International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory Careers

Application & Systems Integration Engineer – CMOS Based Integrated Circuit Design for Driving and Controlling an Array of uLEDs

Job Reference: Ref.75.25.407

Employer: International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL)

Location: Braga, Portugal

Group/Unit: Piteira Research Group

Number of Vacancies: 1

Employment Type: Full time

Contract Duration: 10 months

Open Date for Applications: November 27th, 2025

Closing Date for Applications: December 21st, 2025, 23h00m Lisbon Time

Key words: #uLEDdriving #Electronics #CMOS #analog #mixed-signal

Overview

The Piteira Research Group – System Engineering – is dedicated to bring advanced Nanoeletronics, into mainstream applications within the semiconductor, biomedical, agrifood, industrial, and industrial markets. We are looking for a qualified Application & Systems Integration Engineer to join our team under the project Neuromor4uLED project funded by FCT.

Project specifications: This project is funded by FCT.

(a) Name of the project: NEUROMOR4uLED

(b) Reference number: 2023.15232.PEX

(c) Scientific Area: Neuromorphic computing

(d) Description: The project addresses the characterisation of a micro-LED array and the design of its driving circuit in CMOS technology for neuromorphic computing. Disruptive neuron arrays architectures have been developed based on micro-LEDs. This array is able to mimic the functioning of a group of neurons in terms of spike randomness and energy efficiency. However, these arrays suffer from mismatch differences between nominally equal neurons due to the fabrication process. The mismatch differences will be compensated by using a novel close-loop driving circuit designed and fabricated in 180 nm CMOS technology. Characterisation of the micro-LED array together with the CMOS circuit will be performed

Job Duties

The job duties will be the following:

• Characterise a uLED array by using microcontroller – FPGA;
• Design of the controlling and driving circuit of the uLEDs array by using 180nm CMOS technology;
• Integrate the uLED array and the CMOS circuit on a single PCB.

Mandatory Qualifications

Education

• BSc in Engineering, or related fields.

Experience and Technical Skills

• Experience with microcontrollers and/or FPGA;
• Knowledge of analysing/building circuits at transistor level;
• Experience using Cadence or any other IC design tool;
• Knowledge of data analysis and measurements of electronic circuits and/or sensors.

Other Valued Skills and Qualifications

• MSc in Electrical Engineering, Biomedical or related fields;
• Electronics design and production (e.g., KiCAD, Altium);
• Essential knowledge of computer programming (e.g., Python, MATLAB, C#).

The call describes the requirements in terms of qualifications and professional experience deemed appropriate for the position. If a candidate has additional qualifications and professional experience, they can only be recruited at the job category and profile specified.

Applications that not meet these conditions will not be considered.

Personal Skills

• “Hands-on” approach together with a high commitment in respecting working deadlines;
• Problem Solving ability;
• Customer orientation;
• Ability to work independently and as team player;
• Good communication skills.

Supervision: The work plan will be developed at the INL under the scientific guidance of Accel Abarca. The successful candidate will be integrated in the Piteira Research Group.

Selection Committee:

The selection of candidates will be carried out by a Selection Committee consisting of the following persons:

1)     Accel Abarca

2)     João Piteira

3)     Rodrigo Wrege

4)     Catarina Gomes – People & Culture

Duration of the contract

The total duration of the employment contract shall be 10 months and may be renewed based on the performance of the individual. In any case the contract cannot exceed the duration of the project. The expected starting date is January 2026.

General Eligibility conditions, required qualifications and expertise:

Candidates must comply with the following requirements:

1. Hold a BSc/MSc Degree within the field of the selected vacancy;
2. Be a Portuguese citizen, a European Union citizen, a non-European Union Citizen, or a stateless person with a scientific and professional curriculum that demonstrates an appropriate profile for the activity to be performed;
3. Fluency in English is required.

How to Apply

The application must be in English and include the following mandatory documents:

a)     Cover letter;

b)     Curriculum Vitae;

c)      Academic and/or Professional diplomas;

d)     At least one recommendation letter;

e)     Recognition of academic degrees (only academic degrees awarded by non-Portuguese higher education institutions)*.

* The selected candidate(s) with an academic degree granted by a non-Portuguese higher education institution must present, for hiring purposes, the certificate of recognition of that degree(s), issued by the Portuguese Directorate General for Higher Education or by a Portuguese Public Higher Education Institution. Please consult the website of the Portuguese Directorate General for Higher Education: https://www.dges.gov.pt/en.

At the application stage, the supporting document(s) mentioned in paragraph (d) [Recognition of academic degrees (only academic degrees awarded by non-Portuguese higher education institutions)], may be replaced by a Declaration of Honour (Template) from the candidate. In this case, the application of the candidate will be provisionally accepted provided that the following conditions shall be satisfied:

1. The Declaration of Honour should state facts only prior to the application. If the information on the Declaration of Honour differs from the certificate of recognition submitted at stage of preparing the contract, only this last one is considered;
2. The Certificate of Recognition issued by the competent Portuguese Authority is mandatory at the stage of preparing the contract;
3. The Certificate of Recognition must match the information considered in the evaluation stage.

Online application instructions:

1. The application is made online by clicking the “Apply” button below;
2. The candidate must complete all required sections of the online application form;
3. The candidate must submit the mandatory documents mentioned above in pdf format by including them in the “Additional files” section using the “Add portfolio” button.

Important note:

Incomplete applications including the failure to provide mandatory documents or providing inaccurate information will result in the application not being considered.

How the Selection Process works

A. Applications eligibility check

This stage will be carried out on the basis of the mandatory requirements, education, experience and technical skills defined for the job, as well as the validation of the mandatory documents. Only candidates who meet the eligibility criteria will move forward to the next stage.

B. CV Assessment

The Selection Committee will evaluate the eligible applications based on their CV and other submitted documents and the suitability for the position, and shall focus on the relevance, quality and up-to-date of the following items:

• Scientific and Technological Production (‘STP’);
• Applied and Practice-based Research Activities (‘RA’);
• Activities  related to the Dissemination of Knowledge (‘DK’);
• Activities related to the Management of Science, Technology and Innovation programmes (‘MSTI’).

The research experience will be assessed according to the following criteria:

• STP (50%): Academic Qualifications (AQ) – 15%; Technical Profile (TP) – 25%; Research Quality (RQ) – 5%; Innovation Projects (IP) – 5%;
• RA (30%): Coordination Activities (CA) – 5%; Development, operation and maintenance of scientific facilities “instrumentation and/or equipment”  (DOM) – 10%; Conferences, symposia and scientific cooperation activities (CSS) - 2 %; Professional activities (PA) – 8%; Mobility and Interdisciplinarity (MI) – 5%;
• DK (5%): Transfer to other areas of society (TS) – 3%; Promotion of the public understanding of science (PPUS) – 2%;
• MSTI (5%): Laboratory facilities, management of research groups (LFE) – 3%; Evaluation of STI activities (EA) – 2%.

This criteria will have a total valuation of 90%. The minimum threshold for this stage is 60%.

The top four ranked candidates will be shortlisted for interview, provided however that they pass the threshold mentioned above.

C. Interview(s)

The interview(s) may be done in different formats: video recording, online or onsite.

The question based interview will evaluate the match between the candidate’s profile and the requirements for the position, including the technical and personal skills. To better support this stage, the candidate may be requested to prepare a short presentation.

This criterion will have a total valuation of 10%.

D.Assessment

The Selection Committee will draw up the minutes of the R&S process in which candidates will be ranked according to their evaluation scores.

E. Nomination

The selected candidate will be nominated and formally offered the position, including the disclosure of the contractual conditions. 

Our Benefits

• Competitive salary;
• Tax benefits and other Diplomatic privileges;
• Private health insurance;
• Family allowances (according to family situation);
• Free nursery service at INL premises (subject to availability);
• Support for education fees of dependent children;
• Relocation support;
• 30 working days of annual leave.

Financial Benefits

INL offers an attractive financial package appropriate to an international research organization composed by a gross monthly Remuneration of 2600.00€ paid in 12 installments. Due to INL special legal status as intergovernmental organization, financial benefits are exempt for national income tax. Apart from the salary, INL may offer, depending on the personal situation, additional allowances and benefits for families and non-residents.

Additional Information

Applicable legal and regulatory framework, taking into consideration the international status of the Organisation

The contract will be subject to the INL’s Staff Rules, as amended from time to time, as well as to all other relevant instructions issued by the Organisation. For this purpose, a copy of the Staff Rules shall be provided. The contract may also be supplemented by the terms and conditions of the Financing Contract between the Organisation and the FCT governing the implementation of the FCT Project.

Disputes between the Organisation and the Employed Member of the Personnel shall be settled in accordance with the INL´s Staff Rules.

Notification of results

Each candidate notified via email of the result of their individual application. If the first candidate refuses the offer, the Human Resources will send an offer to the second candidate on the ranking, and so on until the vacancy is filled.

We highly value the interest shown from applicants wishing to become a part of the INL experience. It is important for us to maintain good communications with candidates. No matter the outcome of the application, we always send the applicant an answer. 

Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination Principle

INL follows a non-discrimination and equal access principle, wherefore no candidate can be privileged, benefited, impaired or deprived of any rights whatsoever, or be exempt of and duties based on any possible discriminatory issues.

The advertisement deadline may be extended at any time without previous notice in order to improve the suitability and effectiveness of the recruitment process.

About INL

The International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory – INL (http://www.inl.int), is the first and only Intergovernmental Organisation in the world entirely focused on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

It was founded under an international legal framework to perform interdisciplinary research, deploy and communicate nanotechnology for the benefit of society. INL aims to be a recognised leading global nanotechnology innovation hub.