HiPEAC

Postdoctoral Researcher in Secure and Efficient System Software

The SPELLS² group (Software Performance Evaluation of Low-Level, Safe, Secure and Scalable Systems) at the Software Languages Lab of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Brussels, Belgium) invites applications for a postdoctoral researcher position in secure and efficient system software.

Research topics include one or more of:

  • automated migration of legacy C/C++ codebases to Rust (transpilation) and verification of the result;
  • eBPF as a safe kernel-extension and observability mechanism;
  • joint security and performance evaluation of system software, building on the group’s open-source infrastructure (benchkit, a SPEC Research Group recognised tool, and Pythainer);
  • real-time systems: real-time Linux, scheduling, GPU kernels, robotics software stacks.

The postdoctoral researcher will co-supervise PhD students, contribute practical sessions to the systems curriculum, and is encouraged to develop their own research line within the group.

Profile: a PhD in computer science or a related field (systems, security, programming languages, or real-time systems); strong low-level programming skills (C/C++ and/or Rust); a solid operating-systems and computer-architecture background; a publication record in peer-reviewed venues.

The group collaborates with KU Leuven, UGent, NTNU, imec, Thales, the Royal Military Academy and Belgian Defence. Brussels is an international city and English is the working language of the department.

Starting date: as soon as possible. No application deadline: applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Full description and how to apply: https://antonio.paolillo.be/positions/postdoc-cif-2026.html Informal enquiries: [email protected]


About

Free University Brussels (VUB) logo

Free University Brussels (VUB)

The Vrije Universiteit Brussel, founded in 1969 from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, champions academic freedom and operates independently, offering courses primarily in Dutch.


Metadata

Application areas: Defence, Industrial automation

Topics: Compilation, Cybersecurity, Embedded Systems, GPUs, Multicore / Manycore, Open Source, Operating systems, Performance engineering, Programming languages, Resource management / Scheduling, Robotics, Safety


Summary

The SPELLS² group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel seeks a postdoctoral researcher in secure system software. Candidates should hold a PhD and possess strong programming and operating systems skills.