Your responsibilities

We are excited to offer an opportunity to join the Microelectronics Section of the Electronic Systems for Experiments (ESE) group at CERN. As part of the RIGOLETTO project, funded by the HORIZON-Chips JU programme, you will contribute to the development of a C++ and SystemC-based virtual prototyping framework, led by CERN’s EP-ESE group. This role focuses on the co-optimization of ASIC constraints in combination with AI/ML accelerators and RISC-V-based SoC architectures. Your work will support the advancement of edge computing solutions for future high-energy physics detector systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Extend and enhance the virtual prototyping framework, modeling heterogeneous systems that integrate ASICs, AI/ML accelerators, and RISC-V-based SoCs.
• Perform system-level partitioning and design space exploration, evaluating trade-offs in performance, power, area, and reliability to derive optimized hardware-software architectures.
• Develop high-fidelity simulation models to validate architectural choices and ensure compliance with edge computing constraints and detector-specific requirements.
• Implement and maintain rigorous verification and validation methodologies to ensure consistency between models and physical design constraints.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including hardware, firmware, and physics experts, to align the system-level design with the evolving needs of next-generation detector technologies.
• Contribute to strategic planning and architecture definition, bringing system-level insights to influence long-term roadmap decisions and feature definitions.

Your profile

Skills

Ideal experience includes:

• Proficiency in C++ and SystemC for system-level modeling and virtual prototyping.
• Experience in hardware/software co-design, especially involving RISC-V-based SoCs and/or AI/ML accelerators.
• Familiarity with ASIC design constraints, including power, area, and performance considerations.
• Practical experience in integrating or optimizing AI/ML workloads (e.g. neural networks, inference engines) on specialized hardware platforms such as accelerators or custom SoCs.
• Background in simulation, validation, and verification techniques, especially at the transaction-level or architectural level.
• Understanding of edge computing architectures, preferably in scientific or high-reliability domains.
• Prior involvement in multi-disciplinary collaborative projects, ideally in research or experimental physics contexts.
• 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 Electronics/Computer Science/Physics (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: 08.07.2025 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-September-2025

Job reference: EP-ESE-ME-2025-114-GRAE

Field of work: Electrical or Electronics 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.