Applied Physicist or Engineer in Computing - Hoofdinhoud

Introduction

Take part in the re-engineering of the LHC software: join CERN’s SFT team! Scientific software used at CERN is being re-engineered by introducing parallelism in order to make efficient use of new multi-core CPU architectures. The development of new models and specialized frameworks is needed to assist scientists in developing software algorithms that can run concurrently on such architectures.

You will join the Software Development for Experiments (SFT) group in the Physics Department, which has responsibility for the development of common data processing software for use by experiment groups of the Physics Department. This software ranges from general-purpose packages, such as object I/O libraries, graphics, scripting and GUIs, to more physics oriented packages, such as detector simulation and statistical analysis tools. You will collaborate closely with scientists and engineers in the CERN-IT department, as well as those from many High Energy Physics (HEP) institutes.

Functions

As an experienced software developer you will contribute to the overall design and implementation of scientific software used by experimentalists for the processing of HEP data. In particular you will play a leading role in the re-engineering of CERN's existing software suite in order to adapt and optimise it for use on emerging new technologies that support various forms of software parallelism.

Your main activities will consist of:

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  Development of new concurrency models and specialized frameworks, initially by building demonstrators in order to select the most appropriate parallelization technologies.
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  Analysis of existing simulation and reconstruction applications used by LHC experiments in order to gather concurrency requirements and constraints.
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  Optimization of existing algorithms and data structures that yield significant performance improvements when run on new CPU architectures.
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  Participation in the provision of baseline services for the build and test of new releases and in user support activities for the software products provided by the group (ROOT, Geant4, CernVM).

Qualification required

University degree or equivalent qualification in the field of computer science, physics, engineering, or closely related fields.

Experience and competencies

The experience required for this post is:

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  At least 3 years’ programming experience developing large data processing applications.
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  Extensive experience of the use of tools and methods that support all phases of the software life-cycle, in particular design, coding, testing and optimization of software performance.
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  Knowledge of computer architectures and experience in developing concurrent and parallel software will be considered an advantage.

The technical competencies required for this post are: 

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  Programming/Software development: Object Oriented programming, C++, python, Linux
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  Development of HEP data processing frameworks: such as event model, detector description, persistency
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  Physics Analysis: experience using the ROOT analysis framework will be considered an advantage
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  Physics Simulation: experience using the Geant4 simulation toolkit will be considered an advantage

The behavioural competencies required for this post are:

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  Achieving results: Taking responsibility for achieving quality results. Working in a structured and efficient way.
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  Solving Problems: Producing a range of innovative and workable solutions.
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  Learning and sharing knowledge: Keeping up to date within and outside own area of expertise.; sharing knowledge with others.
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  Working in teams: Building and maintaining constructive and effective work relationships.

The language competencies required for this post are:

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  Spoken and written English or French: ability to draw-up technical specifications and scientific reports and to make oral presentations in one of the two languages, ability to understand and speak the other language in professional contexts.

Eligibility and closing date

Employing a diverse and international workforce is a CERN core value and central to our success. We encourage applications from nationals of all Member States, irrespective of gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion or personal status. This vacancy will be filled as soon as possible, and applications should normally reach us no later than 13/02/2012. By applying, you authorise CERN to consider your application for any other position it considers relevant to your profile. Please ensure that you update your profile regularly to include any relevant new information and inform the Recruitment Service if you wish your file to be removed from the database.

Note on Employment Conditions

We offer a limited-duration contract for a period of 5 years. Limited-duration contracts shall terminate by default on their date of expiry. Subject to certain conditions, holders of limited-duration contracts may be granted an indefinite contract.

These functions require:  

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  Work outside normal working hours including nights, Sundays and public holidays.
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  Work in a controlled radioactive environment.

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Conditions of Employment

Compensation and Benefits