Research Associate

Research Associate / Postdoctoral Researcher: HPC-AI Performance Engineer

HPC-AI Performance Engineer

Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for a full-time, specific purpose position as a HPC-AI Performance Engineer with the Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) at the University of Galway, Ireland.

The position is available immediately to contract end date 31-Dec-2027, with flexibility to work from our Dublin or Galway offices.

Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC)

ICHEC is Ireland’s national centre for High-Performance Computing (HPC) providing digital infrastructure capabilities and expertise through R&D engagements and skills development programmes to academia, industry and public sector organisations.

With a highly ambitious leading-edge Strategy for Advanced Computing (HPC, Data, AI, Quantum) in Ireland and Europe, ICHEC provides infrastructure services and expertise in HPC and data platforms to for computational sciences, AI, high performance data analytics, Earth Observation, quantum computing and cybersecurity across several sectors including environmental informatics, life sciences, deeptech/material sciences, urban sciences, and other disciplines.

ICHEC works in close partnership with national and international researchers, enterprises and public authorities for joint R&D, skills development, and provisioning HPC and data services to accelerate their digital transformation and green transition.

For more details about this position, reach out to Dr. Joseph Parker (Performance Engineering Lead) or visit www.ichec.ie

Research Associate / Postdoctoral Researcher salary scale €46,305 - €59,063 per annum,(subject to the project’s funding limitations), and pro rata for shorter and/or part-time contracts.

The default position for all new public sector appointments is the 1st point of the salary scale. This may be reviewed, and consideration afforded to appointment at a higher point on the payscale (subject to the project’s funding limitations), where evidence of prior years’ equivalent experience is accepted in determining placement on the scale above point 1, subject to the maximum of the scale.

Closing date for receipt of applications is 17:00 (Irish Time) on October 29, 2025 . It will not be possible to consider applications received after the closing date.

Interviews are planned to be held during the w/c November 10, 2025.

Please review full job description for further details and essential requirements.

Job Description

The successful candidate will work as an integral member of the Performance Engineering Team which focuses on:

- development, optimisation and deployment of scalable HPC and AI applications and workflows on HPC and Cloud infrastructures targeting CPU and GPU architectures.

- using existing and building new toolchains and libraries to analyse, scale and optimise HPC simulation and/or AI model training and inference.

- working with computational scientists and domain experts in the areas of climate simulations, geospatial data processing/analysis, computational physics/chemistry/biology, hybrid quantum-HPC, and data management.

Duties

This is a role for a highly motivated problem-solver to use and further develop their competence by working on national and European HPC, Data and AI Platforms. The nature of opportunities and duties will span the following areas:

- Lead development and performance optimisation of HPC and/or scalable AI applications and workflows on HPC and/or Cloud infrastructures.

- Work on projects as a part of ICHEC’s National HPC and Data Services, national/European R&I projects, compute/data services to national and European agencies/centres.

- Collaborate with national and international research/industry partners who are HPC/AI technology developers and end‑users for technology co‑development.

- Prepare and deliver relevant training courses to academic, industry and public sector audiences.

- Disseminate the outcomes of ICHEC’s work through reports, publications and presentations.

This position is for a highly motivated problem‑solver, with a creative and analytical mind, who is excited to build new solutions that will have a global impact.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

1. A Master’s degree with at least 4 years of experience, or a Ph.D. in domain related to computer science or computational science.

2. Robust knowledge of HPC covering

- Processor and computer architectures (CPU, GPU, shared/distributed memory systems or others).

- At least one of the parallel programming models among MPI, OpenMP, CUDA or others.

3. Experience developing and efficiently executing HPC and/or AI applications and workflows on HPC clusters and/or Cloud infrastructures.

4. Experience with methods and tools for HPC and/or AI application performance analysis, debugging, optimisation.

5. Experience with scientific software engineering and development practices, e.g. build systems, revision control, or CI/CD pipelines.

6. Software development and programming experience in C, C++, Python or similar on Linux.

1. Knowledge of machine learning and deep learning algorithms; methods such as support vector machines, decision trees or artificial neural networks; and using frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, etc.

2. Hands on experience in VM, containers (such as Docker or Singularity).

3. Experience with workflow orchestration tools such as Kubernetes, Docker, Singularity, Dask, Apache Spark, or others.

4. Exposure to Agile/PRINCE2 project management frameworks.

CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Researchers at University of Galway are encouraged to avail of a range of training and development opportunities designed to support their personal career development plans. University of Galway provides continuing professional development supports for all researchers seeking to build their own career pathways either within or beyond academia. Researchers are encouraged to engage with our Researcher Development Centre (RDC) upon commencing employment - see HERE for further information.

FURTHER INFORMATION/LINKS

TO APPLY

Search Current University of Galway vacancies. Applications must be submitted online.

- For informal enquiries, please contact Dr. Joseph Parker (Performance Engineering Lead, ICHEC), joseph.parker@ichec.ie

We reserve the right to re‑advertise or extend the closing date for this post.

University of Galway is an equal opportunities employer.

All positions are recruited in line with Open, Transparent, Merit (OTM) and Competency based recruitment.

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