Postdoctoral Scholar in Wireless Communications, AI (RL/LLMs), and Software-Defined Radios University of California, Irvine in United States

University of California, Irvine is hiring a Postdoctoral Scholar in wireless communications, digital signal processing, reinforcement learning, large language models, and software-defined radios.

The position is part of an interdisciplinary research effort led by Payam Heydari (Chancellor’s Professor and Henry Samueli Faculty Excellence Professor, UC Irvine). The project focuses on AI-enabled circuits/systems that translate high-level mission objectives into deployable communications DSP solutions. The research direction includes end-to-end transmit/receive chain design, multi-agent AI coordination, and hardware-aware optimization under constraints such as BER, throughput, bandwidth/SEM, latency, MIMO/beamforming, and platform budgets.

Research responsibilities include developing and benchmarking modulation, coding, synchronization, spectral shaping, equalization, and related transceiver components; implementing multi-agent reinforcement learning workflows; contributing to LLM-assisted engineering tools; and validating designs with MATLAB, GNU Radio, and SDR/hardware-in-the-loop experiments.

Eligibility highlights: a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field; strong background in digital communications and statistical signal processing; research software experience in Python and/or C/C++; familiarity with modern machine learning tools. Preferred experience includes RL, multi-agent coordination, LLMs, and SDR platforms such as USRP-class radios.

Funding: the salary range listed is $69,073-$82,836 depending on experience.

Application window: open date April 30, 2026; most recent review date May 19, 2026; final date April 29, 2027. Applications are accepted online through the UC Irvine recruitment portal.