Laboratory

High Performance Big Data Research Team
RIKEN Center for Computational Science
(Team Leader: Kento Sato)

Research Field

RIKEN Center for Computational Science (R-CCS), led by Center Director Satoshi Matsuoka, is an international research center in high performance computing and computational science in Japan. Our objectives are to investigate “the Science of (high performance) computing, by computing, and for computing”, to research and develop our technologies (R-CCS technology) and software (R-CCS software), which we consider our core competence, in order to produce world-leading scientific and engineering results for use in Japan as well as globally.

Also, R-CCS started operating Japan’s national flagship supercomputer Fugaku, as a shared national facility to support a wide range of research activities since 2021.

High Performance Big Data Research Team at RIKEN R-CCS researches and develops system software for large-scale HPC (High Performance Computing) systems such as the Supercomputer Fugaku. Especially, we study state-of-the-art techniques for convergence of HPC, AI and Big data technologies as well as fundamental R&D in HPC. To achieve the goal, we develop system software to accelerate deep learning and big data processing on large-scale HPC systems, i.e., (HPC for AI/BD). we also apply AI and Big data processing techniques to resolve several technical challenges in large-scale HPC systems. We also study techniques to design next-generation large-scale HPC systems. The research topics include (but not limited to):

• 1.Scalability and acceleration of big data processing with massively parallel I/O by making use of next-generation storage and file systems
• 2.Development of massively parallel algorithms and programming models for the next-generation non-volatile memory and deeply hierarchical memory/storage architectures.
• 3.Research and development for big data collection, transfer, accumulation, management, and utilization for data science.
• 4.Development of system software for integrating applications (Society 5.0 simulation as well as system operation), artificial intelligence training, and training data collection
• 5.Scalability and acceleration of large-scale deep learning and inference
• 6.Scalability and acceleration of high-reliability technologies such as checkpointing with large-scale I/O
• 7.Architecture exploration for the development of next generation large-scale computers
• 8.Development of tools to support application development and execution environments for large-scale computers
• 9.Any other research and development related to high performance computing

Please refer to: High Performance Big Data Research Team's website

Job title and Job description

Job title

Research Scientist or Postdoctoral Researcher: a few positions

Job Description

Primary focus will be on research and development of system software for advancing machine learning, deep learning and large scale I/O acceleration on large-scale systems. We are seeking for postdoctoral researchers and/or research scientists who can perform any of the duties in items 1-9 above, or across multiple items.

Qualifications

Applicants must have a Ph.D. or expect to receive a Ph.D. before the date of appointment. In general, those who earned a doctorate within the past 5 years will be appointed as Postdoctoral Researchers, and those who earned a doctorate more than 5 years ago will be appointed as Research Scientists.
The candidate should have knowledge and experience in programming with C/C++ languages. Experience in parallel programming (MPI, OpenMP, or other parallel programming languages) and research and development for scaling and accelerating large-scale I/O is also desirable.

Work location

Branch and address

RIKEN Center for Computational Science,
7-1-26, Minatojima-minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe, 650-0047, JAPAN

Salary and benefits

The following rules do not apply if the appointment is to begin on or after April 1, 2023, in accordance with the open recruitment procedure by RIKEN after October 17, 2022.

"The employee’s period of fixed-term employment cannot exceed 5/10 years from the initial date of hire (or 5/10 years from April 1, 2013 for fixed-term employees already at RIKEN prior to this date)."

• 1.(Research Scientist) One-year fixed-term employment contract, renewable based on evaluation, up to seven years since the initial date of hire.
• 2.(Postdoctoral Researcher) One-year fixed-term employment contract, renewable based on evaluation, up to five years since the initial date of hire.
• 3.RIKEN may adjust the above maximum period of renewability based on a) the employee’s abilities, work load at the time of contract completion, performance and work attitude and b) the continuation of the employee’s center, laboratory or project and RIKEN’s management situation and budget at the time. In principle, employment contracts will not be renewed for individuals older than 65 years.
• 4.The employee’s period of fixed-term employment cannot exceed 10 years from the initial date of hire (or 10 years from April 1, 2013 for fixed-term employees already at RIKEN prior to this date).

In principle, the first two months of employment is considered a trial period.
Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. Commuting and housing allowances will be provided. Social insurance will be applied. Mandatory membership in the RIKEN Mutual Benefit Society (RIKEN Kyosaikai).
This position falls under the specialized duties discretionary work system; one working day will be calculated as 7 hours and 30 minutes.
Days off include public holidays, New Year's holidays (Dec. 29 - Jan 3), and RIKEN Foundation Day.
RIKEN has introduced telework as a temporary and special measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. You may be asked to work from home according to the instructions of the institute. You can also choose to work from home with the permission of your supervisor.
No smoking on site (designated smoking areas available).
These and other provisions are in accordance with RIKEN regulations.

RIKEN is promoting a Gender Equality Program by taking various measures to create a workplace where both men and women are able to give full rein to their talents and abilities. When applicants are judged to be equally qualified on the basis of fair and impartial criteria, women applicants will be given preference.

Also, eligible for an exemption from repayment for category 1 scholarship loans provided by the Japan Student Services Organization before fiscal year 2003, and eligible applying for the MEXT Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Kakenhi).

Application and Required documents

Applications are accepted by email only. However, when the application documents are too large to submit by email, it is recommended to employ file transfer services on the internet. Before submitting the applications, make sure the documents are encrypted and send us the password information separately. Upon receipt, we will check whether all the required documents are included and send an acknowledgement of receipt. If you do not receive the acknowledgement email, please contact us at the email address in “Contact information” below.

Required documents

Please prepare the following documents in English.

• 1.CV
  No format specified. Please make sure to include applicant’s name, date of birth, nationality, academic background, work history including the applicant’s current affiliation, and email address.
• 2.List of research achievements
  Include not only peer-reviewed papers but also awards and competitive funds received, achievements in research while working in the private sectors. Also include quantitative evaluation indexes such as the Google Scholar citation index as much as possible.
• 3.Copies of up to five most important publications (Please mark the papers on the list of publications.)
  When the original publications are not in PDF format, scan the papers and save them as PDF documents prior to submission.
• 4.Description of previous research, future research plans, and career goals: No format specified, approximately three to four A4 pages in total. It is desirable that a diagram describing the research is provided.
• 5.Recommendation letter(s) (in English) from one or two individual(s) with their signatures. One recommendation letter should be written by the applicant’s current supervisor. When it is difficult to do so, a recommendation letter written by a third party may be accepted. The letter should be addressed to RIKEN R-CCS Director. Digital signature image should be embedded in the recommendation letters within the PDF file.
• 6.Consent form for handling personal information based on GDPR
  If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA), you are required to submit the document, "Consent form for handling personal information based on GDPR" with your signature.

  *You will find detailed information about General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on the following website:
  Data protection | European Commission

Deadline

Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled.

Handling Personal Data

Submitted documents are strictly protected under the RIKEN Privacy Policy and will be used only for the purpose of applicant screening. Personal information will not be disclosed, transferred or loaned to a third party under any circumstances without just cause.

Selection process

Applications will be reviewed upon receipt, and interviews will be conducted for selected applicants (2 interviews for Research Scientist position and one interview for Postdoctoral Researcher position.) No inquiries on the selection process and results will be answered.

Start of employment

At the earliest opportunity

Notes

• Application files will not be returned.
• Updated as of Apr 21, 2021:　"Job description" and "Qualification"
• Updated as of Nov. 17, 2022:　"Salary and benefits"

Contact Information / Send application to

Combine all the application documents into a single PDF document and submit to the email address below.
Email: kobe-jobs [at] riken.jp

Please use the subject line “[R-CCS2104] High Performance Big Data Research Team – Research Scientist” or “[R-CCS2104] High Performance Big Data Research Team – Postdoctoral Researcher” when applying.

For inquiries on research conducted by the team, please contact the Team Leader by email:

Kento Sato
High Performance Big Data Research Team Team
RIKEN Center for Computational Science
High Performance Big Data Research Team's website
Email: kento.sato [at] riken.jp