PhD Position (ML/NLP): Tool-Augmented LLMs for Enterprise Data AI

TL;DR

PhD Position (AI): Building and validating thinking-with-tools for LLMs in enterprise data-driven decisions with an accent on integrating live tool use and developing efficient, cost-aware systems. Focus on designing frameworks, fine-tuning open LLMs for safe tool execution, and prototyping realistic hirify.global use cases like forecasting and customer insights.

Location: Hybrid in Barcelona or Madrid, Spain. Valid authorization to work in Spain is required (no visa sponsorship available).

Company

hirify.global is an industry player focusing on shaping the future of AI decision-making for enterprises over structured data.

What you will do

• Build and validate thinking-with-tools, an approach for LLMs in enterprise data-driven decisions.
• Design the framework and fine-tune open LLMs to plan and run safe, efficient tools.
• Develop policies that balance accuracy, cost, and latency for decision systems.
• Build a sandbox reflecting enterprise schemas and craft training traces that interleave reasoning and tool calls.
• Prototype realistic hirify.global use cases, such as forecasting and customer insights.
• Measure impact with clear evaluations of accuracy/latency/cost trade-offs and robustness to schema evolution.

Requirements

• Strong background in ML/NLP and databases (SQL/DBMS/KGs).
• Solid Python programming and experimentation skills.
• Valid authorization to work in Spain (no visa sponsorship available).
• Working language is English.

Nice to have

• Experience with LLM fine-tuning, text-to-SQL, tool use/agents, or Reinforcement Learning (RL).

Culture & Benefits

• Join an internationally diverse and dynamic team with over 30 nationalities.
• Work in a hybrid model, requiring 2 days a week in the office.
• Contribute to developing high-quality software that creates sustainable added value for customers.
• Participate in an open feedback culture for continuous reflection and improvement.
• Benefit from an industrial PhD setup with academic supervision at EURECOM (Prof. Paolo Papotti).
• Engage in a PhD program with a duration of 36 months.

Hiring process

• Submit your CV, transcripts, a short research statement (1 page), and representative publications/software (e.g., GitHub).
• Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.