Job Reference
238_26_LS_MLBR_R1
Position
PhD student in Machine learning (R1)
Closing Date
Wednesday, 27 May, 2026
About BSC
The Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing centre in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU. The mission is to research, develop and manage information technologies to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and research and development in computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering) with more than 1,000 staff from 60 countries.
Context and Mission
The Machine Learning for Biomedical Research unit, led by Davide Cirillo, PhD, seeks a PhD student to develop artificial‑intelligence applications in cancer research. The focus will be on latent representation learning, particularly variational autoencoders (VAEs), for adult and childhood cancer studies using multi‑omics data. The candidate will work within the Life Sciences department, collaborating with senior scientists and using our sophisticated HPC environment.
Key Duties
* Deep learning model implementation and deployment
* Biomedical data mining and analysis
* Technical contribution to computational cancer research
* HPC solutions for machine learning applications in life sciences
Requirements
* Education
o BSc or MSc in Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, Physics, or related field
o Additional background in Cancer or Human Biology, or related field
* Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience
o Programming languages: Python, R, JavaScript
o Experience with machine learning and deep learning frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras)
o Experience with Unix/Linux systems
o Basic developer skills including version control and testing
* Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience
o Data analysis and visualization
o Machine learning fundamentals
o Statistics
o Spoken and written English
* Competences
o Ability to understand technical literature and software documentation
o Ability to communicate scientific results
o Ability to work in teams and independently
o Ability to interact with international partners
o Ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines
Conditions
* Location: Life Sciences Department, BSC
* Contract: Full‑time (35 h/week), open‑ended, flexible hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, relocation support
* Duration: Open‑ended, linked to project and budget
* Holidays: 22 days + 6 personal days + 24th and 31st December as per collective agreement
* Salary: Competitive, commensurate with qualifications and cost of living in Barcelona
* Starting date: 01 August 2026
Equal Opportunity Employer
BSC-CNS is an equal‑opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We welcome applications from all qualified individuals regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age or disability. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of under‑represented groups is favoured. We value diverse experiences and encourage applications from people who may not meet every requirement.
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