Postdoctoral Research Assistant in AI + Security (Early Career Fellowship) Full-time

Postdoctoral Research Assistant in AI + Security (Early Career Fellowship)

Central Oxford

We are seeking a full-time postdoctoral research assistant to join the Oxford Witt Lab for Trust in AI (OWL) at the Department of Engineering Science (Central Oxford). The post is funded by Schmidt Sciences (AI2050 Early Career Fellowship) and is fixed-term for 24 months, with a possible extension beyond this date subject to satisfactory performance and mutual agreement.

The successful candidate will develop foundational security theory for agentic and multi-agent AI systems, as part of our research programme in multi-agent security. You will build formal models of security-relevant behaviour in interactive systems and derive rigorous results that clarify key limits, trade-offs, and conditions under which stronger guarantees are possible. Alongside theory development, you will run targeted computational experiments (e.g., small-scale simulations or proof-of-concept implementations) to validate assumptions and connect formal insights to realistic agentic settings. You will be responsible for developing and analysing formal models; deriving provable guarantees, impossibility results, and trade-offs; designing attack–defence formulations and evaluation protocols; publishing research in leading conferences and journals; contributing documented software to the group library; and supporting the supervision of graduate and undergraduate research projects. The postholder will have substantial ownership over one or more core research thrusts within the lab's multi-agent security programme.

You should possess a PhD/DPhil completed, (or near completion), in theoretical computer science, information theory, cryptography, security, game theory, or a closely related area (ML acceptable with strong theory depth). You will have strong mathematical maturity with evidence of producing rigorous, security-relevant theory, sufficient programming fluency (e.g., Python; familiarity with common ML tooling) to run computational experiments, and excellent communication skills, including writing for publication and presenting results.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr Christian Schroeder (email: christian.schroeder@eng.ox.ac.uk).

Only online applications received before midday on 2 March 2026 can be considered. You will be required to upload a covering letter/supporting statement, including a brief statement of research interests (describing how past experience and future plans fit with the advertised position), CV and the details of two referees as part of your online application.

The Department holds an Athena Swan Bronze award, highlighting its commitment to promoting women in Science, Engineering and Technology.

Multi-Agent Security, AI Security, Information Theory, Cryptography, Game Theory