Job Description

Your responsibilities

Are you a skilled and experienced Computing Engineer, eager to work at the forefront of modern computing? Join CMS, one of the largest particle physics experiments, and contribute to major upgrades addressing key particle physics questions!

The Experimental Physics (EP) Department at CERN supports LHC experiments, including CMS, a general-purpose particle physics collaboration. The CMS Data Acquisition and Trigger Group (CMD) develops, operates, and maintains the data acquisition (DAQ) and control systems, as well as online computer clusters, Ethernet-based networks, and mass storage systems vital for the experiment.

This complex Ethernet-based infrastructure includes sub-detector control PCs, data acquisition PCs, high-performance GPUs, and thousands of cloud servers for offline analysis. Your contributions will help evolve this critical system.

As a Computing Infrastructure Engineer, you will:

• Perform system administration tasks for the LINUX computers connected to the CMS experiment network (control room consoles, data centre servers, and virtual machines).
• Communicate with the end-users to understand their needs and help translate these into appropriate solutions.
• Investigate, diagnose, and resolve operational problems in collaboration with end-users ranging from physicist to operations teams.
• Participate actively to the strategic design and evolution of the CMS online computing infrastructure, including networks, on-line clusters, mass storage devices, virtual machines, and containers. In particular:
  • Provide a container orchestration system suited to different teams (DAQ, sub-detectors, system administration).
  • Provide an evolving NAS solution for the primary storage (users’ home directory, project areas, etc.).
  • Provide the underlying high-performance servers and storage for the bare metal, virtual machines, and container orchestration system.
• Produce technical documentation on all the processes and systems in place.
• Take part in on-call duty to address urgent system administration issues, which might require intervention on-site.

Your profile

Skills

Experience:

• Technical experience in the field of Linux System Administration
• Experience in analysing and debugging of operational problem in Linux Clusters
• Relevant certifications in Linux System Administration and container technologies are a plus

Technical competencies:

• Linux operating system and scripting languages such as Bash, Python
• Core services such as LDAP, Kerberos, DNS, DHCP, HAProxy, keepalived
• Installation, operation and maintenance of computing hardware (high end server platforms and desktops)
• Container technology (Docker, Podman) and orchestrators (Kubernetes)
• Diagnostic and monitoring solutions for the aforementioned aspects
• Configuration management tools such as Puppet with Foreman, or similar and a version control system such as Git

Behavioral competencies:

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and teamwork abilities.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple tasks effectively.
• Fluent in English, the ability to work in French would be an advantage.

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 Computing and system administration (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: 08.01.2025 at 23:59 CET.

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

Working hours: 40 hours per week

Target start date: 01-February-2025

This position involves:

• Work during nights, Sundays and official holidays.
• Interventions in underground installations.
• A valid driving licence.

Job reference: EP-CMD-2024-203-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.