Research-Oriented Developer in Linguistic Infrastructure
(ref. BAP-2025-455)
Laatst aangepast: 18/08/25
Laatst aangepast: 18/08/25
The Centre for Computational Linguistics (KU Leuven) is seeking a research-oriented full-stack developer to contribute to cutting-edge linguistic infrastructure by reimagining the next generation of GrETEL, a treebank query system developed at KU Leuven.
This position is part of CLARIAH-VL+, a strategic research infrastructure project funded by the Flemish Research Foundation (FWO). It provides the opportunity to work at the intersection of computational linguistics, language technology, and digital humanities.
Your role involves both technological innovation and research collaboration: you will co-design and implement a modular and extensible platform for syntactic and semantic querying, integrating state-of-the-art models (e.g. Universal Dependencies, transformer-based embeddings), and working in close dialogue with linguists and computational linguists.
The resulting platform will serve as a methodological bridge between structured corpora and modern machine learning approaches, supporting exploratory and hypothesis-driven research. You will be an integral part of a dynamic research team, with opportunities to contribute to publications, user studies, and methodological design.
You will also collaborate with developers at the Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal (INT) and participate in the broader CLARIN ERIC infrastructure (www.clarin.eu), a European research consortium dedicated to language resources and tools.
This position is part of CLARIAH-VL+, a strategic research infrastructure project funded by the Flemish Research Foundation (FWO). It provides the opportunity to work at the intersection of computational linguistics, language technology, and digital humanities.
Your role involves both technological innovation and research collaboration: you will co-design and implement a modular and extensible platform for syntactic and semantic querying, integrating state-of-the-art models (e.g. Universal Dependencies, transformer-based embeddings), and working in close dialogue with linguists and computational linguists.
The resulting platform will serve as a methodological bridge between structured corpora and modern machine learning approaches, supporting exploratory and hypothesis-driven research. You will be an integral part of a dynamic research team, with opportunities to contribute to publications, user studies, and methodological design.
You will also collaborate with developers at the Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal (INT) and participate in the broader CLARIN ERIC infrastructure (www.clarin.eu), a European research consortium dedicated to language resources and tools.
Responsibilities
- Co-develop a next-generation treebank query platform that supports both syntactic and semantic search across corpora.
Design an intuitive and flexible interface for querying and visualizing linguistic structures, working closely with researchers to accommodate diverse use cases.
Prototype and integrate support for Universal Dependencies and transformer-based linguistic representations.
Collaborate on the methodological integration of the tool into ongoing linguistic research, including cross-linguistic and historical corpora.
Ensure interoperability with established corpora and formats (e.g., CGN, LASSY, SoNaR, UD).
Write documentation and participate in dissemination (e.g. workshops, publications, user training).
- Contribute to a sustainable and reusable codebase, with attention to testing, versioning, and long-term maintainability.
Profile
- A Master's degree in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
Proven experience with Python and modern web development technologies.
Familiarity with front-end frameworks (e.g. React, Vue, or Angular) and back-end architectures (e.g. FastAPI, Flask, or Django).
Interest in or experience with natural language processing (NLP), syntactic annotation (e.g., treebanks, Universal Dependencies), or linguistic corpora.
Ability to collaborate in an interdisciplinary academic setting, with strong communication skills in English (oral and written).
Experience with semantic embeddings or transformer models is a strong asset.
Offer
- A full-time position for 2 years (or half-time for 4 years), with remuneration based on experience and seniority, in accordance with KU Leuven scales for research staff.
The possibility of extending the position by up to 30% with complementary responsibilities, such as project coordination, infrastructure support, or academic service tasks, depending on the candidate’s interests and institutional needs.
A dynamic and supportive research environment at the Centre for Computational Linguistics (CCL), part of the ComForT research unit at KU Leuven.
The opportunity to shape a high-impact open-source tool used by researchers across Europe in linguistics, NLP, and the digital humanities.
Collaboration with national and international partners, including the Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal (INT) and the CLARIN ERIC infrastructure.
Interested?
For more information please contact Prof. dr. Tim Van de Cruys, tel.: +32 16 32 35 19, mail: [email protected].
You can apply for this job no later than September 10, 2025 via the online application tool
KU Leuven strives for an inclusive, respectful and socially safe environment. We embrace diversity among individuals and groups as an asset. Open dialogue and differences in perspective are essential for an ambitious research and educational environment. In our commitment to equal opportunity, we recognize the consequences of historical inequalities. We do not accept any form of discrimination based on, but not limited to, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, ethnic or national background, skin colour, religious and philosophical diversity, neurodivergence, employment disability, health, or socioeconomic status. For questions about accessibility or support offered, we are happy to assist you at this email address.
Heb je een vraag over de online sollicitatieprocedure? Raadpleeg onze veelgestelde vragen of stuur een e-mail naar [email protected]
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Tewerkstellingspercentage: Voltijdse of deeltijdse tewerkstelling mogelijk
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Locatie: Leuven
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Solliciteren tot en met:10/09/2025 23:59 CET
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Tags: Taalkunde / Letterkunde
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