Postdoctoral Researcher in Secure and Efficient System Software

SPELLS² · Software Languages Lab · Vrije Universiteit Brussel

At a Glance

Location: Brussels, Belgium. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Computer Science, Software Languages Lab (SOFT), SPELLS² group.
Funding: Cybersecurity Research Program Flanders (Cybersecurity Initiative Flanders, CIF/CRPF).
Duration: 1-year contract, with the explicit goal of jointly securing follow-on funding.
Starting date: as soon as possible.
Application deadline: none; applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

About the Role

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join SPELLS² (Software Performance Evaluation of Low-Level, Safe, Secure and Scalable Systems) at VUB. The position sits in the low-level secure software systems track of the Cybersecurity Research Program Flanders and connects to the group's other lines: structured performance reasoning, reproducible evaluation infrastructure, safe migration of legacy C/C++ to Rust, and real-time and robotics software.

Concretely, you will work on one or more of: the security and performance trade-offs of memory-safe languages in system software (kernel, drivers, embedded and robotic stacks); C-to-Rust migration and its verification; eBPF as a safe kernel-extension and observability mechanism; and push-button pipelines that evaluate security and performance together, building on the group's open-source infrastructure (benchkit, Pythainer).

This is a one-year position by design: a central part of the role is to co-develop, with the PI, funding proposals (FWO, VLAIO, EU) that extend the collaboration. Candidates who want to build their own research line inside a young, growing group will find room to do so.

Responsibilities

  • Conduct and publish research on secure and efficient system software, targeting venues such as EuroSys, ASPLOS, USENIX ATC/OSDI, S&P/CCS, RTAS/ECRTS.
  • Evaluate the security and performance of system software with state-of-the-art tooling (fuzzing, binary analysis, benchmarking with benchkit).
  • Co-supervise PhD and master students of the group.
  • Contribute to the systems curriculum with practical sessions and labs.
  • Co-write funding proposals with the PI and help build industry and academic partnerships.

Profile

  • Ph.D. in computer science or a related field (systems, security, programming languages), obtained or about to be defended.
  • Strong low-level programming skills (C/C++ and/or Rust) and solid operating-systems and computer-architecture background (x86, Arm, RISC-V).
  • Expertise in several of: system security (memory safety, vulnerability analysis, fuzzing), performance evaluation and benchmarking, language tooling (LLVM, compilers, transpilers), concurrency and parallelism, real-time systems, formal verification of systems code, robotics software (ROS).
  • A publication record in peer-reviewed systems, security or programming-languages venues.
  • Interest in writing proposals and in supervising students; ability to work independently in a small, collaborative team; excellent English.

What We Offer

  • A young systems group with funded PhD students, its own open-source infrastructure, and active collaborations (KU Leuven, UGent, NTNU, imec, Thales, Royal Military Academy, Belgian Defence).
  • Access to the CIF/CRPF consortium across Flemish universities and research groups.
  • A salary and benefits package according to VUB's postdoctoral scale, conference travel, and support for personal fellowship applications.
  • Brussels: an international city, and a department where English is the working language.

How to Apply

Send to antonio.paolillo@vub.be, in one PDF or as separate attachments: a cover letter describing your research experience and why this position, a CV with publication list, and the contact details of at least two academic references. Informal enquiries are welcome at the same address.