Masterthesis (f/m/x) - Modelling method for federated zero-trust architectures

Enter the fascinating world of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V.; DLR) and help shape the future through research and innovation! We offer an exciting and inspiring working environment driven by the expertise and curiosity of our 12,000 employees from 100 nations and our unique infrastructure. Together, we develop sustainable technologies and thus contribute to finding solutions to global challenges. Would you like to join us in addressing this major future challenge? Then this is your place!

Vacancy-ID: 4484
Place of work: Köln
Starting date: 01.04.2026
Career level: Student research project and final thesis
Type of employment: Full-time; Part time
Duration of contract: 6 Monate
Remuneration: No remuneration

The DLR Institute of Software Technology sees software as a catalyst for research and innovation. The institute’s staff, currently numbering around 200, make a significant contribution to advancements in the fields of aviation, space, energy, transportation, and security through the development of state-of-the-art software solutions and innovative research.

Our areas of competence include reliable and safety-critical software systems, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and quantum computing, human-system interaction and visualisation, software and systems engineering as well as digital platforms and digital twins.

The Intelligent and Distributed Systems department researches methods to make complex technical processes and systems – from software development to automated workflows and AI-assisted analysis – traceable, automatable, and interactively experimentally accessible.

Oftentimes federation is at the core of complex software systems. Institutions provide each other with research data and computational services while aiming to retain sovereignty over them. Also, modern zero-trust approaches prescribe authenticating and authorizing each individual request. Access rights to federated services are governed by policies that regulate complex interactions between users and services located at different institutions. Local policy changes can have wide-ranging consequences.

As part of the group distributed software systems you will develop modelling approaches that allow engineers to model federated architectures and security policies and to evaluate the impact of changes prior to their implementation.

Your tasks

Systematically analyze existing federated zero-trust architectures and existing modelling techniques for distributed systems
Develop a modelling technique for federated zero-trust architectures that allows describing security policies
Evaluate the technique via modelling realistic scenarios and proving relevant properties using the model

Your profile

Student of computer science (e.g. focusing on IT-security, distributed systems, or software architecture), Data Science, information science or similar
Good knowledge of IT security, distributed systems, and architecture modelling
Experience in prototypical implementation of research results
Good communication skills in spoken and written German and English

We offer
DLR stands for diversity, appreciation and equality for all people. We promote independent work and the individual development of our employees both personally and professionally. To this end, we offer numerous training and development opportunities. Equal opportunities are of particular importance to us, which is why we want to increase the proportion of women in science and management in particular. Applicants with severe disabilities will be given preference if they are qualified.

We look forward to getting to know you!

If you have any questions about this position (Vacancy-ID 4484) please contact:

David Wichter
Tel.: 02203 6014529