Are you a highly-motivated postdoctoral researcher with excellent skills for performing Chemical simulations based on Quantum Computing? Then you could be the candidate we are looking for.

We have a two year postdoctoral position available in a joint research initiative (started by TOYOTA, QuSoft, UvA and VU) that is aimed at exploring potential usage of quantum computing for research and development. You will be employed at the Institute of Physics (IoP) of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The main research environments will be the QuSoft Center (housed by CWI) and the Theoretical Chemistry group at the Vrije Universiteit (VU).

What are you going to do?

Focus of the project will be the study of photocatalytic systems on quantum computers. Stationary molecules or chemical reactions pertaining to heterogenous photocatalysis systems will be analyzed with the help of quantum computing and quantum simulation techniques. The goal is to identify pathways from exploratory simulations on simulators or NISQ type devices towards the goal of accurate calculations on realistic model systems. Important aspect of the project is algorithmic development: case-specific improving, tweaking and optimizing of approaches, such as those based on a Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) or on Hamiltonian simulation in combination with Quantum Phase Estimation (QPE).

The project will be supervised by:

• dr Sachin Kinge for TOYOTA
• prof Kareljan Schoutens for QuSoft, UvA
• prof Lucas Visscher for VU

The results of the research will be published in the open literature. At the same time, the results will be shared within the collaboration through regular updates, progress meetings and internal reports.

What do we require?

The successful candidate should have:

• a completed PhD in (Computational) Chemistry, Theoretical Physics or Computer Science;
• expertise in and affinity for computational approaches to chemistry, materials or condensed matter systems;
• strong motivation to work in a cross-disciplinary environment at the interface of academic and corporate research.

Fixed-term contract: 2 years.

We offer a two-year contract for 38 hours a week, preferably starting on 1 June or 1 July 2021.

The salary, depending on relevant experience before the beginning of the employment contract, will be €2,790 to €4,402 (scale 10) gross per month, based on a fulltime contract (38 hours a week). This is exclusive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

Are you curious about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits like our excellent opportunities for study and development? Take a look here.

University of Amsterdam

With over 5,000 employees, 30,000 students and a budget of more than 600 million euros, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is an intellectual hub within the Netherlands. Teaching and research at the UvA are conducted within seven faculties: Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Law, Science, Medicine and Dentistry. Housed on four city campuses in or near the heart of Amsterdam, where disciplines come together and interact, the faculties have close links with thousands of researchers and hundreds of institutions at home and abroad.  

The UvA’s students and employees are independent thinkers, competent rebels who dare to question dogmas and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and standard solutions. To work at the UvA is to work in an independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society.

Faculty of Science – Institute of Physics

The Faculty of Science has a student body of around 7,000, as well as 1,600 members of staff working in education, research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works, be it elementary particles, the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain.

In the area of quantum computing and quantum simulation, four research institutes of the Faculty of Science, including the Institute of Physics (IoP) , work together in QuSoft , a research center for quantum software. The mission of QuSoft is to develop new protocols, algorithms and applications that can be run on small and medium-sized prototypes of a quantum computer.