CERN: Junior Software Engineer-Zurich

  • Location:
  • Salary:
    negotiable / YEAR
  • Job type:
    FULL_TIME
  • Posted:
    3 weeks ago
  • Category:
    Engineering, Information and Communication Technology
  • Deadline:
    05/12/2025

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Description

Your responsibilities

Are you a recently-graduated scientist interested in contributing to scientific software, or a software engineer interested in the challenges offered by computing for High Energy Physics? Do you want to contribute to the software R&D at the heart of LHC data processing?

Join the EP-SFT group at CERN, responsible for developing and maintaining core software packages used by the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest particle accelerator. You will become a core C++ software developer in the team developing the CernVM-FileSystem (CVMFS, https://cernvm.web.cern.ch/fs).

CVMFS is a global, read-only filesystem that specializes in delivering software and helps to enable distributed scientific computing across cloud- and supercomputing sites at a global scale.

In particular, you will:

  • Improve the performance and usability of the CVMFS client and publisher
  • Work with cloud- and supercomputing facilities to make CVMFS more accessible
  • Contribute to the baseline support and maintenance tasks of the project.

Your profile

Skills

  • Experience with software version control (e.g. git) and build tooling
  • Knowledge of the C++ language: how to write, compile and run programs; developing code for a package;
  • Knowledge of UNIX, in particular of the file API and filesystem concepts

Optional but a plus:

  • Experience with container technologies (e.g. kubernetes, docker)
  • Knowledge of the Go language
  • Experience with writing networking code in C++
  • Experience with HEP experiments code, their software lifecycle and build tools

Eligibility criteria:

  • You are a national of a CERN Member or Associate Member State.
  • By the application deadline, you have a maximum of two years of professional experience since graduation in STEM (or a related field) and your highest educational qualification is either a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree.
  • You have never had a CERN fellow or graduate contract before.
  • Applicants without University degree are not eligible.
  • Applicants with a PhD are not eligible.

Additional Information

Job closing date: 13.01.2025 at 23:59 hrs CET.

Contract duration: 24 months, with a possible extension up to 36 months maximum.

Working hours: 40 hours per week

Target start date: 01-March-2025

This position involves:

  • Work during nights, Sundays and official holidays, when required by the needs of the Organization.

Job reference: EP-SFT-2024-195-GRAE

Field of work: Software Engineering and IT

What we offer

  • A monthly stipend ranging between 5134 and 5647 Swiss Francs (net of tax).
  • Coverage by CERN’s comprehensive health scheme (for yourself, your spouse and children), and membership of the CERN Pension Fund.
  • Depending on your individual circumstances: installation grant; family, child and infant allowances; payment of travel expenses at the beginning and end of contract.
  • 30 days of paid leave per year.
  • On-the-job and formal training at CERN as well as in-house language courses for English and/or French.

About us

At CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, physicists and engineers are probing the fundamental structure of the universe. Using the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments, they study the basic constituents of matter – fundamental particles that are made to collide together at close to the speed of light. The process gives physicists clues about how particles interact, and provides insights into the fundamental laws of nature. Find out more on http://home.cern.

Diversity has been an integral part of CERN’s mission since its foundation and is an established value of the Organization. Employing a diverse workforce is central to our success.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements