Research Associate/PhD Candidate in Building and Scaling Agentic AI in Organizations (m/f/d)
Your tasks
In our research, we design, build, and evaluate agentic AI systems with and inside partner organizations, moving from individual agent-based solutions to enterprise-wide agentic architectures. In your role you build the systems our research is grounded in.
Your tasks
- Develop agentic AI solutions for organizational use cases together with our industry partners.
- Scale these solutions to multi-agent systems, cross-departmental workflows, and platform-spanning architectures, integrating them into enterprise systems while addressing questions around decentralized structures and control mechanisms.
- Implement governance aspects in practice, including roles, permissions, and oversight mechanisms
- Experimentally evaluate your prototypes in real organizational settings and refine findings into generalizable design knowledge, supported by close collaboration with your supervisors
- Publish your research in top journals and present at leading conferences
- Contribute to innovative teaching and executive education formats, presenting your systems to decision-makers in corporations, SMEs, and international research institutions
We offer
- A work environment tailored to your strengths: you focus on building and evaluating systems, with conceptual and theoretical development supported by your supervisors, following the design-oriented research tradition of our institute
- A structured PhD timeline (approx. 3.5 years) with intensive hands-on supervision
- Entrepreneurial environment with access to real organizational data, systems, and deployment contexts through our industry partners
- High degree of freedom to shape the newly founded Center for Digital Enterprise Transformation (CDET) on AI and Cloud Transformation topics
- Participation in leading international conferences and access to an excellent research network
- Modern tools, infrastructure, and substantial autonomy in your work
- Attractive working conditions, including flexibility and a competitive salary
- Support for your post-PhD career in academia or industry
Your profile
- Excellent master's degree with a grade point average of at least 5.0 (min. 2.0 in Germany/Austria or equivalent) in (Business) Informatics, (Business) Engineering, Data Science, or Business Administration with technical depth
- Strong software engineering skills: fluent in Python, write production-quality code, and are comforable with Git, APIs, containerization (e.g., Docker), and cloud environments
- Experience with building LLM-based and agentic systems, e.g. with agent frameworks and SDKs (LangChain/LangGraph, OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude Agent SDK), tool use and function calling, RAG pipelines and interoperability protocols (MCP, A2A)
- Solid understanding of organisational contexts: business processes, organisational structures, and IT investment economics. Comfortable discussing architecture with engineers and value/risk with department heads
- Interest in agentic AI: Who is accountable when agents act, how permissions and oversight are designed across departments and platforms, and what it takes to move from pilot to scaled, governed deployment
- Curiosity and ambition to contribute to research through your systems; prior experience in academic writing is a plus
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and German.
Inspirational Work Environment
Executive Education
Network
Family & Career
Equal Opportunities
Fit and Healthy
Inspirational Work Environment
At the HSG, as Europe's leading business university, we operate in an entrepreneurial environment where you will meet highly qualified, ambitious experts - both regionally and internationally. For example, you benefit from a modern IT infrastructure and, in our library via HSGswisscovery, from nationwide access to the wealth of scientific information available.
Executive Education
We support internal and external executive education opportunities. Our internal executive education programme offers you a practical, dedicated and didactically mature transfer of knowledge in the form of seminars, e-learning, coaching and collegial advice. We support task-specific external training and executive education financially as well as with regard to the time required.
Network
We promote our culture of cross-functional collaboration and create space for forging valuable relationships - also with external partners. Regular exchanges and internal events help to strengthen these relationships and make them long-lasting.
Family & Career
We provide our employees with flexible work time models with a variable number of hours per week. As a family-friendly employer, we offer part-time positions, 16 weeks of maternity leave and a subsidised crèche, as well as support with childcare during the vacations.
Equal Opportunities
The University enables equal opportunities for all employees and students. This applies to degree courses and work, as well as academic careers, university management positions and the reconciliation of studies, work and private commitments. We are committed to this with various measures in the areas of teaching, research, administration and the Presidency.
Fit and Healthy
We help you stay fit and healthy. In addition to our diverse range of sports activities at the university, most of which are free of charge, and campaign weeks for corporate health management, we also offer you fruit in the workplace. In our canteen you will find a wide selection of freshly prepared meals - from vegetarian to fish dishes - at discounted prices.
Further information on working at the HSG can be found here.
For job-related questions
Full Professor of Information Management
Join a research group where rigorous Information Systems research meets real organizational impact.
Project Manager
mahei.li@unisg.ch
We are looking for someone who loves building, experimenting and conceptualizing. Together we turn them into insightful and impactful research.
Your place of work
University of St.Gallen
«A place where knowledge is created» - As one of Europe's leading universities of economics and business administration, the University of St.Gallen (HSG), Switzerland, is committed to the education of over 10'000 students. The HSG is one of the largest employers in the region and provides an attractive and innovative environment for more than 3'500 researchers, educators and professional staff.
