IIT Gandhinagar Research Associate-I Recruitment 2026

IIT Gandhinagar is hiring 1 Research Associate-I for a Computer Science and Engineering research project on multimodal AI. If you have a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or an allied field (or have submitted your PhD thesis), you can apply online. The last date to apply is 27 July 2026. You should be under 50 years old. The consolidated monthly pay is Rs. 75,400, which includes HRA.

Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IIT Gandhinagar) Research Associate-I Recruitment 2026 - 1 Post

IIT Gandhinagar's Research & Development Office has advertised (Advertisement No. SPON/10456/Advt0265, dated 10 July 2026) for 1 Research Associate-I position under Prof. Mayank Singh in the Computer Science and Engineering department. The role is part of the "Chitrabhasha" project, which aims to build one of India's largest multimodal AI datasets and foundation models. This is a 12-month temporary position, extendable based on your performance and project funding, and is ideal for PhD holders who want to lead cutting-edge Vision-Language Model (VLM) research.

As the Research Associate, you will drive the architecture design, foundation model training, multimodal dataset development, and benchmarking work for the project, and you will be expected to publish high-impact research along the way. Beyond your own research output, the role also involves mentoring junior researchers, coordinating day-to-day project activities, and helping identify patentable outcomes from the work your team produces. This project follows Funding Agency (ANRF) eligibility norms rather than standard institute norms, so read the eligibility details carefully before you apply.

Because the project is building a foundation-model-scale dataset for Indian languages and multimodal AI, you will get to work at the intersection of computer vision, natural language processing, and large-scale model training — an area that is currently one of the most active fields in AI research globally. If you enjoy solving open research problems rather than routine tasks, and want to build a strong publication record while working closely with a small, focused team, this position gives you the freedom to do both.

Who Can Apply?

• Qualification: You need a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or an allied field with a relevant background. Candidates who have already submitted their PhD thesis can also apply — you do not need to have your degree in hand yet.
• Academic Record: You should have at least 60% marks (or an equivalent grade) from graduation onwards, and at least 55% in Class 10th and 12th.
• Preferred Publications: Publications in computer vision, vision-language models, or large language models are valued, especially first-author papers at top AI conferences like NeurIPS, CVPR, ICML, ICLR, ICCV, ACL, or EMNLP.
• Technical Skills: Hands-on experience with Python and PyTorch, along with experience running complex experiments involving large AI models and datasets, and training or fine-tuning large-scale Transformer-based architectures.
• Leadership Skills: Experience mentoring Technical Assistants, Senior Research Fellows, or M.Tech/PhD students is an advantage, along with experience writing research proposals, technical reports, and grant proposals.
• Research Ability: You should be able to identify research problems, form hypotheses, and design your own experiments rather than just follow instructions.
• Patents: Experience drafting or filing patents, and the ability to spot patentable research outcomes, is a plus.

Age Limit

• You should not be older than 50 years as on the last date of application (27 July 2026).

Salary

• You will get a consolidated monthly pay of Rs. 75,400, which includes House Rent Allowance (HRA) of Rs. 17,400 per month (if applicable).
• The appointment is for 12 months, and it may be extended further based on your performance and the availability of project funds.

How to Apply

1. Go to recruitment.iitgn.ac.in/projectstaff.
2. Find the Research Associate-I position listed under Prof. Mayank Singh's project (Computer Science and Engineering) and open the online application form.
3. Keep your CV, educational certificates, mark sheets, and a list of your publications ready before you start.
4. Upload your documents and fill in the application form completely.
5. Submit your application before the last date.

For queries related to this position, you can contact Prof. Mayank Singh directly at singh.mayank@iitgn.ac.in.

Important Dates

• Advertisement Date: 10 July 2026
• Last Date to Apply: 27 July 2026

• Lead the design and development of large-scale Vision-Language Models (VLMs)
• Build and curate multimodal datasets for AI research
• Train and fine-tune foundation models and benchmark their performance
• Write and publish research papers at top AI conferences and journals
• Mentor junior researchers, Technical Assistants, and PhD/M.Tech students
• Coordinate day-to-day activities of the research project
• Draft technical reports, grant proposals, and project documentation
• Identify and help file patents from research outcomes