Postdoctoral Research Associate (Senior Scientist)

The Department of Ecosystem Management, Climate and Biodiversity, Institute of Geomatics, BOKU University / University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, invites applications for a Senior Scientist position. Reference code: 160.

Employment: 40 hours per week. Start: 1st of November 2026. The position is limited to 31st of October 2032, with the option of a permanent extension. Place of work: Peter-Jordan-Straße 70, 1190 Wien.

Responsibilities

• Establish an own research group with focus on advanced machine learning and deep learning techniques for remote sensing applications.
• Work with satellite-based Earth Observation as well as airborne and terrestrial laserscanning.
• Build a strong link to already established research activities at the institute.
• Work in application fields including Ecology, Biodiversity, Monitoring, Forestry and Agriculture.
• Implement an own research vision and acquire third-party-funded research projects.
• Prepare and submit journal and conference papers and participate in academic conferences.
• Carry out scientific research and acquire external research funding.
• Teach courses at undergraduate/BSc and graduate/MSc levels, amounting to 4 weekly semester hours.
• Supervise and mentor undergraduate students, postgraduate students and research associates.
• Participate in university representation, scientific divulgation and knowledge transfer to society.

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Doctoral degree/PhD in Geosciences, Environmental Sciences, Remote Sensing, Computational Sciences, Image Vision or related fields.
• Excellent English skills. German is beneficial.

Desirable Skills and Qualifications

• Expertise in advanced machine learning, deep learning and image vision techniques with focus on EO data, such as deep convolutional neural networks, transformers and deep learning-based anomaly analysis.
• Teaching experience at university level.
• Very good programming skills.
• Strong publication record and strong potential for independent and collaborative research.
• Experience with acquisition of external research funds.
• Experience with radiative transfer models.
• Experience with creating synthetic remote sensing data and virtual 3D scenes.

Salary and Application

Allocation in compliance with the Collective Agreement for University Staff to job group B1 lit. b. Gross monthly salary, depending on previous eligible experience, at least EUR 5,014.30, payable 14 times per year.

Applications can be submitted until 6th of October 2026 and should include a motivation letter, CV and concept of planned research activities. Please contact HR Management, BOKU University, Peter-Jordan-Straße 70, 1190 Wien, by email at recruiting@boku.ac.at, reference code 160.