unsafe tool use, oversight evasion, and transferable attacks that generalise across agents, models, tasks, and environments . We are particularly interested in building agentic systems that can autonomously discover, test, and evaluate general attack strategies against other AI agents, helping identify systematic vulnerabilities rather than attacks specific to a single model or setting.

Candidates should possess a PhD (or be near completion) in PhD in Computer Science, AI, Security, or a related field. You will have a Strong background in machine learning and/or computer security and Experience working with LLMs or agent-based systems.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to adel.bibi@eng.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 the 9 October 2026 can be considered. You will be required to upload a covering letter/supporting statement, including a brief statement of research interests (describing how past experience and future plans fit with the advertised position), CV and 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

Machine Learning, AI Safety, agentic safety

Contact name

Adel Bibi

Contact email

adel.bibi@eng.ox.ac.uk

The job description is available via the Apply Now button

APPLY NOW

Title

Closing date

PA to Professors of Information Engineering Closing date: Sep 18, 2026

Sep 18, 2026

Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Ice Deposition Closing date: Sep 18, 2026

Sep 18, 2026

Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Sonochemical Reaction Engineering and Sono-Catalysis Closing date: Sep 18, 2026

Sep 18, 2026

Senior Research Associate in Control Engineering/Engineering Biology Closing date: Sep 18, 2026

Sep 18, 2026

Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Decision-making under uncertainty for robots Closing date: Sep 21, 2026

Sep 21, 2026

Programme Officer - Technical AI Governance Closing date: Sep 22, 2026

Sep 22, 2026

Senior Researcher in Interpretability and AI Safety Closing date: Sep 22, 2026

Sep 22, 2026

Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Multi-Robot Scouting Closing date: Sep 30, 2026

Sep 30, 2026

Senior HPC Systems Administrator Closing date: Oct 01, 2026

Oct 01, 2026

Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Machine Learning Closing date: Oct 09, 2026

Oct 09, 2026

Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Temporal Reasoning and Ultrasound Video Analysis Closing date: Oct 09, 2026

Oct 09, 2026

Postdoctoral Research Assistant(s) in Fundamental AI Research Closing date: Oct 09, 2026

Oct 09, 2026

Research Assistant(s) in Fundamental AI Research Closing date: Oct 09, 2026

Oct 09, 2026

Senior Research Fellow (Chemical Engineering) Closing date: Oct 12, 2026

Oct 12, 2026

Founder, ZERO Institute Founders Programme Closing date: Oct 16, 2026

Oct 16, 2026

Senior Research Fellow (Control Engineering) Closing date: Oct 19, 2026

Oct 19, 2026