Research Engineer Position in Generative Information Retrieval

Are you motivated by improving reproducibility engineering reliable pipelines and deploying cutting-edge retrieval algorithms in realworld settings We are looking for a skilled and driven Research Engineer specializing in Generative Information Retrieval (GenIR) to join IRLab at the University of Amsterdam.

Join us!

The successful candidate will play a central role in designing building and maintaining tools datasets and practices that enable reproducible scalable and deployable GenIR systems. You will help translate research ideas into working systems and ensure that research artifacts (code data experiments) are shared documented and preserved properly.

The position is embedded within the Information Retrieval Lab (IRLab) under the supervision of Maarten de Rijke. It is part of a broader research effort to establish a principled foundation for GenIR and is funded by the European Research Council under grant agreement no. (UNITE).

This is what you will do

• You gather standardize and maintain datasets simulation environments evaluation scripts etc. to support reproducibility in GenIR research.
• You identify and implement best practices for code review code sharing and version control in collaborative research settings.
• You maintain an electronic lab notebook (or similar system) to track and preserve experimental configurations results and metadata.
• You help deploy generative retrieval algorithms into demonstrators or applications working with downstream integration.
• You document and package research codebases for public release ensuring good usability modularity and maintainability.
• You collaborate with PhD students postdocs and PIs to align engineering work with research goals and contribute to presentation/publication of results.

What we ask of you

• You hold (or are about to obtain) a Masters degree in Computer Science AI Data Science Software Engineering or a closely related discipline.
• You have strong programming skills (Python version control tools like Git) with experience in software engineering practices (testing CI/CD).
  You have worked with deep learning frameworks (e.g. PyTorch TensorFlow) ideally in large-scale multi-GPU settings.
• You have an interest in reproducible research data/data artifact management and maintaining high standards of engineering in a research lab.
• You can work both independently and in a collaborative academic team.
• Excellent verbal and written communication in English.

Advantageous: if you have prior experience in generative models retrieval systems academic software infrastructure or deployment of ML/IR systems.

What we offer you

We offer a temporary employment contract for 38 hours per week for a period of 12 months with a probationary period of two months. If we assess your performance positive we will extend your contract with 3 years to a total duration of 4 years. The preferred starting date is 01.01.2026.

The gross monthly salary based on 38 hours per week and dependent on relevant experience ranges between 3546 to 5538 (scale 10) This does not include 8% holiday allowance and 83% year-end allowance. The UFO profile O&O 1 is applicable. For this position we can not sponsor a visa. The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable.

Curious about our extensive secondary benefits package You can read more about it here.

Where you will work

The Faculty of Science has a student body of around 8000 as well as 1800 members of staff working in education research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works be it elementary particles the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain.

The mission of the Informatics Institute (IvI) is to perform curiosity-driven and use-inspired fundamental research in Computer Science. The main research themes are Artificial Intelligence Computational Science and Systems and Network Engineering. Our research involves complex information systems at large with a focus on collaborative data driven computational and intelligent systems all with a strong interactive component.

The research of the Information Retrieval Lab Amsterdam (IRLab) focuses on information retrieval: technology to connect people to information. We work on search engines on recommender systems and on conversational assistants. There is a heavy emphasis on data-driven methods for understanding content for analyzing and predicting user behavior and for make sense of context. We combine fundamental experimental and applied research and we do so by using a broad range of data: text images structured information. We are involved in many projects with other groups both within and outside academia. Our research is funded by NWO KNAW the EU and through a range of public-private partnerships. We are strong believers of pursuing great science with great societal impact and value an entrepreneurial spirit.

If you feel the profile fits you and you are interested in the job we look forward to receiving your application. You can apply online via the red button. We accept applications until and including 23 November 2025. Applications should include the following information (all files besides your CV should be submitted inone single pdf file):

• a detailed CV including the months (not just years) when referring to your education and work experience;
• a letter of motivation;
• a list of publications;
• the names and email addresses of two references who can provide letters of recommendation.

Due to Dutch legislation the UvA is for non-scientific positions obliged to recruit within the EU. If you are not a EU-citizen (including Norway and Switzerland) please do not apply for this vacancy.

Please use the CV field to upload your resume as a separate pdf document. Use the Cover Letter field to upload the other requested documents including the motivation letter as one single pdf file. Only complete applications received within the response period via the link below will be considered.

Do you have any questions or do you require additional information Please contact:

• Prof. dr. Maarten de Rijke