Context And Mission

The Language Modeling Team at the AI Institute hosted at BSC has consolidated experience across several core NLP and AI areas, including massive language model training, fine-tuning, post-training alignment, domain adaptation, AI agent development and unsupervised learning, including low-resource languages. It has been entrusted by the Spanish and Catalan governments with the mission to develop foundational open-source resources and technologies for Spanish, Catalan and other co-official languages. In addition, the team actively participates in various EU-funded international research initiatives. In this context, the AI Institute is looking for talent to help advance its operations, research capabilities and technical infrastructure.
The Language Modeling Team is seeking candidates with a strong background in computational linguistics and hands-on experience in Language Technologies;
particularly in deep learning, large language model development, instruction tuning, and agentic workflows, as well as related areas of Natural Language and Speech Processing.
The successful candidate will work in a highly sophisticated HPC environment, access state-of-the-art computational infrastructure, and collaborate with leading experts both locally and internationally. The researcher will be responsible for designing and implementing innovative techniques for language modeling, evaluation and system adaptation tailored to high-performance computing systems.

Key Duties

- Implement and test agentic workflows including multi-step reasoning and tool-use capabilities under the supervision of the senior architect.
- Develop and refine Function Calling interfaces and connectors using the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to enhance model interactivity.
- Execute post-training experiments using TRL, FastChat, and NeMo-RL to improve the agentic performance of small and large models.
- Build and maintain evaluation pipelines specifically designed to measure the reliability and safety of model-tool interactions.




- Collaborate with the data team to curate high-quality instruction datasets for task-oriented dialogue and function execution.

Requirements

- Education
- Degree in Computer Science, Mathematics or related.

- Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience

- Solid experience in Fine-tuning and Post-training of Large Language Models.
- Practical experience with Agentic AI patterns such as ReAct or autonomous tool-use.
- Proficiency in Python and Deep Learning libraries like PyTorch.
- Hands-on experience with modern post-training frameworks including TRL, FastChat, or NeMo-RL.
- Excellent level of written and spoken English.

- Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience

- Familiarity with Model Context Protocol (MCP) and API integration for LLMs.
- Knowledge of advanced preference alignment methods like DPO, GSPO, or CISPO.
- Experience in developing benchmarking tools for function calling and reasoning.
- Fluency in Spanish is highly valued.
- Knowledge of Spain’s co-official languages is a significant advantage.

- Competences

- Strong technical execution skills with a focus on reproducibility and clean code.
- Ability to work effectively in a team-oriented research environment.
- Proactive problem-solving mindset when dealing with complex system integrations.
- Detail-oriented approach to evaluating model reliability and edge cases.

Conditions

- The position will be located at BSC within the Directors Department
- We offer a full-time contract (35h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, versátil working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, support to the relocation procedures
- Duration: Open-ended contract due to technical and scientific activities linked to the project and budget duration
- Holidays: 22 days of holidays + 6 personal days + 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement
- Salary: we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona
- Starting date: ASAP

📌 Ai Agent & Tool-Use Engineer (Barcelona)
🏢 Barcelona Supercomputing Center
📍 Barcelona