Junior Software Engineer (C++, Python) (EP-SFT-2024-128-GRAE)

Your responsibilities

Are you a recently-graduated scientist interested in contributing to scientific software, or a software engineer keen on diving into the challenges of High Energy Physics data processing? Do you like intuitive, simple and powerful interfaces? Join the ROOT team (https://root.cern) and become a core contributor to the software R&D at the heart of LHC data processing.

In particular, you will:

• Improve the usage and feel of ROOT as a Python package.
• Improve the ergonomics of Python interfaces offered by ROOT statistics and analysis tools such as histograms, graphs or RDataFrame.
• Contribute to the baseline support and maintenance tasks of the project.

Your profile

Skills and/or knowledge

The following list of skills (in order of priority) characterises the ideal candidate: 

• Experience with software version control (e.g. git)
• Knowledge of the C++ language: how to write, compile and run programs; developing code for a package; concepts of thread-safety
• Python knowledge and experience with writing code for a repository

Optional but a plus:

• Basic knowledge of Python packages for distributed analysis (e.g. Dask, PySpark, Ray)
• Experience with using ROOT
• Experience with HEP experiments code, their data lifecycle and analysis workflows

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 STEM (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: September 1 at 23:59 AM hrs CEST.

Job reference: EP-SFT-2024-128-GRAE

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

Target start date: 01-October-2024

What we offer

• A monthly stipend ranging between 5134 and 5647 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.