Your responsibilities

Join CERN's Storage and Data Management group, to evolve the data storage systems used at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and across CERN's experimental programme. The Storage and Data Management Group is responsible for enabling data access for the laboratory, in particular the long-term archival, preservation and distribution of LHC data to a worldwide scientific community. The group manages more than one exabyte of storage across about 2,000 data servers and 50,000 high-capacity tapes. CERN, take part!

As a Computing Engineer (Data Storage Systems), you will join the CERN Tape Archive (CTA) team, responsible for the archival and management of the physics data from the entirety of CERN's experimental programme. Your job will include both software development and operations tasks.

On the operations side, you will take part in monitoring CTA activity and performance, troubleshooting problems and diagnosing the cause of any system failures. This will include interaction with CERN experiment data management teams and other storage services in SD group.

On the software development side, you will diagnose and fix bugs and security vulnerabilities, and contribute new software features according to the needs of the service.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Maintaining and developing software in C++/Linux;
• Optimisation and automation of storage services;
• Enhancing monitoring and alerting of storage systems;
• Contributing to procedures and documentation;
• Participate in operations, troubleshooting and support as part of a team.

Your profile

Skills:

Required skills:

• C++ software development;
• Linux systems administration;
• Scripting in Bash and Python.

Skills which would be an advantage (but not required; training will be provided where necessary):

• Knowledge of databases (SQL);
• Experience with version control systems (e.g. git);
• Experience with containers (e.g. Kubernetes);
• Knowledge of monitoring tools (e.g. Grafana, Prometheus);
• 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 Computer Science or Software 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: 12.09.2025 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-January-2026

This position involves:

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

Job reference: IT-SD-TAB-2025-155-GRAE

Field of work: Software Engineering and IT

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.