Job Description

Your responsibilities

Are you a Software Engineer with an interest and ideally a background in Physics? Or a Physicist with strong Java software development skills? Are you ready to join CERN’s Efficient Particle Accelerator (EPA) project, and to take an active role in the development of the future software systems used to control CERN’s particle accelerators? Take Part!

You will join:

• The Beams (BE) department, responsible for the beam generation, acceleration, diagnostics, controls and performance optimization for the LHC and its injector accelerators.
• The Operations (OP) group, which is responsible for the operation of all the CERN particle accelerators, their transfer lines, associated experimental areas and various supporting technical infrastructure services.
• The Efficient Particle Accelerators (EPA) project, which is aimed at improving the operational efficiency of the CERN particle accelerator complex through improved software, automation and machine learning.

You will take a major role in improving CERN’s system used to model, compute and manage operational settings for the full accelerator complex, from LINAC4 to the LHC. This mission-critical system establishes the link between accelerator physics models and accelerator hardware. In this activity, you will have an unique opportunity to closely collaborate with a variety of people working together at the heart of CERN from the senior software engineers of CERN Controls system to the operation of the accelerator complex.

You can expect to:

• Become part of an agile and quality-oriented team of skilled software engineers and physicists providing solutions essential for the CERN Controls System and daily accelerator operation;
• Interact with operators, physicists, equipment experts, and software engineers to understand the domain, the controls challenge it poses, the operational needs and help translate these into appropriate software solutions;
• Collaborate with experienced software engineers, operators, physicists to review the existing modelling system and identify possibilities and requirements for future improvements;
• Participate in the complete software development lifecycle (requirements, design, development, testing), following a modern agile approach.

The technology stack of the CERN Settings Management system includes:

• Java (Spring and Spring Boot eco-system)
• Oracle RDBMS
• REST based APIs with Java and Python client libraries
• Java Swing GUIs
• DevOps and CI/CD with Gitlab, Ansible and Gradle.

Your profile

Skills and/or knowledge

Required skills and experience:

• Experience in Java application development using Spring;
• Experience in developing and maintaining software products, from analysis to operations;
• Experience applying software quality assurance techniques and practices (testing, code reviews, etc.);

Desired skills and experience:

• Domain knowledge of accelerator physics and operation;
• Experience in designing and evolving client-oriented APIs;
• Experience in Python application development;
• Experience or basic knowledge of Java Swing GUIs;
• Experience using CI/CD solutions to build, test and provision software to operations;
• A general interest in building and evolving robust, secure software components and tools.

Language skills:

• 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.
• You have a professional background in Java Software Engineer (or a related field) and have either:
  • a Master’s degree with 2 to 6 years of post-graduation professional experience;
  • or a PhD with no more than 3 years of post-graduation professional experience.
• You have never had a CERN fellow or graduate contract before.

Additional Information

Job closing date: 16.10.2024 at 23:59h (midnight) CEST.

Job reference: BE-OP-LHC-2024-144-GRAP

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

Target start date: 01-November-2024

What we offer

• A monthly stipend ranging between 6212 and 6828 Swiss Francs per month (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.

We are on a Quest. A Journey into discovery like no other. Bring your expertise to our unique work and develop your knowledge and skills at pace. Join world-class subject matter experts on unique projects, in a Quest for greater knowledge and deeper understanding.

Begin your CERN Quest. Take Part!

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.