DevOps Engineer for HEP GPU Benchmarks (Graduate/Applied Engineer)

About the role

CERN's IT Department is looking for a Graduate / Applied Engineer (QUEST) to support the development, operation and user support of WLCG HEPScore benchmarking services. The Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) is a global collaboration of around 170 computing centres, and the HEP community uses benchmarking tools to measure and compare computing resources. The role contributes to building and maintaining the next-generation benchmarking software stack.

Key responsibilities

• Develop, package and distribute the HEP benchmark software stack, integrating, profiling and validating GPU workloads from LHC experiments (event generation, simulation, fast inference, HLT)
• Build, test and maintain container images of HEP workloads via GitLab CI/CD pipelines
• Maintain the benchmarking infrastructure and data ingestion services using Puppet, GitLab CI/CD, ActiveMQ, Logstash, OpenSearch, Kibana, Apache Spark and Grafana
• Analyse grid-wide benchmark data to evaluate performance scaling across CPU/GPU architectures and server configurations
• Provide technical support and documentation to the WLCG user community

Required profile

• Nationality of a CERN Member or Associate Member State
• Background in Applied Physics, Software Engineering or a related field
• Master's degree with 2 to 6 years of post-graduation experience, or a PhD with no more than 3 years of post-graduation experience
• No previous CERN fellow or graduate contract
• Spoken and written English; commitment to learn French

Required skills

• Python, Bash, Git, Docker, Apptainer/Singularity, NVIDIA Container Toolkit, CUDA, ROCm
• GitLab CI/CD, Puppet, Linux administration
• OpenSearch/Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana, Grafana, Apache Spark, ActiveMQ

What we offer

• Fixed-term contract of 24 months, extendable up to 36 months, fully onsite, starting 1 January 2027
• Monthly net stipend of 6,372 or 7,004 CHF depending on degree
• 30 days paid leave plus 2 weeks annual closure, health insurance and pension fund membership
• Relocation package, family allowances, on-the-job and formal training including language classes