Associate Professor Position in Digital Maintenance and Spare Part Logistics for Manufacturing, Shipping, or Logistics Operations

The Department of Technology and Innovation (ITI) at University of Southern Denmark (SDU), section of Engineering Operations Management, invites to applications for an Associate Professor position in Digital Maintenance and Spare Part Logistics with emphasis on business and digitalization challenges coupled to operating, monitoring and servicing industrial assets or equipment in DK and EU Manufacturing, Shipping and Logistics companies. The application deadline is August 1, 2025, at 11.59 PM/23.59 (CET/CEST)
The Department of Technology and Innovation (ITI) at University of Southern Denmark (SDU), section of Engineering Operations Management, invites to applications for an Associate Professor position in Digital Maintenance and Spare Part Logistics with emphasis on business and digitalization challenges coupled to operating, monitoring and servicing industrial assets or equipment in DK and EU Manufacturing, Shipping and Logistics companies.

Job description
Successful candidates will drive internationally competitive research, collaborate in and across disciplines, work closely with industry and attract competitive external research and innovation funding. The candidates will play a key role in providing outstanding education, supervise students and develop junior research staff.

We offer
We offer a vigorous international research environment with a balance of male and female researchers, excellent facilities, inclusive the Robotics and Additive Manufacturing Laboratories and the new upcoming Center for Large Structure Production at University of Southern Denmark; all long-term strategic initiatives created to support research, teaching, and industrial collaboration and experimentation. SDU expect to strengthen ongoing successful collaboration with the manufacturing, shipping and logistics industries going forward. The candidate is therefore expected to work with colleagues on one or more external funded research and innovation projects addressing digitalization and sustainability challenges of DK and EU businesses, particularly in the renewable energy or maritime industry. The candidate is also expected to contribute to development of bachelor and master study offerings in the future. In addition to that, the position offers the opportunity to shape our existing educational and research and innovation programs to benefit from new developments in research fields, approaches and content.

We expect
Candidates must have a relevant PhD and Assistant Professor experience.

Commensurate with the seniority of the position applied for, the candidates must also have:

• Documented experience with education and supervision
• Extensive experience with industrial collaboration
• Experience with attracting external research and innovation funding with senior researchers from various department
• Experience from working together in past or ongoing research and innovation projects with external industrial partners
• Industry work and project management experience will be assessed positively, particularly from either the manufacturing, shipping or logistics industry
• International work experience will be assessed positively
• An excellent standing in research and innovation
• Passion for dissemination of knowledge and skills to students
• Ability to deliver quality teaching and supervision
• Good written and oral communication skills
• International and team-oriented mindset
• Fluent in English, both spoken and written

Furthermore, candidates must have experience and competences in several of the following fields:

• Mechanical, Electrical and Industrial Engineering
• Industry 4.0 & Digitalization frameworks and applications
• Asset Condition Monitoring and Diagnostics
• Maintenance Planning and Spare Part Logistics
• Manufacturing / Shipping / Logistics Operations
• Sensors, IOT, Cloud Computing
• Statistics, Data Science and Machine Learning
• Software development, Databases and programming
• Modelling, Simulation and Digital Twins
• Virtual Reality Technologies
• Agile and Scrum Methods
• Project and Stakeholder Management

Working experience from industry, also within either manufacturing or maritime shipping and logistics industries will be looked positively on but is not a requirement to apply for the position.

Contact information
Further information about the position may be obtained from Head of Section, Niels Gorm Maly Rytter, phone: +45 29103729 or email: ngry@iti.sdu.dk.

If you experience technical problems, please contact hcm-support@sdu.dk.

Application procedure
Applicants are advised to read the SDU information on how to apply.

Assessment of the candidates is based on the application material, and an application must include:

• Letter of motivation, including details on qualifications within the subject area (max. one page).
• Curriculum Vitae, including information on previous employment as well as teaching and supervision experience.
• Master’s and PhD degree certificate or equivalent (copy of original/official English translation).
• Complete list of publications, stating the scientific publications on which the applicant wishes to rely on.
• Publications most relevant to the position (must be attached as PDF-files).
• Teaching Portfolio.
• Research plan.
• At least one letter of recommendation from a previous employer. Should your referees wish to send their letters directly to us, please have them use e-mail: ngry@iti.sdu.dk mentioning your name and the title of the position in the subject line. Please note that these also need to reach us before deadline.
• A statement/documentation of other qualifications relevant to the position may also be included.

All documents must be in English and PDF format, no more than 5 MB per file. Documents should not contain a CPR number (civil registration number) – in this case, the CPR number must be crossed out.

UPLOAD GUIDE: Letter of motivation shall be uploaded as ‘Cover letter’, Curriculum Vitae shall be uploaded as ‘Resume’. All other documents shall be uploaded as ‘Miscellaneous documents’.

The application deadline is August 1, 2025, at 11.59 PM/23.59 (CET/CEST)

Assessment and selection process
Applications will be assessed by an assessment committee. Shortlisting may be applied, and only shortlisted candidates will receive a written assessment. Read about shortlisting at SDU. Interviews and tests may be part of the overall evaluation.

Read about the Assessment and selection process.

Conditions of employment
Appointment as associate professor is permanent, and the preferred start date is from January 1, 2026, or as soon as possible hereafter, and the job location is Odense, Denmark.

Employment as an associate professor requires academic qualifications at PhD level as well as scientific and teaching qualifications at a level achievable based on satisfactory completion of a period of employment as assistant professor/researcher but may be achievable by other means.

Employment will be in accordance with the collective agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations for academics in the state with the associated circular on the protocol for the job structure for academic staff at Danish universities and the provisions for associate professor as described herein. Further information on salary and taxation.

The person employed in the position may, based on a specific individual managerial evaluation, be exempted from time registration, also known as a “self-organiser”.

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The University of Southern Denmark wishes our staff to reflect the surrounding community and therefore encourages everyone, regardless of personal background, to apply for the position. SDU conducts research in critical technologies, which, due to the risk of unwanted knowledge transfer, are subject to a number of security measures. Therefore, based on information from open sources, background checks may be conducted on candidates for the position.

Further information for international applicants about entering and working in Denmark. You may also visit WorkinDenmark for additional information.

Further information about The Faculty of Engineering.

Placering: Odense, Denmark