The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science invites applications for 2 bright and motivated PhD candidates that want to research how to use AI to make 'smart' tools for mining-, analysing- and reasoning about software designs - especially at the level of software architecture. The position is placed in the Software Engineering and Technology (SET) group and will be supervised by prof.dr. Michel R. V. Chaudron.

The SET group has developed one 'moonshot'-projects: to develop an 'Intelligent Assistant for Software Developers'. Such an intelligent assistant should be able to answer various questions from developers about the system under development. We will focus on questions that relate to the design and architecture of the system, such as for example: 'Where is this feature implemented in this system?', and 'Does this API support proper Information Hiding?'

To answer such questions, we have developed a roadmap where we want to build an ecosystem of technologies and tools around the following theme's:

• Knowledge Mining - this includes techniques for mining from sources in natural language (e.g. Requirements and Architecture Descriptions using Natural Language Processing), as well as from source code and (UML) models of the design (e.g. for reconstructing Implementation-Architecture mappings)
• Knowledge Representation - All the information found about a system will be collected in a central knowledge repository using techniques like ontologies and knowledge-graphs.
• Innovative techniques for analysing/reasoning and exploration of systems - this includes techniques for reasoning about (architecture) design principles (such as e.g. layering, modularity, information hiding)
• More user-centric and more intuitive interaction such as use of voice and touch for SE-tools, as well as smart software-visualisation tools.

All of these technologies/tools are targeted at supporting engineers in developing software systems. We look for candidates that can contribute to these theme's (priority is on the first 3: Mining, Representation and Reasoning).

The Software Engineering group (https://www.tue.nl/en/research/research-groups/computer-science/software-engineering-and-technology-w/) at TU/e has a strong track record in doing research in the areas of software architecture, model-based software development, mining software repositories and social aspects of software engineering. The SET group has many collaborations with companies in the Eindhoven region, in The Netherlands and in Europe. SET actively participates in the major SE conferences, including ICSE, ICSA, MODELS, Euromicro-SEAA. The SET group has many international members and the day-to-day language is English (also in teaching).

We are looking for a candidate who meets the following requirements:

• You are enthusiastic about research, Software Engineering and AI.
• You have good communication skills and are a team-player.
• You are creative, analytical, hardworking and persistent.
• In particular, the candidate should have hands on skills with AI-techniques for:
• (focus of position 1): Knowledge Representation (such as Ontologies or Knowledge Graphs) and Automated Reasoning,
• (focus of position 2): Reverse Architecting
• Software Architecture Design
• Expertise in the field of explainable AI or applied theorem-proving is a plus but not mandatory.

• You have a master degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or Artificial Intelligence or clearly related discipline
• You have the ability to implement the software that you need to develop as part of your research (using modern languages and frameworks)
• You have a good command of the English language (knowledge of Dutch is not required).  

• A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university with the possibility to present your work at international conferences.
• A full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation (go/no-go) after nine months.
• To develop your teaching skills, you will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks.
• To support you during your PhD and to prepare you for the rest of your career, you will make a Training and Supervision plan and you will have free access to a personal development program for PhD students (PROOF program).
• A gross monthly salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities.
• Additionally, an annual holiday allowance of 8% of the yearly salary, plus a year-end allowance of 8.3% of the annual salary.
• Should you come from abroad and comply with certain conditions, you can make use of the so-called '30% facility', which permits you not to pay tax on 30% of your salary.
• A broad package of fringe benefits, including an excellent technical infrastructure, moving expenses, and savings schemes.
• Family-friendly initiatives are in place, such as an international spouse program, and excellent on-campus children day care and sports facilities.