Internships

Internships

The Systems Software Group at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg offers two exciting internship positions which may serve as potential entry point to a fully-funded PhD position.

#1 Research Internship in Trusted Execution and Federated Machine Learning (with PhD Track Option)

The Systems Software Group at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg offers a six month research internship. We are looking for a highly motivated and talented intern to join our research group working at the intersection of Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and Federated Machine Learning. This internship is part of an academic research project and serves as a potential gateway to a fully funded PhD position in the same area. The successful candidate will work on secure, privacy-preserving and trusted machine learning systems, including exploring the use of TEEs such as Intel SGX, AMD SEV-SNP or ARM CCA in distributed and federated learning settings.

Key points

Application deadline:

  • Application deadline: 30 May 2025
  • Planned notification: 15 June 2025
  • Estimated start: August/September 2025

Your responsibilities

  • Conduct research on the design and implementation of secure federate ML using TEEs
  • Prototype and evaluate systems in realistic adversarial settings
  • Collaborate with PhD students and postdocs, and contribute to academic publications
  • Participate in regular group meetings and project updates

Your profile

  • Master’s degree (or short before completion) in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field
  • Solid background in at least one of: systems security, trusted computing, or applied machine learning
  • Programming skills in Python, C/C++, or Rust
  • Familiarity with TEEs (e.g., Intel SGX, AMD SEV-SNP) and interest in system-level research
  • Strong analytical thinking and motivation to pursue independent research
  • Excellent communication skills in English

What we offer

  • Mentorship and integration into a lively and welcoming research team
  • Access to cutting-edge infrastructure and resources
  • A compensation of 850 € per month during the internship
  • A clear path to a fully-funded PhD position upon successful completion

How to apply

Please send the following documents in a single PDF to i4internship@cs.fau.de:
  • Short motivation letter (approx. 1 page)
  • CV
  • Transcript of records
  • If available: links to samples of prior research (e.g., thesis, paper, project) and LoR
We particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups in STEM and aim to foster an inclusive research environment.

Contact

If you have any questions, please contact i4internship@cs.fau.de. Also ruediger.kapitza@fau.de.  

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rüdiger Kapitza

#2 Research Internship in Trusted Execution and Byzantine Fault Tolerance (with PhD Track Option)

The Systems Software Group at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg offers a six month research internship. We are looking for a highly motivated and talented intern to join our research group working at the intersection of Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT). This internship is part of an academic research project and serves as a potential gateway to a fully funded PhD position in the same area.  The successful candidate will investigate how TEEs can be leveraged to improve the scalability of BFT protocols. This includes the integration of novel techniques for message aggregation and advanced cryptographic primitives. The research will involve working with TEEs such as Intel SGX, AMD SEV-SNP or ARM CCA in distributed settings.
 

Key points

Application deadline:

  • Application deadline: 15 June 2025
  • Planned notification: 30 June 2025
  • Estimated start: September 2025

Your responsibilities

  • Conduct research on the design and implementation of scalable BFT protocols using TEEs
  • Prototype and evaluate systems in realistic adversarial settings
  • Collaborate with PhD students and postdocs, and contribute to academic publications
  • Participate in regular group meetings and project updates

Your profile

  • Master’s degree (or short before completion) in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field
  • Solid background in at least one of: distributed systems, systems security or trusted computing
  • Programming skills in C/C++, or Rust
  • Familiarity with TEEs (e.g., Intel SGX, AMD SEV-SNP) and interest in system-level research
  • Strong analytical thinking and motivation to pursue independent research
  • Excellent communication skills in English

What we offer

  • Mentorship and integration into a lively and welcoming research team
  • Access to cutting-edge infrastructure and resources
  • A compensation of 850 € per month during the internship
  • A clear path to a fully-funded PhD position upon successful completion

How to apply

Please send the following documents in a single PDF to i4internship@cs.fau.de:
  • Short motivation letter (approx. 1 page)
  • CV
  • Transcript of records
  • If available: links to samples of prior research (e.g., thesis, paper, project) and LoR
We particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups in STEM and aim to foster an inclusive research environment.

Contact

If you have any questions, please contact i4internship@cs.fau.de. Also berger@cs.fau.de.

Dr. Christian Berger