IMT Atlantique, a prestigious French engineering school and member of the IMT-Institut Mines-Télécom group, is seeking a postdoctoral researcher in Artificial Intelligence for its Mechanically Welded Parts Costing project. The position is based in the Automation, Production Engineering, and Computer Science Department (DAPI) in Nantes, France, and involves close collaboration with the industrial partner METAL44. The project’s goal is to develop and evaluate AI solutions, particularly Vision-Language Models (VLMs), to automate the costing process for mechanically welded parts. The successful candidate will work under the supervision of Professor Samir Loudni and will be responsible for exploring and preparing data from diverse sources, including 2D plans (PDF), 3D models (STEP), and text documents (standards, internal scales). Key responsibilities include identifying and evaluating suitable VLMs for extracting technical information from these sources, using the extracted data to predict manufacturing operations (such as cutting, bending, welding), and estimating their cost or duration based on internal historical data. The researcher will assess model performance on real industrial cases and contribute to the development of a demonstrator or prototype for production use. Applicants must have a PhD (obtained within the last 3 years) in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field, and possess strong skills in Python, multimodal AI models, handling industrial data, geometric feature extraction, predictive modeling, and software development practices. Excellent communication skills in French and English, teamwork, and independent initiative are essential. The position is full-time, temporary (12-month contract, renewable), and offers a stimulating innovation ecosystem, collaborations with renowned research organizations, and a comprehensive social benefits package (including leisure/sport offers, public transport coverage, sustainable mobility package, family supplement, partial remote work, and generous leave). Application materials include a CV, motivation letter, summary of a relevant technical project or achievement (or GitHub link), and references. The application deadline is November 23, 2025, with a contract start date in February 2026. For further details, candidates may contact Professor Samir Loudni or recruitment assistant Fanny Bernard. The position is open to all, with accommodations available for candidates with disabilities.