CERN: Mechanical Safety Engineer (HSE-OHS-PE-2025-86-GRAE) – Geneva

Job Description

Your responsibilities

Are you knowledgeable in mechanical design and construction? Do you want to contribute to a unique and challenging research infrastructure? Then your Origin starts here. Deepen your knowledge and expertise faster than anywhere else on earth. Take Part!

CERN’s Process Engineering and General Safety Services section of the Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental Protection (HSE) Unit is looking for a Mechanical Safety Engineer to join the team working on the Einstein Telescope project. You will contribute to the mechanical safety of a new underground research infrastructure. You will collaborate with a multidisciplinary and diverse team of engineers, physicists and technicians.

About Einstein Telescope:
The Einstein Telescope (ET) is a proposed underground facility for a third-generation gravitational-wave observatory. Building on the success of Advanced Virgo and Advanced LIGO, which detected merging black holes and neutron stars, ET will have a much higher sensitivity. This will be achieved with 10km interferometer arms (up from Virgo’s 3km), a depth of 150-300 meters underground, and new technologies like cryogenic cooling of optics around 15K, quantum techniques to reduce light fluctuations, and advanced noise-reduction systems. ET will enable exploration of the Universe’s gravitational waves back to the cosmological dark ages, offering insights into fundamental physics and cosmology.

Your profile

Skills

Required:

Knowledge in structural strength assessment methods for mechanical structures (analytical, Finite Element Analysis) and fluid dynamics (Computational Fluid Dynamics);
Knowledge of manufacturing methods of mechanical systems and assemblies;
Analytical mindset to analyse, discuss and comment mechanical designs;
Capability to work in an international and multi-disciplinary team.

Valuable:

Experience of design and construction codes for mechanical systems;
Knowledge of large-scale vacuum systems and their specific risks, including implosion;
Background in risk assessment methodologies (e.g. FMEA, ETA, FTA, HAZOP, etc.);
Experience in drafting and editing safety-related reports, assessments and specifications to present to decision makers and/or to the authorities;
Spoken and written English, with a commitment to learn French.

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 Mechanical Engineering (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: 10.06.2025 at 23:59 CEST.

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

Working hours: 40 hours per week

Target start date: 01-September-2025

This position involves:

Work in Radiation Areas.
Interventions in underground installations.
A valid driving licence.

Job reference: HSE-OHS-PE-2025-86-GRAE

Field of work: Mechanical Engineering

What we offer

A monthly stipend ranging between 5196 and 5716 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