Engineer (Computing) in the area of grid data management and grid monitoring inside the Information Technologies Departement (IT), Grid Technology (GT) group.

Date of publication: 18.05.2010

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Programme Staff Staff Category Computer Scientists Number of posts 1 Job Reference IT-GT-2010-151-LD

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Professional Code / Code Professionnel 208

Introduction

The Information Technology (IT) Department provides computing services for all aspects of the laboratory’s activities. These require a wide range of technologies and skills including the provision of computing facilities, local and wide area networking, platforms for computing environments, software development, databases, desktop environments and a wide range of system integration and management tasks. The Department collaborates with institutes around the world as part of the LHC Computing Grid to provide the environments for physics data processing as well as engaging in research and development projects with industry as part of the CERN openlab and partnering in a number of European Commission projects.

The world’s largest scientific machine – the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN – has started a first extended data taking run. The physics programme of the LHC relies on a large distributed computing system (the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid: WLCG) which is used to reconstruct and analyse the unprecedented quantity of experimental data – some 15PB / year under normal operating conditions. WLCG also provides the computational and storage resources that are used to provide the necessary simulated data as well as the processing needed for the optimisation of the detectors and of the physics analysis algorithms.

The Grid Technology group develops, maintains, supports and operates some of the core data management and monitoring services that form the backbone of the LCG, the LHC Computing Grid, which is the worlds largest production grid infrastructure with more than 250 participating computer centers and several thousand users. The group's services monitor the state of the EGI and LCG production grids and measure the performance and availability of the resources. The team has an open position in the area of grid monitoring and messaging infrastructure.

Functions

As a member of the Grid Technology group the selected candidate will perform the following functions:

Maintain and operate large database systems associated with the production grid monitoring systems; Assist in the continuing development and support of the EGI and LCG grid monitoring systems; Provide support to partners in the installation and maintenance of the EGI.eu grid monitoring systems; Collaborate with other EGI.eu grid operations teams to ensure and improve the reliability of the grid operations tools overall; Cooperate and provide support to the operation teams of other grids (OSG, NDGF, Deisa, etc.) to improve the interoperability of grid monitoring systems.

Qualification required

University degree or equivalent in computer science, physics, or a closely related field.

Experience and knowledge

Good knowledge and practical experience in the following fields are required:

Monitoring tools (Nagios, Zenoss, etc.);

Relational database systems, preferably Oracle, PL/SQL or MySQL;

Object-oriented programming, preferably in Python;

Grid architectures & technologies (for example: gLite, LCG, Globus, VDT, Unicore, ARC, etc);

Web development tools technologies (for example: Django, RESTful APIs,etc.);

Quality assurance and testing methods for component-based software applications, in particular on distributed software);

Distributed computing and messaging systems (for example JMS, ActiveMQ, AMQP, Qpid, RabbitMQ etc.);

Good communication skills, a customer-oriented approach and the ability to liaise effectively with users;

A methodical approach to problem solving, open mindedness, team spirit and flexibility;

Experience in service management, having provided a critical, user facing, service would be an advantage.

Eligibility and closing date

In line with our policy of Equal Opportunities, we encourage both men and women with relevant qualifications to apply.

Nationals from all Member States may apply.

Applications should normally reach us by 15 June. Applications will normally remain valid for 12 months.

Note on Employment Conditions

We offer a limited-duration contract which shall terminate on 30/04/2013. 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.

The post may require some travel and work outside reference working hours, including nights, weekends and public holidays, and may entail shift work and the participation in a regular stand-by service.

-- KilianSchwarz - 19 May 2010