Junior Controls and Automation Engineer (BE-ICS-ECS-2025-222-GRAE)

Job Description

Join the team that keeps CERN's accelerators and detectors cool and running at peak performance!

As part of the Cooling & Ventilation Developers Team, you'll design and commission advanced HVAC and cooling control systems vital to the LHC's operation.

Collaborate with experts from the Beams Department and Industrial Control Systems Group to ensure precision and reliability at an unprecedented scale. Step into a role where your engineering skills help drive world-changing science.

Your Responsibilities:

• Gathering control systems requirements and compiling relevant documents.
• Designing control systems for HVAC and cooling industrial installations.
• Programming PLC, configuring local operation panels and the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) layers of the control systems.
• Development of high-level languages scripts for automatic generation of PLC code.
• Commissioning by managing the tests offline and in the field.

Your Profile

Skills:

• Knowledge of PLCs programming using IEC-61131 standard.
• Knowledge of PLC programming using SIEMENS Step7, TIA Portal and/or Schneider Control Expert would be an asset.
• Knowledge in configuration, programming and using of Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems.
• Initial experience with high-level programming languages (e.g. python).
• Knowledge of version control software systems (e.g. git).
• Spoken and written English or French, with a commitment to learn the basics of the other language.

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 Computer, automation engineer (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: 21.12.2025 at 23:59 CET.
• Contract duration: 24 months, with a possible extension up to 36 months maximum.
• Working hours: 40 hours per week
• Job flexibility: Fully Onsite
• Target start date: 01-January-2026
• Job reference: BE-ICS-ECS-2025-222-GRAE
• Field of work: Electrical or Electronics Engineering
• Benchmark job: 200020 - Computing Engineer

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.