Entrepreneurial postdoc positions at ELLIS Institute Finland
ELLIS Institute Finland is launching a new program for entrepreneurial postdocs, with the first cohort expected to start in early 2027.
The program offers a unique, fully funded opportunity for AI researchers who have the ambition to build a company. Selected postdocs join ELLIS Institute Finland’s cutting-edge AI research and work to develop promising technologies into ventures with the potential to become globally competitive startups. The program combines world-class AI research with a structured approach to venture creation, giving postdocs access to leading faculty, entrepreneurial and investment expertise, experienced founders, and Europe’s deep-tech ecosystem. Venture creation is a core outcome, with the path to company formation shaped by the maturity of the technology. This can range from exploring an early-stage opportunity to taking a mature technology toward launching a company.
Besides entrepreneurial postdocs, ELLIS Institute Finland is also recruiting academic postdocs and doctoral students. Read more about the academic postdoc track here.
Potential research directions and venture opportunities
ELLIS Institute Finland is a rapidly expanding research hub in AI and machine learning. It is the second institute in the 47 sites strong ELLIS network, partnering with Finnish universities. We develop machine learning through fundamental research, with a particular focus on the fundamentals of applied AI: making machine learning more widely and effectively applicable, and better at working with people. AI for Research is one part of this focus. Our faculty works across a broad range of areas, including data-efficient probabilistic machine learning, generative modelling, amortized inference, interactive and cooperative machine learning, and transformative multidisciplinary collaboration.
Emerging ideas
Potential starting points include:
- AI for health: building on our institute’s strategic initiative on nationwide healthcare foundation models, transform healthcare decision making and planning with novel multimodal foundation model principles combined with new types of amortized inference based decision support techniques.
- Amortized inference and experimental design: make the ubiquitous design-build-test-learn loops of decision making and experimental design fast, effective, and broadly applicable across sciences and industry sectors.
- Continually learning and self-improving AI: agents that can continuously learn from new data, feedback, and interactions, adapt to changing environments and tasks, and remain reliable and safe over long-term deployment. And even self-improve.
- Personalized AI decision assistants: by combining cognitive science with machine learning, improve decision-making with instantly personalized intelligent assistance. See our ongoing initiative in this area as one example.
- Other keywords include AI4Science, Reinforcement learning, Trustworthy AI, World models
These are indicative, not prescriptive, and other ideas can also be considered. Selected postdocs will work with faculty to identify the right match and co-design the research, venture, and team, building on both the postdoc’s expertise and the potential for venture creation.
Scientific mentors
- Luigi Acerbi
- Qi Chen
- Corinna Coupette
- Azade Farshad
- Vikas Garg
- Juho Kannala
- Samuel Kaski
- Eric Malmi
- Teemu Roos
- Laura Ruotsalainen
- Other ELLIS Institute Finland faculty
Key features of the program
1) Entrepreneurial AI environment and individual support
Postdocs are embedded in an ecosystem combining:
- ELLIS Institute Finland’s world-class AI research and compute resources
- experienced founders, researchers, and industry collaborators
- collaboration with venture capital networks and deep-tech investors
- connections to potential customers, partners, and complementary talent
- opportunities to test and validate venture concepts with the market
Each postdoc also receives individual support from:
- one or more scientific mentors
- a venture mentor from the startup and investment ecosystem
- experienced founders and industry experts
- complementary expertise in business and company building
2) From frontier research to venture creation
The program enables researchers to build on AI breakthroughs and develop them into ventures – whether starting from an early-stage idea or joining a more advanced technology.
Venture-building support includes:
- assessment and development of the commercial potential of promising technologies
- developing products, business models, and go-to-market strategies
- building the complementary team and capabilities needed to take the venture forward
- support with the practical challenges of company building
3) Flexible, co-designed venture projects
The program matches postdocs with promising AI research opportunities and enables them to co-design the research and venture:
- ELLIS Institute Finland faculty identify promising research directions and potential venture opportunities
- the postdoc co-designs the project with the host research group
- the postdoc has substantial autonomy to shape the research and venture-building pathway
4) What could this lead to?
By the end of the program, postdocs are expected to have advanced the AI technology with the ambition of building a successful company around it, leveraging the underlying research breakthrough as a competitive advantage. The path will be tailored to each team and may include validating the venture opportunity, developing a product, assembling a founding team, engaging with customers and investors, or taking a mature technology toward company formation.
What we are looking for
We seek researchers who:
- are within three years of completing their PhD
- have outstanding research potential
- are excited by turning cutting-edge research and technology into real-world ventures
- have the ambition to turn cutting-edge research and technology into a successful company, with the underlying breakthrough providing a unique competitive advantage
Position details
- Positions are fully funded and the salaries are based on the Finnish universities’ pay scale for postdocs.
- Contracts are typically offered for two years.
- Positions are hosted at ELLIS Institute Finland, while employment contracts are either with the Aalto University Department of Computer Science or the University of Helsinki Department of Computer Science.
How to apply
Applications must be submitted electronically through the link below. The call will close on September 21, 2026 at 23:59 EEST (UTC+3).
Required documents (in English and in PDF format):
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Cover letter (1–2 pages, see Q7 below)
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CV
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List of publications, highlighting up to five key papers with links
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Transcript of doctoral and MSc studies
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Degree certificate of your PhD degree – if you have not yet completed your PhD, a plan of completion must be submitted
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In the application form, you are also asked to provide contact details of 2–3 referees (see Q8 below)
THIS CALL HAS CLOSED
FAQ
ELLIS Institute Finland operates in partnership with Finnish universities (Aalto University, Hanken School of Economics, LUT University, National Defence University, Tampere University, The University of the Arts Helsinki, University of Eastern Finland, University of Helsinki, University of Jyväskylä, University of Lapland, University of Oulu, University of Turku, University of Vaasa, and Åbo Akademi University) and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
All entrepreneurial postdoc positions in this call are hosted at ELLIS Institute Finland. The employment contracts will be issued by either Aalto University or the University of Helsinki. We plan to expand the program to other partner universities in the future.
Possible scientific mentors are listed here.
Matching the candidates with the suitable scientific mentors will be done during the review process. In the application form, please specify which mentors you are interested in working with.
All the positions are fully funded and the salary is based on the Finnish universities’ pay scale. Salaries typically increase with experience. All employees have access to the occupational health care services and are covered by the Finnish national health insurance system.
The starting date can be negotiated and depends on what suits you and the scientific mentor the best. Generally, we hope you can start as early as possible, with the first cohort expected to start in early 2027.
Contracts in this program are typically offered for two years.
The Institute’s research environment includes national and local computational services, including research software engineer support.
ELLIS Institute’s researchers are provided easy access to the services of the Finnish IT Center for Science (CSC), including national supercomputer Roihu and spearheaded by EuroHPC LUMI, one of the fastest and greenest supercomputers in the world. With a new, next-generation pan-European supercomputer and AI Factory, these resources will be further developed in the coming years.
The local computing infrastructure for ELLIS Institute’s researchers currently provides a system with about 10000 computing cores. The system also contains over 260 NVIDIA cards for GPU computing, additional interactive GPU resources for fast development, and over 5 PB of fast storage capacity suitable for handling large datasets. All parts are connected with a fast Infiniband network to support parallel computing and fast data access. The infrastructure is further enhanced by a highly skilled local support team that provides agile assistance. The system will be upgraded based on researchers' needs. Additionally, all resources are integrated with the national resources allowing easy migration to even larger resources when necessary.
Please submit a carefully written, max. 2-page cover letter in which you include:
- Your motivation for joining the program and pursuing venture creation, your interest in entrepreneurship, and any previous experience with startups or entrepreneurial activities
- Which emerging ideas you are interested in working on, why, and how your existing skills would suppo.rt this. If you have your own venture concept, please describe it briefly as well
- Which scientific mentors you are interested in working with and how your interests align with their work
- What you expect to gain from the program
We expect at least one of the referees to be a senior academic, such as independent investigator, principal scientist, group leader, lecturer or professor. Postdoctoral referees can be considered as well.
If possible, please also include referees, who can comment on your entrepreneurial experience or other relevant experience in venture creation.
We will contact only the referees of shortlisted candidates.
The call includes several positions. The exact number of positions depends on how well the interests of the suitable candidates and the scientific mentors match.
Yes, You can indicate interest in working with multiple mentors in a single application. In the application form, please specify which mentors and emerging ideas you are interested in working with.
You are welcome to apply both to the entrepreneurial postdoc position described on this page and to the academic postdoc position described here.
Please submit a separate application for each call. The other required application documents are the same, but please note that the cover letter requirements differ (see Q7 on both of the call pages).
Candidates are assessed based on their academic merits, motivation and possible previous experience with venture creation and startups, and other relevant experience, e.g., working in/with industry or software development.
The review process is as follows (the schedule may be adjusted depending on the number of applicants):
- Review against eligibility criteria – end of September
- Review by scientific mentors – October
- Interviews of the shortlisted candidates – October/November
- The review process is expected to be finalized in November
Yes, it is possible to apply if you are close to obtaining your PhD degree. Please include a plan of completion in your application.
Eligibility can be extended for reasons such as parental leave, following the ERC criteria.
Yes, you can.
Promising research and technology can be transferred into a new company through a clear, transparent, and investor-friendly process, with professional support for IP transfer and standardized spinout terms designed to attract top-tier VCs.
All the applicants benefit from the possibility to simultaneously apply to universities partnering with ELLIS Institute Finland. Thus, all these universities will be organized an access to the application documents each applicant submits. The access is admitted to the personnel involved in the recruitment process, especially HR personnel and academic experts participating in the evaluation of the candidates´ merits as well as members of relevant decision-making bodies of each university.
We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you:
- Contact information (name, address, email, phone number)
- Personal details (date of birth, nationality, gender)
- Degree information
- Professional skills, employment history and qualifications (such as CV, list of publications,, transcripts of studies, degree certificates, recommendations)
- Documents concerning recruitment process and decisions (interview notes, statements and assessment results)
- Research area(s) that the applicants are interested in working
- Names of the persons giving recommendations
- Recommendations of the persons named by the applicants
- Any other personal data that applicants provide during the recruitment process.
Aalto University will, on behalf of all involved universities, receive and collect the application documents as well as the identification data needed for the recruitment process. Aalto University stores the data during the process and provides a safe access to the recruitment system for the representatives of other partner universities.
We collect and process your personal data for the following purposes:
- Assessing your suitability for employment within our respective organizations
- Evaluating your professional skills and qualifications
- Contacting you for interview purposes
- Communicating with you about the recruitment process
- Complying with legal obligations and reporting requirements
In the first phase, all universities will jointly gather the necessary information and handle the applications to ensure the optimal matching of interests expressed by the applicants and the available positions.
In the second phase, your application and other recruitment data is processed by each university according to their own processes and practices, and you will be contacted by the representatives of that organization. Each university processes data that is necessary to fill the respective postdoc position located in that organization. Documents necessary for each university’s own recruiting procedure, decision-making and archiving purposes will be safely provided for universities.
In the third phase, regarding specific positions, universities cooperate with ELLIS Institute to evaluate the qualifications required by the institute.
During and after the application round, Aalto University will store all the application data. Aalto University data retention rules (Data Management Plan TOS) will be followed, and no information is kept longer than necessary.
Please find the privacy notices of each partner universities to get more information on the legal basis for processing the personal data as well as practices of processing of the personal data in partner universities’ standard recruitment processes:
- Aalto University: privacy_notice_recruitment_20180525_paivitys_020120.pdf (aalto.fi)
- LUT University: https://www.lut.fi/sites/default/files/media/documents/LUT-privacy_notice_job-applicants-2024_0.pdf
- Tampere University:
https://tuni.rekrytointi.com/paikat/index.php?o=A_RS&lang=en - University of Eastern Finland:
Processing of personal data | University of Eastern Finland (uef.fi) -> Recruiting - University of Helsinki:
Data protection | University of Helsinki -> Recruitment - University of Jyväskylä:
Privacy notice for job applicants | University of Jyväskylä (jyu.fi) - University of Oulu:
Data privacy notice - Job applicants at the University of Oulu | University of Oulu - University of the Arts Helsinki:
https://www.uniarts.fi/en/general-info/data-protection-statement-for-prospective-employees/ - University of Turku:
Privacy Notice | University of Turku (utu.fi) - University of Vaasa:
https://www.uwasa.fi/en/data-protection - Åbo Akademi:
Privacy Notices | Åbo Akademi University (abo.fi)
The partner universities are joint controllers of your personal data. Should you have any questions concerning the processing of personal data in the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to contact the coordinating organization, Aalto University contact at ellisinstitute dot fi. Read more on your rights as data subject in here: https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/privacy-notices#8-rights-of-the-data-subject .
Why Finland
Finland combines world-class education and research with a strong technology, startup, and deep-tech ecosystem. As a Nordic country, it offers a safe, stable, and international environment, with a strong culture of collaboration, low hierarchy, and work-life balance. It provides extensive social security and high-quality public services. Finland has repeatedly ranked as the happiest country in the world (World Happiness Report).
Whether you come alone or with family, Finland offers an excellent environment for building both a career and a life. Read more about living in Finland here and here.
Startup and deep-tech ecosystem in Finland
Finland’s startup ecosystem provides a strong foundation for building new technology companies, with an active community of founders, investors, companies, and entrepreneurial talent (read more here). Finland is home to globally recognized startup and technology communities, from Slush to Junction, reflecting the country’s strong culture of entrepreneurship, technology, and collaboration. Finland’s strong university-based entrepreneurship is also reflected in international rankings. For example, a recent analysis by Sifted ranked Aalto University #3 among European universities for spinout funding. Some recent examples of internationally successful technology and deep-tech companies from the ecosystem include Gosta Labs, ICEYE, IQM, Oura, and Silo AI.
ELLIS Institute Finland is itself a young and rapidly growing hub. It is adding a new dimension to this ecosystem by creating an environment where cutting-edge AI research can develop into new ventures, and by connecting AI researchers with founders, investors, companies, and the wider European deep-tech venture ecosystem. The Institute’s Startup Exploration Day brought together a wide range of Finnish and European ecosystem actors to explore how AI research can be turned into startups. As the Institute grows, we will continue to expand these connections and opportunities. Our ambition is to make ELLIS Institute Finland one of the most exciting places in Europe to build a company around cutting-edge AI research.
About ELLIS
ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems) is a pan-European AI network of excellence which aims to secure lasting international leadership of AI made in Europe by connecting top researchers in this field and by creating a multi-centric AI research laboratory.