Tenure-Track Faculty in all areas related to Information Security (f/m/d) 2024/2025

Tenure-Track Faculty in all areas related to Information Security (f/m/d) 2024/2025

St. Ingbert, Germany

CISPA is a world-leading research center that focuses on Information Security and Machine Learning. To expand and strengthen our center, we are looking for Tenure-Track Faculty in all areas related to Information Security (f/m/d).

All applicants are expected to grow a research team that pursues an internationally visible research agenda. To aid you in achieving this, CISPA provides institutional base funding for three full-time researcher positions and a generous budget for expenditures. Upon successful tenure evaluation, you will hold a position equivalent to an endowed full professorship at a top research university. We invite applications from candidates with excellent track records in all areas related to Information Security.

CISPA values diversity and is committed to equality. We provide special dual-career support and explicitly encourage female and diverse researchers to apply.

The CISPA Tenure-Track in a nutshell

• Tenure-track of five years towards the equivalent of an Endowed Full Professorship
• Three fully funded full-time research staff positions for your entire tenure-track
• Generous budget for research expenses
• Low teaching load of only one course (of your choice) per semester
• World-renowned colleagues in (almost) all areas of Security and Machine Learning
• Young and dynamic environment, with an average faculty age below 40 years

The CISPA Ecosystem

• Full academic freedom
• English-speaking working environment; a command of German is not required for a successful career at CISPA
• World-class research infrastructure and support
• Saarbrücken, a city with an international flair (e.g., an International School and distinguished cuisine influenced by the proximity to the French border)
• Dual Career opportunities
• Free optional German courses

We offer

• Full-time gross base salary starting from approx. €6800/month according to the associate professor (W2) scale of the TVöD (German Federal Employment Agreement)
• Contractual benefits including 30 days of paid leave per year, pension scheme, paid parental leave, and monthly allowances for spouse and children
• Support for relocation, administrative tasks (e.g., visa and work permits), and organization of child care

Minimum Requirements

• To have an excellent track record in any research area related to Information Security
• To have graduated or are soon to graduate with a doctoral degree
• To build and guide a research team that pursues an internationally visible research agenda
• To teach one (English-spoken) course or seminar (undergraduate or graduate) per semester in your area of expertise and interest

Interested? We look forward to your application

Along with your CV and cover letter, please prepare a research statement, laying out your vision for the tenure track (up to 5 pages), a list of 3-5 references, and optionally a teaching and diversity statement.

In your cover letter, please outline how your research vision aligns with CISPA's goals and how your work can tie in with other CISPA faculty.

If you want more details about the program and your future colleagues, keep on scrolling.

Our tenure-track program is similar to that of top US universities with respect to runtime and evaluation criteria. By default, our tenure-track includes an evaluation in the fifth year. In case of positive evaluation, you will be offered a permanent contract. In case of negative evaluation, to provide a soft landing your contract will be extended by one year. If you become a parent during your tenure-track, your contract and evaluation can (once) be extended by one year.

The tenure evaluation is in line with other top institutions. We will assess your research activities, your ability to build and lead a group of strong researchers, your ability to acquire third-party funding, as well as your contribution to the scientific community. Every tenure-track faculty is assigned a mentor, who regularly meets with you to help in reaching these goals. Via a mid-term evaluation, your promotion committee will provide feedback on how well you are on-track with regard to your tenure evaluation.

What your future colleagues say

You could try to imagine what working at CISPA as tenure-track faculty might be like - or you can directly hear from some of your future colleagues what their experiences are.

My name is Rebekka Burkholz. I am tenure-track faculty at CISPA since 2021 and aim to help machines learn robust, secure, and sparse models.

My name is Lucjan, and I am tenure-track faculty at CISPA since 2020. My research focuses on applied and privacy-preserving cryptography.

Katharina Krombholz: I am tenured faculty at CISPA and my research aims to make security and privacy technology more user-friendly and effective.

My name is Michael Schwarz, and I joined CISPA in July 2020. I'm tenure-track faculty doing research on CPU security and side channels.

I've recently received tenure at CISPA (finished tenure-track in January 2022). My research is in the areas of Web and Usable Security.

About CISPA

The CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security provides a unique work environment that offers the advantages of a university department and a research laboratory alike. As the latest member of the Helmholtz Association, CISPA has the mission to rethink the digitized world of the future and to make it safer through innovative cutting-edge research. Founded in 2018, CISPA has quickly grown to become an internationally leading research institution. In the medium term, CISPA is growing to 60 Faculty and over 800 employees in total. Every CISPA Faculty enjoys full academic freedom, the right to independently supervise Ph.D. and Master students, receives generous institutional funding, has the opportunity to build and lead a team of researchers, as well as to teach graduate and undergraduate courses.

CISPA is located in Saarbrücken, in the tri-border area of Germany, France, and Luxembourg. The CISPA campus is located close to Saarland University, which is known for its excellence in Computer Science, the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI).

CISPA provides a highly international and diverse working environment, currently hosting researchers of 40 nationalities, and seeks applications from outstanding researchers worldwide. The working language at CISPA is English; a command of German is not required for a successful career at CISPA. We do provide voluntary free courses for those researchers that wish to learn German.

Applications are invited for tenure-track faculty positions in all areas related to Information Security. All applications are due by December 02, 2024 23:59 AoE with interviews starting in January 2025.

Please submit the following documents:

• Cover letter (please outline how your research vision aligns with CISPA's goals and how your work can tie in with other CISPA faculty)
• Curriculum vitae
• Research statement (up to 5 pages) outlining your vision for the tenure track
• List of 3-5 proposed references including contact details and your relationship to them (ensure at least one is not a close collaborator/advisor)
• Optionally, a teaching and diversity statement