Company Description

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.

Job Description

Introduction

Join the team operating and evolving the computing infrastructure services underpinning the scientific program of CERN!

As a Compute Services Engineer in the ‘IT Compute and Devices’ group in CERN’s IT Department you will help running services on the critical path for the CERN experiments and contribute to the efficient delivery of infrastructure and interactive compute resources to CERN as an organisation and its experiment users.

Specifically, you will join the team to work on the interactive Linux based public logon service (LxPlus) and contribute to the secure delivery and optimisation of IT’s Puppet-based configuration management services. With more than 1000 interactive sessions open at any time, LxPlus is a critical hub for experiment workflows and CERN users, and also acts as a main entry point to many of the IT service offerings. IT’s Puppet-based configuration management services runs on about 14000 Linux and Windows systems in IT and the experiments which makes this large-scale service the prime component to ensure proper configuration of virtual and physical servers at CERN.

Functions

As a Compute Services Engineer, you will join a passionate team, and take an important role in the delivery and evolution of the interactive and configuration management services. In order to support these critical user-facing services, you will have a wide spectrum of responsibilities, from the administration, operation and maintenance of distributed systems through to aiding service managers inside and outside CERN IT using the services. You will be involved in all aspects of system life cycle, including gathering user requirements, analysis of service key performance indicators to help plan infrastructure design and evolution, and the development where necessary of system software such as monitoring, support services and configuration.

In particular you will:

• Operate the interactive Linux based public logon service (LxPlus) and ensure its evolution with stakeholders inside and outside IT.
• Ensure secure delivery and optimisation of IT’s Puppet-based configuration management services.
• Participate in the ongoing automation, monitoring and scaling activities for the team’s services, including other infrastructure services, such as CERN IT’s High-Performance Computing (HPC) facilities or services supporting the World-wide LHC computing grid.
• Provide user support, including analysing user requirements, providing advice on best practices, understanding usage patterns in order to plan for service improvements.
• Help develop and design service evolution to grow the services along with the requirements of the LHC as it moves towards larger data volumes and higher computing requirements for the upcoming LHC high-luminosity phase, and as user workflow expectations evolve.

Qualifications

Master’s degree or equivalent relevant experience in the field of Information Technology or a related field.

Experience:

We are looking for someone with the following experience/skills:

• Proven experience of Linux system administration
• Experience with configuration management tools (such as Puppet)
• Experience with programming languages and tools (Bash, Python, Ruby, Git)
• Experience with user relations, user support, and user requirements definition

Additional experience/skills in the following areas would be an asset:

• Experience with operating and optimising large-scale, mission-critical production services as a Site Reliability Engineer or similar role.

Technical competencies:

• Knowledge of operating systems, in particular Linux system administration.
• Knowledge of system configuration tools such as Puppet.
• Architecture and design of ICT systems including the monitoring of distributed systems.
• Knowledge and application of software life-cycle tools and procedures, in particular Agile/Scrum methodologies and DevOps practices.
• Monitoring and responding to security threats and incidents for ICT systems

Behavioural competencies:

• Working in teams: working well in groups and readily fitting into a team; participating fully and taking an active role in team activities Cooperating constructively with others in the pursuit of team goals; balancing personal goals with team goals.
• Solving problems: addressing complex problems by breaking them down into manageable components Recognizing what is essential; discriminating between important and peripheral information and being able to see the whole picture
• Managing self: taking initiative beyond regular tasks and making things happen Working well autonomously; taking on activities and tasks without prompting
• Building relationships: showing appreciation for the ideas and contributions of others and encourages others to express their views, even if controversial. Being able to put self in the shoes of others in order to understand their needs and interests

Language skills:

Spoken and written English: ability to understand and speak the language in professional contexts. Ability to draw-up technical specifications and/or scientific reports and to make oral presentations. The willingness to acquire French language would be an asset.

Additional Information

Eligibility and closing date:

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. We welcome applications from all Member States and Associate Member States.

This vacancy will be filled as soon as possible, and applications should normally reach us no later than August 25 23:59 hrs CEST

Employment Conditions

Contract type: Limited duration contract (5 years). Subject to certain conditions, holders of limited-duration contracts may apply for an indefinite position.

These functions require:

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

Job grade: 6-7

Job reference: IT-CD-CC-2024-114-LD

Benchmark Job Title: Computing Engineer