PhD - Foundation Models and Agentic AI for Industrial Automation

Do you want beneficial technologies being shaped by your ideas? Whether in the areas of mobility solutions, consumer goods, industrial technology or energy and building technology - with us, you will have the chance to improve quality of life all across the globe. Welcome to Bosch. The Robert Bosch GmbH is looking forward to your application!

Employment type: Limited Working hours: Full-Time Joblocation: Renningen Industrial automation is at a turning point. Foundation models offering unprecedented generalization and adaptability — yet deploying them in real production environments means addressing constraints: microsecond-level latencies, deterministic behavior, functional safety certifications, and legacy infrastructures that cannot simply be replaced. As a PhD candidate, your tasks will include investigating how models can be effectively applied in industrial reality. To this end, you will develop innovative methods for adaptation, validation, and deployment. You will bring these into manufacturing, the process industry, and cyber-physical systems, always treating latency, determinism, and safety as non-negotiable factors. In addition, you will address key questions seeking as how foundation models can deliver bounded, predictable performance without compromising their capabilities. You will develop solutions to ensure compatibility between models and established industrial safety and automation standards (e.g., IEC 61131, IEC 61508). Last but not least, you will enhance brownfield automation platforms with the capabilities of foundation models, unlocking new opportunities for industry.

Education: completed Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Automation, Robotics, Mechatronics, or a comparable field Experience and know-how: strong theoretical and practical background in machine learning and deep learning; solid understanding of industrial automation concepts, control systems, as well as real-time or embedded environments; proficient programming skills in Python and C++; familiarity with functional safety standards (IEC 61508, ISO 13849) as well as formal verification or validation methods; proven experience in deploying and optimizing AI models on edge devices, embedded hardware, or resource-constrained platforms; knowledge of model optimization techniques such as quantization, pruning, knowledge distillation, or acceleration inference; practical experience with PLC environments, industrial communication protocols (OPC UA, PROFINET, EtherCAT), or industrial real-time platform is desirable Personality and working style: strong interest in applying foundation models in industrial or cyber- systems and the ability to approach complex research questions in a structured and methodical way Languages: fluent English (written and spoken) and good German skills

Work-life balance: Flexible working in terms of time, place and working model. Health & Sports: Wide range of health and sports activities. Childcare: Intermediary service for childcare services. Employee discounts: Discounts for employees. Room for creativity: Space for creative work. In-house social counseling and care services: Social counselling and intermediary service for care services.

The recruitment contact or superior will be happy to provide information about the individual benefit plan. .