Open Position Postdoctoral position in Observational Cosmology at IFAE

Opening Date:
Closing Date:
Ref:IFAE2025/39_COSMOLOGY_Postdoc

About IFAE

The Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE) is a public consortium of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB, a public university) whose main objective is to carry out research and to contribute to the development of high energy physics from a theoretical, experimental and technological point of view. IFAE has the status of a “University Institute" attached to the UAB and its premises are within the campus of the University.

About the Observational Cosmology group

The IFAE Cosmology group is presently formed by 5 faculty, 7 post-docs and 10 PhD students and is a full member of the Dark Energy Survey (DES), the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), the Euclid Consortium and the Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) at the Rubin Observatory. The group plays leading roles in the analysis of DES, DESI and Euclid, and is preparing for the data exploitation of the LSST-DESC survey. The ERC-funded COSMO-LYA research group, led by Andreu Font-Ribera, is using innovative techniques and new data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to address some of the open questions in fundamental physics.

What will be your role?

The successful candidate will join the COSMO-LYA project and the Observational Cosmology group at IFAE, and will become a member of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) collaboration. The main goal will be to develop and validate new methodologies to go beyond the state-of-the-art in data analysis of spectroscopic surveys, and apply them to the third data release of DESI (DR3), expected in 2026. The candidate is expected to do international travel and stays for research purposes in addition to collaboration meetings and conferences.

Required skills and evaluation criteria

The successful candidate will be expected to have a PhD in Physics or a related discipline, experience in data analysis of cosmological surveys and in scientific programming, including experience working with High Performance Computing facilities. The evaluation criteria and their weighting for the submitted applications will be the following:

  • Research experience: 40 points
  • Leadership and communication skills: 20 points
  • Programming and computing skills: 20 points
  • Research vision and motivation: 20 points

Offered contract:

Full time contract (40h/week) as a postdoctoral researcher, with a salary proportional to experience and qualifications within the corresponding category range. The contract will have a duration of two years, but there will be opportunities to apply for other sources of funding. The selected candidate is expected to join IFAE on September 2026 or soon after.

Application and Selection process:

Applications should be submitted to Dr. Andreu Font-Ribera (afont@ifae.es ) and rrhh@ifae.es stating the job reference (IFAE2025/39_COSMOLOGY_Postdoc) as the subject of the message. The mail should include a cover letter and an updated CV. The candidates should also arrange for up to two reference letters to be sent to the same address by the closing date. Sending CVs to the above addresses implies consent to the IFAE’s legal warning on data privacy. A Selection Committee will evaluate the received applications. If more than one candidate seems equally suitable for the position, the Selection Committee will arrange an on-line interview with each one of them as part of the Selection process.

You may contact Dr. Andreu Font-Ribera (afont@ifae.es ) for any questions related to this job opening.

IFAE is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity in the workplace and social integration of people with a disability. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates. People from groups that are typically underrepresented in the labour market in general and in Science and Engineering in particular, such as women, minorities, or people with a disability, are particularly encouraged to apply. In compliance with article 121 of the Spanish Public Sector Legal Regime Act, staff with a pre-existing relationship with the Consortium administration (Generalitat de Catalunya and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) will have priority in the awarding of the position.

Funding Statement