WU is currently inviting applications for the position of a full professor[1] of Machine Learning Foundations at the Department of Finance, Accounting and Statistics. Candidates are expected to have established an international reputation as a researcher in their field. Depending on the candidate’s academic credentials, the employment contract can be concluded either as a permanent employment contract or as a fixed-term employment contract with the option of a permanent extension.[2]

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The new professor of Machine Learning Foundations will join the Institute for Statistics and Mathematics at WU’s Department of Finance, Accounting and Statistics. Members of the Institute are affiliated with the PhD Label ‘Mathematics in Economics and Business’, a high-level PhD program. Further, the Institute is responsible for the education in mathematics and statistics in WU’s undergraduate programs, to which it also contributes courses in data science and econometrics. The Institute is running the reputed MSc program ‘Quantitative Finance’ in close cooperation with the Institute of Finance Banking and Insurance, and collaborates with the newly established Department of Business Analytics and Decision Sciences.

Qualifications

The successful candidate is expected to have established an international reputation as a researcher in the relevant field and to have excellent qualifications. Candidates’ qualifications will be assessed in the context of their academic age on the basis of the following characteristics:

a) A solid academic qualification (e.g. PhD and habilitation or equivalent) in Statistics, Machine Learning, Applied Mathematics or a related area

b) An outstanding international reputation for high-quality scholarship in statistical Machine Learning commensurate with academic age, especially by having demonstrated the ability to publish in top-tier journals in the field, potentially supplemented by contributions to leading conferences

c) Excellent teaching qualifications at undergraduate and graduate levels as well as documented experience in supervising PhD students

d) Proven international experience

e) A strong record in attracting research funding

f) Leadership qualities

g) Gender and diversity management skills

Expectations

The successful candidate is expected to perform teaching activities at all levels (bachelor’s, master’s, PhD/doctorate, and executive education), both in the classroom and in distance-learning formats. The holder of this position is expected to teach 8 weekly credit hours and is willing to actively contribute to the development of an envisioned study focus in business analytics in WU’s bachelor program, in which some of the teaching will take place.

Although the position is devoted to research in the methodological foundations of Machine Learning, an interest in applications that align well with existing research at the Department of Finance, Accounting and Statistics or other departments at WU are a plus.

Furthermore, the ability to connect the Department of Finance, Accounting and Statistics to a new Department “Business Analytics and Decisions Sciences” at WU is expected. Experience with the R environment for statistical computing and graphics and active contributions to its advancement are appreciated but not required.

We also expect the new professor to take an active role in the university’s self-governance and third mission activities.

Applications

WU is committed to diversity and inclusion, and qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply. In case of equal qualification, female candidates will be given preference. Applicants with disabilities will be supported during each stage of the recruitment process. Candidates’ qualifications will be assessed in the context of their academic age.

WU assesses performance in the context of each applicant’s biography and relative to the opportunities available to them. This approach recognizes that academic achievements cannot be assessed separately from each individual researchers’ biographical factors. To ensure equitable opportunities, qualifications are evaluated relative to the applicant’s academic age. This means that WU takes biographical factors such as part-time employment or career interruptions due to caregiving or childcare obligations or other functions performed at or outside of a university into account. Depending on the candidate’s academic credentials, the employment contract can be concluded either as a permanent employment contract or as a fixed-term employment contract with the option of a permanent extension.

In your application, you can include personal data related to biographical factors. WU will keep all data that you send us as part of your application confidential. All persons involved in the selection procedure are bound by obligations of secrecy.

Applicants should address their applications and all relevant documents (including in any case a letter of motivation, academic CV, reference to the criteria specified in the call for applications) to the Rector of WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Welthandelsplatz 1, 1020 Vienna, and upload these documents using the link provided/ button below/ on the WU website.

Please submit your application via WU’s online recruiting tool by July 16, 2025.

For further subject-related details about the position, please contact Professor David Preinerstorfer, head of the search committee, by phone ++43-1-31336-6272, or by mail: david.preinerstorfer@wu.ac.at, or Professor Kurt Hornik, chair of the Department of Finance, Accounting and Statistics, by phone: ++43-1-313364756, or by email: kurt.hornik@wu.ac.at.

For details about the application process, please contact the Senior Faculty Recruitment team by email at prof.application@wu.ac.at.

Please note: Only applications uploaded via our online recruiting tool will be considered. In their application documents, applicants must respond to all criteria specified in the call for applications, especially to items A) “Qualifications” and B) “What we expect.” A reference to these two items is considered a mandatory element of any application to WU Vienna, and any applications that lack this mandatory element cannot be considered.

1 employed under salary group A 1 pursuant to the Collective Bargaining Agreement for University Staff [Kollektivvertrag für die Arbeitnehmer/innen der Universitäten], minimum gross yearly salary: €92,460.20; the actual annual gross salary is subject to negotiation

2 The duration of fixed-term contracts is subject to negotiation.

Full Professor of Machine Learning Foundations