CALL 24-2025-1 Senior Researcher Position

Who are we looking for ?

The ADAPT Research Unit is seeking a talented and motivated researcher to join our team as a permanent Researcher in autonomous AI 6G Systems. We are looking for candidates who are passionate about exploring the intersection of agentic AI systems, agile accelerated computing and next-generation Radio Access Networks (5G/6G), and who have the ability to lead innovative projects and shape new research directions. The successful candidate will be expected to lead the preparation of national and EU funding proposals, collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, and lead or contribute to high-impact scientific publications.

What do we offer? :

• We offer a permanent contract.
• Annual gross salary according to the profile of the candidate
• Full-time contract: 7,5 h/day. Flexibility
• Expected professional category: R3 (https://www.cttc.cat/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Update-professional-categories.pdf).
• Tenure track: Career progression
• Prospect start date: 29/12/2025
• Continuous training, access to lab facilities, state of the art infrastructure and polyvalent working spaces, participation in scientific events and R&D projects, complementary skills development.
• We have great benefits for employees:
  • Paid time off: vacation (33 working days per year), holidays, sick and parental leave and more
  • Up to 3 days of Telework per week (2 fixed + 1 upon request). Other requests may be studied to accommodate special needs.
  • Flexible working hours for work-life balance
  • Career path promotion (either professional category and/or annual gross salary)
  • Annual productivity upon performance
  • Possibility to complement the salary with personal grants

Qualifications and Experience

• We are looking for a highly motivated, enthusiastic, energetic person, aiming at significantly improving his or her career perspectives in both public and private sectors. The successful applicant should have the competencies of R3 category.
• Required qualification/skills/experience:
• PhD degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering or a related discipline (e.g., Telecommunications, Computer Engineering).
• Theoretical foundations of 6G RAN and autonomous systems
  • Proven knowledge of AI-native RAN systems. Indicative skills/experience:
    • Deep understanding of 5G/6G RAN architecture (O-RAN, NG-RAN, CU/DU/RU split).
    • AI/ML algorithms and methods for joint compute and radio resource management at the 6G edge leveraging accelerators
    • Control- and data-plane separation, real-time scheduling, and latency constraints.
    • Federated and distributed learning for RAN hardware infrastructure management.
  • Knowledge of autonomous AI systems based on agents. Indicative skills/experience:
    • Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) theory: cooperation, negotiation, coordination, and competition.
    • Game theory and reinforcement learning for distributed optimization for agents’ properties (e.g., perception, reasoning, planning, action).
    • Experience with leveraging and tuning Large Language Models.
    • Understanding of intent-based networking (IBN) and goal decomposition from operator-level intents to micro-intents.
  • System design skills
    • Architectural and protocol design. Indicative skills/experience:
      • Designing Agentic AI architectures aligned with beyond 5G and 6G networking principles (e.g., O-RAN Alliance and AI-RAN Alliance).
      • Familiarity with A2A (Agent-to-Agent) and MCP (Model Context Protocol) protocols.
      • Familiarity with knowledge handling (e.g., memory management, semantic caching, contextual awareness).
    • Software and hardware co-design. Indicative skills/experience:
      • Designing for real-time inference and hardware acceleration.
      • Knowledge of runtime reconfiguration, latency profiling, and dataflow optimization.
      • Integrating control loops (DU/RU near-real-time and real-time loops) and observability across layers.
    • Research, project coordination and fund-raising experience
      • Ability to lead an independent research line, including demonstrated capability in analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of new ideas, as well as mentoring students (e.g., Ph.D. supervision).
      • Strong publication record with a demonstrated ability to lead publications in top-tier, high-impact journals.
      • Proven ability to attract external funding.
      • Experience in leading or coordinating publicly funded research projects or at least having led work packages or activities within such projects or grants.

• Other skills that are valuable, but not mandatory, are:
• Having acquired personal awards and grants.
• Having served as guest editor in renown scientific journals (e.g., IEEE, ACM, Elsevier).

Even if you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to apply.

The candidates’ past performance but also future potential, will be considered as criteria for selecting researchers.

How to apply?

All applications must include:

1. A complete CV, including a list of publications and the contact details of two potential referees
2. PhD degree
3. Cover letter stating the motivation and suitability of the candidate.

The application documents must be submitted in pdf format through this online application.

*ONLY APPLICATIONS VIA WEB https://www.cttc.cat/talent/careers/job-openings/ WILL BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION.*

CVs and any other information gathered during this process will be handled confidentially

Convocatòria  corresponent a l’oferta d’ocupació pública per a l’exercici 2022 (Taxa addcional d’estabilització/ taxa de reposició ) publicada al DOGC núm. 8660, de 4 de maig de 2022.

En compliment de la Llei General de Drets de les Persones amb Discapacitat i de la seva Inclusió social s’ acorda la reserva de la plaça en un primer torn  per ser coberta entre persones amb un grau de discapacitat igual o superior al 30%

Who are we?

• The Center Tecnològic de Telecomunicaciones de Catalunya (CTTC) is a non-profit public sector research institution dedicated to fundamental and applied research activities, focused mainly on technologies related to the physical, data link and network layers of communication systems and Geomatics.
• CTTC received the “HR Excellence in Research” award in 2015 from the European Commission and successfully passed into the Award Renewal phase in 2023. This is a recognition of the Institute’s commitment to develop a Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R), designed to bring the practices and procedures in line with the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (Charter and Code). Our institution’s comprehensive analysis and HRS4R action plan meet all the requirements of progress and quality of our HR policies. CTTC promotes itself as a provider of a stimulating and favourable work environment for researchers.
• The CTTC is located in the beautiful Mediterranean Technological Park of Castelldefels, a science park that houses the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, research institutions, innovative companies and startups. The PMT-UPC is located 10 minutes’ walk from the beach and the city center of Castelldefels, also close to childcare centers, public schools and the best international schools. It can be reached by car, train (RENFE) and various bus lines.
• We have 2 buildings on campus, with state-of-the-art facilities, comfortable work spaces, meeting rooms, and multipurpose spaces, as well as social spaces.
• The institute has a multicultural environment with more than 130 members (scientific, technical and administrative staff) from all over the world.

CTTC offers and promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, national origin, race, religion, or sexual orientation.

The CTTC seeks to increase the presence of women in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages them to stand as candidates.

It is also committed to increasing the number of people with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages their applications.