Bayesian Methods Research Group

Host: Bayesian Methods Research Group
Location: Moscow, Russia
Supervisor: Dmitry Vetrov (Samsung AI Center Moscow, Research Professor at Higher School of Economics)
Duration: 2 years
Salary indication: $3800-5300 gross per month
Education level: PhD
Deadline for application: 31 June 2019, applications are reviewed on a rolling basis

Project description: You will be a part of a RL team, which aims at developing deep reinforcement learning algorithms. Currently, the team is centered around learning in partial observability domains, transfer and generalization. We expect the successful applicant to shape the team's vision, validate research ideas and propose future directions. The applicant is expected to have deep theoretical knowledge of classic reinforcement learning algorithms, as well familiarity with recent advancements in deep RL. The RL team is a part of Bayesian Methods Research Group, and thus an experience in approximate inference will be considered as a strong advantage, but is not essential for the position.

The area of your responsibilities will include:

• Propose, plan and execute research agenda.
• Advise PhD students: validate research ideas, comment on pursued directions and software implementation.
• Collaborate with other members of the group who are part of either Samsung AI Center or Samsung-HSE Lab.
• Contribute to educational activities of the group e.g., academic courses, summer schools and workshops.

Requirements:

• A strong publication record in Reinforcement Learning, that is demonstrated through papers in leading machine learning conferences (e.g. NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR).
• Solid practical experience in implementation of Deep Reinforcement Leеrning methods.
• Excellent skills in mathematics, statistics and machine learning.
• Full professional proficiency in spoken and written English.

The following will be considered strong advantages:

• Familiarity with variational inference and generative models.
• Provision of code samples (preferably a full research project).

Appointment: The candidate will be employed for 40 hours per week by either Samsung AI Center Moscow or Computer Science Department of National Research University Higher School of Economics. The initial employment contract will last one year with subsequent extension after a positive evaluation. Please note that knowledge of Russian language is not required neither for the position, nor for living in Moscow.

The application must include: Detailed Curriculum Vitae and a cover letter which provides a statement of your research interests, motivation and research plans (at most two pages).

Send CV and cover letter to Dmitry Vetrov and CC Ekaterina Volzenina. Please include the string "[Postdoc RL Application 2019]" in the subject.

For pdf version refer here.