Systems engineer - platform automation

Systems Engineer – Platform Automation

80%-100%, Lugano, fixed-term

The Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) develops and operates a high-performance computing and data research infrastructure that supports world-class science in Switzerland. Its user laboratory is available to domestic and international researchers in academia, industry, and the business sector. The centre is operated by ETH Zurich and has offices at its data centre in Lugano and in Zurich.

For this position the work location is Lugano.

Project background

As high-performance computing, AI, and cloud technologies continue to converge; CSCS is redefining how advanced computational services are designed and delivered. Modern scientific and engineering workloads are no longer just large—they are complex, data-intensive, and highly diverse, pushing existing infrastructure to its limits.

We are offering a contract initially limited to two years, which will provide the opportunity to contribute to a fast-evolving AI landscape in which CSCS plays a key role and to support high-impact initiatives both nationally and internationally. This includes contributions to the Swiss AI Initiative and similar programs, such as lending support for the development and release of foundation models in the weather and climate domain.

The initial two-year contract could potentially be extended or even become permanent.

Job description

The main goal of this position is to develop and manage HPC/AI services on top of a multi-tenant infrastructure. As a Platform automation engineer, you will directly contribute to the design, implementation, maintenance, and documentation of platform services to support HPC and AI. Your work will directly enhance the overall system functionality and efficiency.

Main duties:

• Investigating, troubleshooting, and debugging platform services and infrastructure resources
• Developing, maintaining, and supporting tools and pipelines to support platforms on a geographically redundant infrastructure
• Developing automations to provision, test, deploy, and monitor resources to support the needs of HPC and AI platforms
• Supporting, documenting, and sharing knowledge of tools, and procedures

Profile

You should have a bachelor’s or higher degree in computer engineering, computer science, a relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

You should have a sound knowledge of:

• Experience in the deployment of HPC, AI, or Cloud infrastructures
• Management of HPC/AI services to maximize utilization of compute, storage and high speed network components
• Working knowledge of automation tools and frameworks, including CI/CD processes and ecosystem
• Linux administration skills

Experience with the following is preferred, though there will be ample opportunities to learn and gain more experience with all of these skills on the job:

• Versioning systems and CI/CD workflows such as ArgoCD
• Debugging of microservices running on Kubernetes
• Performance monitoring and diagnostic tools for HPC/AI hardware
• Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform and Ansible

Personal qualities:

• Self-motivated and proactive team player
• Strong communication skills or interest in developing them
• Strong problem‑solving mindset with tolerance for uncertainty and change
• Understands user needs and works collaboratively to address them
• Adaptive and willing to learn new technologies with and from others
• Comfortable tackling complex or ambiguous problems
• Comfortable admitting when you don’t know, reaching out and leveraging the right expertise when needed

Project management and methodology:

• Experience with working in self-organized teams
• Familiarity with Agile methodology
• Experience with test-driven development is a plus

We offer

• Your job with impact: Become part of ETH Zurich, which not only supports your professional development, but also actively contributes to positive change in society
• Numerous benefits, such as public transport season tickets and car sharing, a wide range of sports offered by the ASVZ, childcare and attractive pension benefits
• You can look forward to an exciting working environment, cultural diversity and attractive offers and benefits.
• We value the diversity of our team and, to further enhance the diversity of our workforce, we particularly encourage women to apply.

We value diversity and sustainability

In line with our values, ETH Zurich encourages an inclusive culture. We promote equality of opportunity, value diversity and nurture a working and learning environment in which the rights and dignity of all our staff and students are respected. Sustainability is a core value for us – we are consistently working towards a climate-neutral future.