PhD Position Engineering Productivity Metrics at the Future of Software Engineering (FUSE) lab

Want to rethink the future of software engineering at scale? Join researchers from TU Delft and Meta Platforms as a PhD student in the newly established FUSE Lab!

Job description

As generative artificial intelligence is transforming the daily work of software engineers, TU Delft and the Meta Dev Infra team join forces in a research lab to investigate how we can leverage AI to advance the daily experience and productivity of software engineers at the scale of Meta's tens of thousands of software engineers.

Across several tracks, we will develop tools that rethink the future of software engineering. Our work will be informed by sound theories and supported by empirical data. In this project, we will use AI as an opportunity and address the challenges that emerge due to AI. Our goal is to conduct rigorous research, apply our results in practice at Meta and to educate the students of TU Delft about the new insights we gather. We will focus on open science, sharing our results to help developers across the world.

Engineering Productivity Metrics

This track will investigate how we can customize typical software engineering metrics to usefully reflect progress for machine learning engineers. Not all their changes get deployed as they might not measurably push the final outcomes in A/B experiments. How can we still inform the engineers whether they go in the right direction?

Next to this, we will also focus on a shift-left of experimentation: Before deploying a change, an A/B test measures whether business metrics are improved by the change. We will develop tools to provide early feedback to the developers on the correct configuration of their experiments.

Job requirements

Required (by the Graduate School of TU Delft):

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field.
• Proficiency in the English language.

Additional requirements:

• Research focus, characterized by curiosity, data fluency, and critical thinking
• Engineering mindset, including ability to create experimental prototypes and demonstrators
• Team player, good listener, and ready to help.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) brings together three scientific disciplines. Combined, they reinforce each other and are the driving force behind the technology we all use in our daily lives. Technology such as the electricity grid, which our faculty is helping to make completely sustainable and future-proof. At the same time, we are developing the chips and sensors of the future, whilst also setting the foundations for the software technologies to run on this new generation of equipment – which of course includes AI. Meanwhile we are pushing the limits of applied mathematics, for example mapping out disease processes using single cell data, and using mathematics to simulate gigantic ash plumes after a volcanic eruption. In other words: there is plenty of room at the faculty for ground-breaking research. We educate innovative engineers and have excellent labs and facilities that underline our strong international position. In total, more than 1000 employees and 4,000 students work and study in this innovative environment.

Conditions of employment

• Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1.5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months. Followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2.5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.
• Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from €3059 - €3881 gross per month, from the first year to the fourth year based on a fulltime contract (38 hours), plus 8% holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.
• As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.
• The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

Additional information

The PhD positions will be fully at TU Delft, with strong collaboration with Meta.