ZHAW - Job Openings

Job description Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW is one of Switzerland’s largest multidisciplinary universities of applied sciences, with over 13,000 students and 3,000 faculty and staff.

As one of the leading Engineering Faculties in Switzerland, the ZHAW School of Engineering (SOE) emphasizes topics which will be relevant in the future. Our 13 institutes and centres guarantee superior-quality education, research and development with a focus on the areas of energy, mobility, information and data science. We offer internationally recognized BSc and MSc programmes and run innovative applied research projects.

The Institute for Data Analysis and Process Design (IDP) is a competence center for the development and application of methods from the fields of quantitative finance, data science, stochastic process modelling, statistical data analysis and operations research. The focus of our work is the use of data and quantitative methods for the development of novel products and operational innovations.

The Finance, Risk Management and Econometrics team is leading the European research network COST Action CA 19130 Fintech and Artificial Intelligence in Finance that aims to better understand new challenges and opportunities in emerging technologies (Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain) relevant for financial innovation and to improve the transparency of financial markets. In this project, 39 countries globally as well as 150 researchers are involved. Our team also leads a large number of research projects funded by Innosuisse and the Swiss National Science foundation, both on a national and international level. Due to successful acquisition of research funding over the last few years, our team has grown substantially.

We have several established doctoral programmes as well as executive education programmes for machine learning and deep learning in Finance. Our team is also running an annual conference on AI in Industry and Finance, which attracts a substantial number of participants from Europe as well as high-profile speakers.

As part of the COST Action, ZHAW also has the official role of grant holder. For this, we have an opening for a team-player that will lead those activities on a European level as well as contribute to research and new research proposals, while simultaneously being involved in other activities of our team, which are mostly interdisciplinary and with several other institutes of our university.

The position is available starting January 1, 2021 or by mutual agreement.

For this role, we are looking for a

Scientific employee, 60%

with a technical/quantitative MSc or PhD degree and practical experience in the quantitative finance industry.

This position can also be tailored to a high-profile doctoral student and/ or scientific assistant.

The ideal candidate is very proficient in programming and contributes to open source projects and open access publications.

Your responsibilities:

Representing ZHAW as Grant Holder in the COST Action 19130 Publish high-quality research in leading journals Contribute to our national and international research projects focussing on applied quantitative data science with financial markets applications Become an expert in the fields of reinforcement and deep learning for Finance Start an outstanding research track record as well as a successful footprint in technology transfer. Contribute to teaching activities in our BSc and MSc programmes as well as our executive education The successful candidate belongs to the top of his/her peer group (please indicate that in your cover letter) and has completed a master’s or PhD degree in a technical/ quantitative subject with very strong interest in finance. She or he must have prior exposure to and strong interest in programming as well as quantitative, data-driven research projects in the application domain of financial markets.

We expect an excellent command as well as a passion for programming. Good communication skills in English are essential; a good command of German is a plus. The ideal candidate is passionate about identifying unsolved problems as well as proposing novel ideas for future activities. Particular emphasis is on developing prototypes, experimenting hands-on with data, scientific evaluation and publication of results. It is also expected that the candidate will undertake one summer internship programme at a financial company.

We offer a competitive, technically stimulating, and exciting environment as part of several national and international research projects and joint collaborations with many European and international universities.

The high-potential candidate will work both independently and in close cooperation with the Action Chair. A major responsibility is to advance the research agenda at the intersection of theoretical research and financial markets. The candidate will have the opportunity to establish partnerships with other universities, acquire funding for collaborative research, and to develop new quantitative solutions. The position will also involve contributing to open source software and presenting results at scientific and industrial conferences. In addition to offering an excellent working environment, we provide intellectual liberty and competitive compensation based on Swiss standards at one of the leading houses for financial market research in Switzerland.

Do you have any questions about this position?

For more information regarding the vacancy, please contact Prof. Dr. Jörg Osterrieder, Professor of Quantitative Finance, phone: +41 77 469 28 09, email: oste@zhaw.ch.

Are you interested?

If you would like to apply, please use the online platform to send us your complete portfolio (incl. transcripts and a minimum of three reference letters).