Junior Automation & Controls Engineer

Join the Automatic Control & Safety section of the CERN Industrial Controls group and contribute to the control systems for the Primary Gas Systems supplying detectors and installations across CERN’s Experimental Areas. The role involves migration of the LHC Primary Gas Systems to a dedicated infrastructure, working across the full control stack from PLC logic to WinCC OA supervision using CERN’s Gas Control System and UNICOS-CPC frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the migration of the LHC Primary Gas Systems, covering PLC and SCADA (WinCC OA) development and commissioning.
• Develop and configure gas-system control applications on Schneider M580 and Siemens S7-1500 PLCs.
• Contribute to the specification, I/O definition and instrumentation of primary and detector gas systems and to HMI, touch-panel and notification (email/SMS) development.
• Support factory and site acceptance testing (FAT/SAT), installation and commissioning in the experimental areas, together with documentation and first-line operational support.

Requirements

• You are a national of a CERN Member State or Associate Member State (excluding Pakistani, Lithuanian, Latvian, Cypriot and Croatian nationals due to ceiling limits).
• Maximum of 2 years of professional experience since graduation in Automation, Control Engineering or related field by application deadline.
• Highest educational qualification is either a bachelor’s or master’s degree; you must have a university degree and cannot hold a PhD.
• You have never had a CERN fellow or graduate contract before.
• Interest in industrial control systems and hands-on work with hardware, instrumentation and field installations.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work within a multidisciplinary team.
• Good communication skills in English, with ability to document and present technical work clearly.
• Some knowledge of PLC programming (IEC 61131-3) on Schneider and/or Siemens platforms, or willingness to learn.
• Familiarity with SCADA systems (WinCC OA an asset) and industrial communication protocols such as PROFIBUS, PROFINET, Modbus or Flowbus.
• Proficiency in a scripting or programming language such as Python.
• Interest in field instrumentation and gas/fluid systems.
• Knowledge of continuous integration (GitLab CI) or model-driven code generation is an asset.
• Spoken and written English, with a commitment to learn French.
• A valid driving licence.

Skills

• Automation Engineering
• Control Engineering
• Industrial Control Systems
• Hardware Installation
• Instrumentation techniques
• PLC Programming
• IEC 61131-3
• Schneider PLC
• Siemens PLC programming
• SCADA Systems
• WinCC
• Industrial communication protocols
• PROFIBUS
• PROFINET
• Modbus
• Flowbus
• Python Programming
• Continuous Integration
• Gitlab CI/CD
• Model-Driven Code Generation
• Technical Documentation Production

Languages

English, French