Historisches Institut

IT Expert with a Focus on ATR 60 %

Start of employment 01.11.2025, temporary

The Digital History Lab at the Department of History, University of Zurich, is looking to fill a 60% position for an IT Expert with a focus on Automatic Text Recognition (ATR). The position is limited to one year, with a high possibility of extension for at least one additional year. It is part of the pilot project ForATR (Forschungsinfrastruktur für Automatische Texterkennung). This is an onsite position. Remuneration is based on the guidelines of the Canton of Zurich.
The pilot project ForATR aims to enable researchers in text-based humanities disciplines to use ATR methods more efficiently and effectively, tailored to the requirements of sustainable and interoperable data.

Your responsibilities

  • Development of ATR consulting services for researchers at the University of Zurich (in collaboration with the project lead)
  • Development of project-specific ATR workflows for historical text sources (in collaboration with the project lead)
  • Further development of technical infrastructure based on research needs
  • Coordination with technical infrastructures at UZH and on a national level
  • Contribution to third-party funding applications
  • Project coordination and management

Your profile

  • Completed university degree (Master's or equivalent) in Informatics, Digital Humanities, or a related field with a focus on software development
  • Relevant programming experience in front and back end
  • Experience in application and (further) development as well as project-specific adaptation of ATR research environments (e.g. Transkribus, OCR4all) and ATR software packages (e.g. Tesseract, TrOCR, Kraken)
  • Knowledge and experience in the field of Machine Learning for text and layout recognition
  • Interest in text and layout recognition for digitized documents and research data infrastructures
  • Ability to work independently and collaboratively
  • Very good knowledge of the German and English language
  • Strong communication skills

Additional qualifications may include:
  • A minor or secondary subject in a humanities discipline
  • Proven skills and experience in Python
  • Experience in technical documenting or publishing technical progress and results (on e.g. GitHub)
  • Strong affinity for open-source documentation and publication workflows
  • Proactive identification and communication of technical challenges

We offer:
  • Insight into diverse research projects and participation in various use cases
  • Opportunity to collaboratively shape the development of new research services at UZH

Information on your application

Application Documents:
  • Motivation letter
  • CV
  • Job references
  • Diplomas
  • Two reference letters

Application deadline: 31.07.2025.

Please send your electronic application in PDF format to Dr. Christine Grundig (christine.grundig@hist.uzh.ch).

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Christine Grundig, Head of ForATR and Coordinator of the Digital History Lab at UZH (christine.grundig@hist.uzh.ch).

What we offer

Our employees benefit from a wide range of attractive offers. More

What we offer

Work-Life Balance
  • Flexible working models (such as part-time positions, mobile working, job-sharing)
  • Childcare at the kihz foundation of UZH and ETH


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Learning and Development
  • Wide range of continuing education courses of UZH and the Canton of Zurich
  • Language Center run jointly with ETH Zurich

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Food
  • Food and drinks at reduced prices in the UZH cafeterias
  • Lunch-Check-card with UZH contribution

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Healthcare
  • Special conditions on the Academic Sports Association ASVZ
  • Free seasonal flu vaccinations
  • Rest and relaxation at the quiet room in the university tower

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Discounts
  • Private traffic: Carsharing, rent a vehicle, parking space
  • Digitalization: Hardware, software, mobile phone subscriptions
  • Special conditions on hotel reservations

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Conditions of Employment
  • Policies of the UZH
  • Most UZH staff are employed according to public law


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International Services
  • Support for people from outside Switzerland

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Campuses
  • Campuses Zurich City, Zurich Irchel, Oerlikon and Schlieren
  • Sites Zurich West, Old Botanical Garden, Botanical Garden and Lengg

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Further information

Questions about the job

Christine Grundig Head of ForATR and Coordinator of the Digital History Lab at UZH
Contact Form

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Working at UZH
The University of Zurich, Switzerland's largest university, offers a range of attractive positions in various subject areas and professional fields. With around 10,000 employees and currently 12 professional apprenticeship streams the University offers an inspiring working environment on cutting-edge research and top-class education. Put your talent and skills to work with us. Find out more about UZH as an employer!
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Please apply via our job portal www.jobs.uzh.ch.

Working at UZH

The University of Zurich, Switzerland's largest university, offers a range of attractive positions in various subject areas and professional fields. With around 10,000 employees and currently 12 professional apprenticeship streams the University offers an inspiring working environment on cutting-edge research and top-class education. Put your talent and skills to work with us. Find out more about UZH as an employer! More
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