The Helsinki Institute of Physics (HIP) invites applications for

starting from 1st of January 2024 (or as agreed).

The appointees shall hold an applicable doctoral degree and the ability to conduct independent scholarly work. The salaries for the positions are based on the salary system of Finnish universities. The salary range of a postdoctoral researcher is 3500-3700 euros/month depending on the appointees’ qualifications and experience. The initial contract duration for both positions is three years, or as agreed, with a possibility of extension. The positions will be filled with a 6-month trial period. We welcome applicants from a variety of genders, linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and minorities.

The positions are opened in the HIP CMS experiment group which contributes to the analysis of the data from the CMS experiment and the development of analysis tools and software. Our key focus areas are the physics of jets, top quarks, and the Higgs sector, including the development of novel machine-learning methods for high-energy physics. Our experimental responsibilities include jet energy corrections, prompt calibration loop, and trigger activities.

The two appointed candidates will work within the research project “ForVVard” funded by the Research Council of Finland, and the research project "JEC4HL-LHC" funded by the ERC Consolidator Grant 101043975 respectively. 

The goal of the ForVVard project (PI Adj. Prof. Henning Kirschenmann) is to analyze the all-hadronic final state of Vector Boson Scattering (VBS), a powerful probe into the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking and highly sensitive to new physics contributions. The selected candidate will join the effort of performing this analysis with the LHC Run-3 data, taking a leading role in one of the following areas: improving jet calibrations in the challenging forward region; applying cutting-edge machine learning techniques to enable particle-level jet energy calibrations, and to gain access to the polarization of wide jets from hadronic W/Z boson decays; analysis design for effective suppression of the QCD multijet background.

The aim of the JEC4HL-LHC project (PI Prof. Mikko Voutilainen) is to bring the precision of jet energy corrections (JEC) from the current 1% level to 0.1% level in Run 3, in preparation for the high-luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), by innovating across all fronts of JEC workflow, introducing new types of calibration samples and calibration techniques. This will unlock unprecedented precision for measurements of key fundamental constants of nature, bringing new insight on the vacuum stability. The selected candidate is expected to take a central role in this effort, pioneering new methods to tackle some of the dominant sources of JEC systematic uncertainty: the flavor-dependence of the JECs; modeling of initial and final state radiation, parton showering, and underlying event; pileup and time-dependence of JECs. 

In addition to working either in the "ForVVard" or "JEC4HL-LHC" project, the selected candidates have the opportunity to contribute to the other research areas within the HIP CMS experiment group.

The application consists of:

-Cover letter;

-Curriculum vitae and a publications list (with the five most important publications highlighted, specifying the applicant's contributions);

-A short research statement (max. 1000 words), describing your background, research interests, and your ideas for reaching the goals of the "ForVVard" or "JEC4HL-LHC" project;

-2-3 reference letters.

Please submit your application using the University of Helsinki recruitment system via the ‘Apply Now’ link. Applicants, who are employees of the University of Helsinki, are requested to leave their application by using the employee login. Alternatively, you can send the mentioned documents (compiled into a single pdf file) by email to: recruitment-cms@hip.fi. 

The reference letters can be sent separately to recruitment-cms@hip.fi, up to 7 September 2023.

Please mention in the cover letter which of the two positions you are applying for. You can also apply for both positions, in which case you can submit separate cover letters and research statements if you wish.

For further information about both positions, please contact recruitment-cms@hip.fi. This address reaches Prof. Mikko Voutilainen, Adj. Prof. Henning Kirschenmann, and Dr. Santeri Laurila, and guarantees the fastest response also during the summer vacation period.

The Helsinki Institute of Physics (HIP) is a physics research institute that is operated jointly by five Finnish universities. The research activity at the institute covers an extensive range of subjects in theoretical physics and experimental subatomic physics, and the institute is responsible for the Finnish research collaboration with CERN.

HIP is an equal-opportunity workplace committed to advancing well-being and diversity in science and education. We support the compatibility of work and family life and promote gender equality in science. The focus on well-being is further endorsed by an active well-being group. We offer comprehensive preventive occupational health services and general medical care. In addition, all staff are covered by the University of Helsinki’s employee travel insurance and occupational accident insurance.

Finland is a very family-friendly country with generous parental leaves, very affordable state-subsidized daycare that is available for all children, as well as world-renowned free primary and secondary education as well as public healthcare, and has been ranked as the happiest country in the world for six years in a row now. Finland and the Helsinki region possess top expertise in sciences in terms of a vibrant talent pool, leading research, strong support services and functioning collaboration networks. For more information about working in Helsinki and living in Finland, please see https://www.helsinki.fi/en/about-us/careers.