Hardware Support Engineer

Job Description

Passionate about hardware technology and providing support for scientific communities? Join the team in the Fabric and Communication Systems (FCS) group responsible for operating and supporting a wide range of server technologies in the openlab heterogeneous architectures testbed. As a key team member, your responsibilities will include maintaining and upgrading existing server technologies, providing support to scientific communities, debugging system issues, and installing/configuring new technologies.

Passionate about hardware technology and providing support for scientific communities? Join the team in the Fabric and Communication Systems (FCS) group responsible for operating and supporting a wide range of server technologies in the openlab heterogeneous architectures testbed. As a key team member, your responsibilities will include maintaining and upgrading existing server technologies, providing support to scientific communities, debugging system issues, and installing/configuring new technologies.

As a successful candidate you will:

• Maintain the existing servers, ensuring optimal performance through regular maintenance and upgrades.
• Support scientific communities: provide assistance and support to end-users, addressing queries and resolving issues.
• Debug system issues: identify and resolve issues promptly to minimise downtime.
• Install and configure new technologies: play a key role in integrating new server technologies into the openlab heterogeneous architectures testbed.

• Interact on a regular basis with industry partners and be exposed to novel technologies.
• Organise topic-oriented workshops.

• Proven experience with computer systems (BIOS/UEFI, x86/Arm processor architectures and virtualisation, memory, GPU computing), interconnects (Ethernet, Infiniband) and types of storage drives (S-ATA, SAS, NVMe).
• Experience with management and monitoring protocols such as, but not limited to, IPMI / Redfish, SMART and SNMP.
• Extensive experience with Linux and shell scripting.
• Demonstrated experience with Python.

Skills and/or knowledge:

• Server hardware.
• Python.
• Shell scripting.
• Linux system administration.

• Familiarity with performance profiling and optimisation of applications.
• Demonstrating the ability to perform performance-oriented debugging.
• Proficiency (or willingness to rapidly acquire it) in utilising software configuration management tools, such as Puppet or Ansible.
• The ability to work in French would be an advantage.
• Spoken and written English, with a commitment to learn French.

• You are a national of a CERN Member or Associate Member State.
• By the Final date to receive applications, you have a maximum of two years of professional experience since graduation in Computer Science / Computer 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.

Job closing date:
at 23:59 CEST.

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

Working hours:

40 hours per week

Job flexibility:
Hybrid

Target start date: 01-October-2026

• A valid driving licence.

Job reference: IT-FCS-HP
- -GRAE

Field of work:
Software Engineering and IT

Benchmark job:

- Computing Engineer

• A monthly stipend between Swiss Francs per month (tax free) depending on your degree.
• 30 days of paid leave per year plus 2 weeks annual closure.
• Coverage by CERN’s comprehensive health insurance scheme (for yourself, your spouse and children), and membership of the CERN Pension Fund.
• Family, child and infant monthly allowances depending on your individual circumstances.
• A relocation package (installation grant and travel expenses) depending on your individual circumstances.
• Possibility to extend your contract up to 36 months.
• On-the-job and formal training including language classes.

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