Research Assistant

The project:

When software agents run a fleet of datacenters on their own, every action must be authenticated, authorized, and auditable. In this project you build the cryptographic trust layer that makes autonomous operation safe.
You will give agents and workloads verifiable identities, bind their permissions to safety and energy limits, and produce tamper-evident proofs of what was done — proofs that grid operators can use for compliance and payment.

Your responsibility:

• Collaboration in a research project (Adaptive Grid-Interactive Edge Datacenter Fleets (AEGIS) focusing on Agentic Verification for Trusted Autonomous Operations
• Analysis of existing procedures and protocols; development and evaluation of new concepts and data structures ?
• Build an agent identity model using decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and verifiable credentials
• Design authorization that binds actions to safety and energy limits
• Prototype proof-of-delivery that creates tamper-evident audit logs
• Supervision of student employees and student theses within the research project
• Opportunity to pursue a doctorate

The host:

The Chair for Service-centric Networking at TU Berlin, hosted at the Telekom Innovation Laboratories (T-Labs), works on trustworthy digital infrastructures, self-sovereign digital identities, and agent-based service orchestration for 6G.

Supervision:

Main supervisor:

Prof. Dr. Axel Küpper (ORCID) - Head of the Chair for Service-centric Networking, TU Berlin (at the Telekom Innovation Laboratories). He works on trustworthy infrastructures, digital identities, and agent-based orchestration.

Co-supervisors:

Riku Jäntti (ORCID) - Aalto University; Ingo Friese - Deutsche Telekom (T-Labs)

• Successfully completed university degree (Master, Diplom or equivalent) (or completion no later than the date the contract is signed) in computer science, computer engineering, electronics, energy systems, telecommunications or a related field
• Practical knowledge of applied cryptography and security, decentralized identity (DIDs, verifiable credentials) and distributed systems
• Supervision skills for student workers
• Good knowledge of German and/or English required; willingness to acquire the respective missing language skills
• Good Communication and teamwork skills desirable
• Articulate business needs with project partner and realise technical and functional requirements desirable
• Experience with projects resulting from partnerships desirable

You will spend two research visits with partners in the network:

Aalto University (Espoo, Finland) - 3 months from around July 2028 (academic), with Riku Jäntti: gather requirements and build trust mechanisms for the agent framework.
Deutsche Telekom - T-Labs (Germany) - 4 months from around July 2029 (industry), with Ingo Friese: test the trust-management framework on Deutsche Telekom’s edge infrastructure.

Before you apply, please familiarise yourself with the following requirements for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions:

• No doctoral degree: You must not yet hold a PhD at the date of recruitment
• Mobility rule: You must not have lived or carried out your main activity (work or study) in the country of your host institution for more than 12 months in the 36 months prior to your recruitment. Short stays, such as holidays, do not count.
• All nationalities welcome: These positions are open to applicants of any nationality.

Please send your written application with the reference number and the usual documents (curriculum vitae and certificates) only by email to info@snet.tu-berlin.de.

By submitting your application via email you consent to having your data electronically processed and saved. Please note that we do not provide a guaranty for the protection of your personal data when submitted as unprotected file. Please find our data protection notice acc. DSGVO (General Data Protection Regulation) at the TU staff department homepage: https://www.abt2-t.tu-berlin.de/menue/themen_a_z/datenschutzerklaerung/.

To ensure equal opportunities between women and men, applications by women with the required qualifications are explicitly desired. Qualified individuals with disabilities will be favored. The TU Berlin values the diversity of its members and is committed to the goals of equal opportunities. Applications from people of all nationalities and with a migration background are very welcome.