HireFT
Browse JobsHow it worksPricingAboutSuccess Stories
    Back to jobs
    IN

    Inria

    Research and Development

    Post-Doctoral Research Visit F/M Postdoctoral Researcher – Source Code History Analysis

    Any, FranceOn-SiteTemporaryPosted 6d ago
    All Inria jobs

    Job description

    Post-Doctoral Research Visit F/M Postdoctoral Researcher – Source Code History Analysis

    Download job offer in PDF format

    Contract type : Fixed-term contract

    Level of qualifications required : PhD or equivalent

    Fonction : Post-Doctoral Research Visit

    Context

    The SPIRALS project team conducts research in distributed systems and software science. Our goal is to introduce greater autonomy into software systems' adaptation mechanisms, specifically to support the transition from adaptive to self-adaptive systems. We focus particularly on two properties: self-healing and self-optimization. With self-healing, we aim to study and adapt data mining and machine learning solutions to the design and implementation of software systems, especially for the automatic repair of software systems. With self-optimization, we aim to share, collect, and analyze behaviors in a distributed environment to continuously adapt, optimize, and maintain software systems, moving toward perpetual distributed systems. The Spirals project team works in cloud computing and mobile application development.

    Analyzing the history of source code is becoming essential to keep pace with increasingly large and complex software systems — some projects, like Chromium or the Linux kernel, span tens of millions of lines of code and over a million commits. Most existing tools still treat code at the level of individual text files, which limits their ability to scale when changes span many files (e.g., automated refactorings, dependency updates) or when several versions of a codebase must be analyzed together.

    This position is part of a research project built around HyperAST, a model that represents source code histories as a directed acyclic graph (DAG) and deduplicates code subtrees within and across versions. This structure makes it possible to pre-compute and reuse intermediate analysis results efficiently, enabling accurate, temporally consistent analyses at a scale current approaches cannot reach.

    Assignment

    • Formalize the TSQ (Tree-sitter Query) language beyond its original syntax-highlighting purpose, turning it into a robust, well-specified intermediate representation for code analysis
    • Design and build an incremental code search engine for large repositories on top of TSQ and HyperAST
    • Develop incremental use-def / def-use relation computation for large repositories, including a memory-efficient model for persisting partial scope graphs on local syntax subtrees

    Main activities

    • Extend incremental code search to the Software Heritage (SWH) archive, adapting the query system into an indexing/search service and integrating HyperAST as an SWH data provider
    • Bring def-use / use-def computation to the SWH archive, precomputing unresolved references and persisting the scope-graph elements most relevant to name resolution
    • Apply the resulting code search and name resolution infrastructure to concrete problems: multi-repository root-cause analysis, code smell/dependency co-evolution studies, detection of intentional code tampering, and policy mining
    • Contribute to supervision (co-supervising master's/PhD students), team activities (seminars, journal clubs), dissemination (publications, open-source releases, conference talks such as FOSDEM), and open-science practices (HAL, Software Heritage, Zenodo, artifact submissions)

    Skills

    • Solid background in software engineering / mining software repositories, ideally with prior experience on Git internals, DAG-based data structures, or incremental analysis techniques
    • Experience designing and maintaining tools for repository analysis at scale
    • Familiarity with version control systems and how they represent history (Git, and ideally awareness of alternatives such as Piper, Sapling, Mercurial)
    • Knowledge of program analysis concepts: name resolution, scope graphs, refactoring detection, syntactic/semantic code differencing
    • Programming and systems skills sufficient for building query/search infrastructure and integrating with large archives (e.g., Software Heritage)
    • Demonstrated record of independent research and publication; some supervision or mentoring experience is a plus

    Benefits package

    • Subsidized meals
    • Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
    • Leave: 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 extra days off due to RTT (statutory reduction in working hours) + possibility of exceptional leave (sick children, moving home, etc.)
    • Possibility of teleworking (after 6 months of employment) and flexible organization of working hours
    • Professional equipment available (videoconferencing, loan of computer equipment, etc.)
    • Social, cultural and sports events and activities
    • Access to vocational training
    • Social security coverage
    Apply for this position
    Share
    • Facebook
    • Linkedin
    • Twitter
    • Email

    General Information

    • Theme/Domain : Distributed Systems and middleware
      Software engineering (BAP E)
    • Town/city : Villeneuve d'Ascq
    • Inria Center : Centre Inria de l'Université de Lille
    • Starting date : 2026-10-01
    • Duration of contract : 12 months
    • Deadline to apply : 2026-10-22

    Warning : you must enter your e-mail address in order to save your application to Inria. Applications must be submitted online on the Inria website. Processing of applications sent from other channels is not guaranteed.

    Instruction to apply

    Defence Security :
    This position is likely to be situated in a restricted area (ZRR), as defined in Decree No. 2011-1425 relating to the protection of national scientific and technical potential (PPST).Authorisation to enter an area is granted by the director of the unit, following a favourable Ministerial decision, as defined in the decree of 3 July 2012 relating to the PPST. An unfavourable Ministerial decision in respect of a position situated in a ZRR would result in the cancellation of the appointment.

    Recruitment Policy :
    As part of its diversity policy, all Inria positions are accessible to people with disabilities.

    Contacts

    • Inria Team : SPIRALS
    • Recruiter :
      Rouvoy Romain / [email protected]

    The keys to success

    • Ability to work with very large, real-world codebases and evaluate approaches through rigorous performance benchmarking and scalability testing
    • Comfort moving between theoretical foundations (graph theory, language theory, database theory) and practical systems engineering
    • Capacity to work both independently and collaboratively across disciplines (software engineering, green IT, database systems) and across teams within CRIStAL/Inria
    • Strong communication and dissemination habits: publishing, open-sourcing tools, and engaging with the open-science and software preservation community (Software Heritage ecosystem in particular)
    • Interest in mentoring and progressively taking on leadership responsibilities (student supervision, grant writing, team building) as part of career development toward an independent academic position

    About Inria

    Inria, the French national institute for research in digital science and technology, supports the French government in national research and innovation strategies in the digital field, acting as Digital Programs Agency. Inria leads over 300 research and innovation projects with its 3,500 scientists, engineers, and support staff, in partnership with universities and the digital ecosystem (businesses, entrepreneurs, and public stakeholders). Together, we explore strategic fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum computing, cloud technologies, digital transformation in healthcare, digital twins, and digital technologies for defence. We develop practical solutions such as software, tech startups, partnerships with national companies, and cutting-edge training programmes. Our goal is to drive scientific, technological, and industrial excellence to ensure France’s digital sovereignty.

    Job details are sourced from the employer's original posting.

    Open job posting
    IN

    About the company

    Inria

    INRIA is the French national research institute for digital science and technology.

    View all Inria jobs
    Industry
    Research and Development
    Open roles
    42

    Interested in this role?

    Apply with HireFT

    Free to start — no card required.

    Your fit

    How well do you match?

    Sign in to see how your résumé lines up with this role.