Job Title: Motivated Analyst for Platform Engineering Team at ECMWF
Contract Details:
Type: STF-PL
Duration: 4-year contract ending on 30 September 2028
Job Summary:
We are actively seeking a dynamic analyst to join ECMWF’s burgeoning Platform Engineering team. As a key contributor, you will support ECMWF’s critical mission through the development, deployment, and oversight of both current and emergent applications across multiple infrastructural platforms. Your innovative insights will be essential in fostering these activities within diverse environments, ensuring their execution is both high-quality and reliable.
Your position is within the Platform Engineering group, a part of the Application Delivery Section under our Computing Department. This Section delivers the necessary platforms and services that facilitate access to computational resources (PaaS, SaaS) at varied levels and enable ECMWF teams to deploy applications with varying support levels, maintaining high quality and reliability throughout.
The Section accomplishes its purpose by fostering innovation in domains such as automated computer systems management, application deployment and operation, reliability engineering, identity and access management, container orchestration, and development of PaaS/SaaS applications, along with observability tools like monitoring, logging, and tracing.
About ECMWF:
The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is recognized globally for its excellence in weather and environmental predictions. Serving as an international establishment, we offer vital global weather data to our member states, contributing profoundly to understanding and addressing the climate crisis. Operating as a 24/7 research and operational nucleus, we specialize in medium and long-range forecasts and maintain one of the world’s eminent meteorological data archives.
Our success is rooted in our scientific community’s expertise, our 35 Member and Co-operating States’ robust partnerships, and by harnessing some of the most potent supercomputers globally. Our cutting-edge technology and machine learning applications play a pivotal role in our operations.
ECMWF has also cultivated a significant partnership with the European Union and is entrusted with operating the EU Copernicus Programme’s Climate Change and Atmosphere Monitoring Services. Our contributions extend to the Copernicus Emergency Management Service and initiatives in High-Performance Computing and the development of digital tools for comprehensive weather, climate, air quality, and fire and flood monitoring and prediction.
Discover more about our mission at www.ecmwf.int.
Responsibilities:
– Oversee and support container orchestration infrastructures
– Automate software deployment processes to containers, VMs, or bare metal
– Develop and deliver PaaS and SaaS applications
– Advocate for reliability engineering within ECMWF and associated partners
– Engage in regular 24-hour on-call rotations for critical systems and services
– Tackle additional relevant tasks in line with the team’s objectives
This position demands commitment to security best practices, excellent knowledge sharing, meticulous documentation, and effective process management.
Candidate Profile:
– Strong interpersonal skills with a collaborative disposition
– Robust analytical abilities with a knack for problem-solving and a continuous improvement mindset
– Self-motivated with the capability to work independently
– Team player with enthusiasm for functioning within a geographically dispersed team
– Proficient in managing time and completing varied tasks efficiently
Educational and Experience Requirements:
– A university degree (EQF Level 6) or equivalent practical experience
– Expertise in designing and developing Linux-based cloud-native platforms
Essential Knowledge and Skills:
We invite you to apply even if you don’t meet all the listed criteria. We are particularly interested in candidates from network, storage, or software development backgrounds who are eager to join our multi-disciplinary team.
Applicants should demonstrate knowledge and skills in some of the following areas:
– Programming or scripting (e.g., Python, Ruby, Perl, Go)
– Cloud Native technologies such as Kubernetes, Helm, Docker
– Cloud IaaS offerings like OpenStack, AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure
– Software engineering principles, including Kubernetes application patterns (operators) and Cloud Native architectures (e.g., distributed applications, microservices)
– Automation tools like Terraform, Ansible, or similar
– Linux system administration
– DevOps practices: CI/CD, Software Engineering, Automation pipelines
– Understanding of the server, storage, and networking aspects of Cloud applications
Desirable expertise includes:
– Skills in observability, including monitoring, logging, and analytics, application tracing
– Familiarity with tools like Splunk, Grafana, Prometheus, Loki, ELK, or equivalent
– Knowledge of Application Performance Monitoring
– Experience with NOSQL (MongoDB) and SQL databases (PostgreSQL or MySQL)
Please provide concrete examples of your skills and experiences in the application form.
Language Requirements:
Proficiency in English is necessary for this role, with any additional knowledge of French or German being advantageous but not mandatory.
Other Important Information:
Grade Remuneration: Successful candidates will be employed at the A2 grade level, in accordance with the coordinated organisations’ pay scales. This role falls under the STF-PL employment category as per the ECMWF Staff Regulations. Complete salary details and benefits can be found on the ECMWF website at www.ecmwf.int/en/about/jobs.
Start Date: 1st July 2024
Location: Positions are available at ECMWF’s duty stations either in Reading, UK, or Bologna, Italy. The role requires relocation to the chosen duty station. ECMWF operates on a hybrid model, allowing for a blend of office and teleworking, including the possibility of working away from the duty station for up to 10 working days per month, within member or cooperating states.
Application Process:
Interested applicants should complete the online application form via the ‘apply’ button above. ECMWF is committed to an inclusive and diverse working environment, offering equal opportunities to all without discrimination based on race, gender, age, social status, disability, sexual orientation, religion, personality, ethnicity, or culture. We are dedicated to building a workforce that mirrors the diversity of our community of member and cooperating countries, fostering an environment where equality and inclusion thrive.
Eligibility for Application:
We welcome applications from nationals of ECMWF Member States and Co-operating States. In light of the current situation, we also invite applications from Ukrainian nationals for this vacancy. In exceptional instances, applications from other nationalities may be considered.
The ECMWF Member States and Co-operating States include: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, and the United Kingdom.
If you need any special accommodations to fully participate in our recruitment process, please reach out to us. Videoconference interviews via MS Teams are expected to occur about one month after the application deadline