Postdoc and Researcher Positions in NLP and Knowledge Graphs at GESIS (KTS)
GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften is recruiting in Cologne for two research roles in
Knowledge Technologies for the Social Sciences (KTS)
, starting
1 October 2026
. The positions sit at the intersection of
Natural Language Processing
,
knowledge graphs
,
semantic technologies
, and
research infrastructure
.
1) Postdoc in NLP and Research Knowledge Graphs
(full-time, TV-L E13, limited until 31.12.2028, subject to approval). This role focuses on scholarly information extraction, building
Research Knowledge Graphs
, benchmarking protocols, curating AI methods, and contributing to the
NFDI4DS
project and its academy. The postdoc will lead work packages, coordinate with project partners, supervise PhD students, and disseminate results through publications and workshops.
2) Researcher in Knowledge Graphs
(part-time 75%, TV-L E13, limited for 2 years, subject to approval). This role supports the
KGI4NFDI
basic service by designing and implementing a knowledge graph registration hub, web APIs, testing and quality assurance workflows, and interfaces for querying knowledge graphs with open LLMs. The work also includes stakeholder support and dissemination.
Eligibility highlights:
The postdoc requires a completed PhD in computer science, data science, or a related field, plus project management experience and strong NLP/knowledge graph expertise. The researcher role requires a very good university degree in computer science, data science, or a related field, with proven experience in semantic web, RDF, metadata standards, Python, APIs, triple stores, and search technologies. Very good English is required; German is desirable for both roles.
Application deadline:
17 June 2026. Apply through the online application portal on the GESIS job pages. Contact Philipp Mayr for the postdoc role and Dr. Benjamin Zapilko for the researcher role.