Database Infrastructure Engineer (IT-DA-DB-2026-174-LD)

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.

Introduction

You will join a small team of experts managing the PostgreSQL and MySQL databases supporting the LHC experiments, accelerator operations and organisation-wide services. You will help build and automate a modern, highly available database platform, with training and mentoring to grow your skills.

Functions

As a Database Infrastructure Engineer in the Databases and Analytics Group, your main activities will consist of:

- Operate and improve production PostgreSQL (and MySQL) databases: troubleshooting, upgrades, migrations, patching and scaling.
- Help design, deploy and run highly available database setups with automated failover.
- Automate provisioning, configuration and routine operations using scripting and infrastructure tools.
- Monitor databases for performance, stability, availability and security.
- Contribute to backup, disaster recovery and service continuity strategies.
- Support application developers in diagnosing database and query issues.
- Document procedures and share knowledge within the team.

Behavioural competencies

- Solving Problems: identifying, defining and assessing problems, taking action to address them.
- Achieving Results: delivering high quality work on time and fulfilling expectations.
- Working in Teams: building and maintaining constructive and effective work relationships.
- Communicating Effectively: delivering presentations in a structured and clear way; adjusting style and content to the audience; responding calmly and confidently to questions.
- Learning and Sharing Knowledge: keeping up-to-date with developments in own field of expertise and readily absorbing new information.

Language skills

- Spoken and written English, with a commitment to learn French.

Requirements

Master's Degree or equivalent relevant experience in the field of Computing Science, or a science discipline (e.g., Physics) with significant computing content, or a related field.; Hands-on experience (typically 2+ years, including internships or substantial projects) administering relational databases, ideally PostgreSQL, in a professional environment.; Good troubleshooting skills: performance analysis, query tuning, replication, backup and recovery.; Knowledge of SQL, and scripting in Python or shell for automation.; Good understanding of Linux systems and an interest in database infrastructure, reliability and automation.; Familiarity with high availability, replication, clustering, backup/recovery or infrastructure automation would be an advantage..; Experience with technologies such as Patroni, Consul, HAProxy, PgBouncer, Kubernetes or configuration-management tools is welcome, but not required ..; Ability to troubleshoot technical problems, learn new technologies and work collaboratively with infrastructure and application teams.; Administration of databases architectures; Knowledge of operating systems: such as Linux,; Knowledge of programming techniques and languages SQL, Python, shell.; Architecture and design of ICT systems: interest in designing resilient, distributed infrastructure

Benefits

A competitive salary (tax free), increasing in line with your years of relevant experience.; 30 days of paid leave per year plus 2 weeks annual closure.; Coverage by CERN’s comprehensive health insurance scheme (for yourself, your spouse and children), and membership of the CERN Pension Fund.; Family, child and infant monthly allowances depending on your individual circumstances.; A relocation package (installation grant, removal, travel expenses) depending on your individual circumstances.; Possibility to extend your contract up to 8 years + eligibility for indefinite contract tenure.