Share
Working at ESO
Are you interested in working in areas of frontline technology and in a stimulating international environment? Do you feel your profile matches our requirements? Learn more about our current vacancies and apply online. Read more..
The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive ground-based astronomical observatory. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries.
ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in northern Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor (home to ALMA), and the ESO Headquarters are located in Garching, near Munich, Germany.
At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory, and will host and operate the southern array of the Cherenkov Telescope Array, the world's largest and most sensitive high energy gamma-ray observatory. ESO is a major partner in ALMA. On Cerro Armazones, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky" and whose operations will be fully integrated into the Paranal Observatory.
Within its Maintenance, Support and Engineering Department (MSE) at the La Silla Paranal Observatory, within the Directorate of Operations, ESO is advertising an international staff member position of:
In the context of the development of future site operations, the Paranal Observatory is preparing operations of the VLT and the ELT. The Integrated Operations Programme builds and implements a process model that delivers high-performance science data through sustainable operations processes. The digital transformation of operations plays a major role in our success and thus makes the DevOps Project Engineers key players in the engineering team of the programme.
Main Duties and Responsibilities:
- Leading in strong collaboration with the IOP Architects the development and implementation of a DevOps concept in the Paranal Observatory.
- Work in a diverse team of IOP architects, engineers, scientists and other operations experts to design and develop the operations environment to support a newly defined set of application on a modern cloud/on-premises infrastructure.
- Design and develop CI/CD pipelines to automate software delivery and deployment process, while collaborating with development teams to integrate automated testing into the CI/CD pipelines.
- Contribute to an exciting project, complying with deliverables on specific due dates and reporting to the Project Management team.
- Monitor application performance, scalability and reliability using monitoring and logging tools.
- Troubleshoot issues in development and production environments and implement the solutions to these issues. Reports to: Head of Paranal Software Group.
Key Competences:
Essential competences and experience:
- 3 years of experience in a similar role, with a focus on cloud technology applications and CI/CD pipelines.
- 2 years working on software development and implementation projects.
- Experience with Kafka and OpenSearch
- Proficiency in container orchestration tools like Kubernetes.
- Experience with implementing and managing CI/CD pipelines using tools like Jenkins or GitLab.
- Proficiency in Python scripting and application development to automate processes and develop custom solutions.
- Strong troubleshooting skills and ability to analyse complex systems.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
Desirable and considered as an asset would be:
- Experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform.
- Knowledge of documentation as code (DaC) tools.
- Knowledge and experience in the implementation and administration of Kafka as a stream to support development tools or cloud-native applications.
- Experience in Airflow development and configuration for orchestrating workflows, including deployment using Kubernetes.
- In-depth understanding of container-based applications and their challenges.
- Strong knowledge in Bash and Linux systems.
Experience:
Three years of relevant working experience.
Qualifications:
A university degree or equivalent in relevant disciplines, e.g., computer science, software development, or engineering is required.
Language Skills:
ESO is an international organization where the official language is English. The position requires proficiency in oral and written communication in English.
Remuneration and Contract:
We offer an attractive remuneration package including a competitive salary (tax free for ESO member states), comprehensive pension scheme and medical, educational and other social benefits, as well as financial help in relocating your family.
Our Salary and career structure
ESO's salary structure is based upon a range of career paths, which reflect the nature and level of our jobs. Each career path is made up of two or three grades which are used to further reflect experience.
Please follow this attached link for more details https://www.eso.org/public/jobs/conditions/intstaff/salary-structure/
ESO aims to support members of personnel in maintaining a good work-life balance (https://www.eso.org/public/jobs/conditions/intstaff/#work-life-balance) between their professional and private life. ESO is also committed to offering family-friendly support (https://www.eso.org/public/jobs/conditions/intstaff/#family-friendly-support), creating a work environment and policies which allow staff to balance their professional and private responsibilities through flexible working arrangements and financial support for families.
The contract is for a fixed term duration of three years and is subject to successful completion of the probation period. There may be a possibility of one extension, up to a maximum of six years of service, subject to individual performance and organisational requirements and as defined in the applicable policies and staff rules and regulations. For any further information, please visit ESO's conditions of employment. Please note that the contract policy and in particular the regulations concerning fixed-term and indefinite contracts are currently under review which may lead to changes in the contractual conditions applicable to this position.
Duty Station:
The duty station will be located at the Vitacura premises in Santiago, with regular visits to the Paranal Observatory. The work schedule consists of five days on duty followed by two days off (5 on and 2 off) at Vitacura, with the option for mobile working within our established framework. The selected candidate will spend up to 30% of their time at Paranal; however, additional time at the Observatory may be required during the first year. The Observatory is situated 120 km south of Antofagasta, Chile, and on-site accommodation is provided.
Career Path:
V
Application:
If you are interested in working in areas of frontline science and technology and in a stimulating international environment, please visit http://www.eso.org for further details.
Applicants are invited to apply online at https://recruitment.eso.org/. Applications should be in English and include your curriculum vitae (CV) and a letter of motivation.
Closing date for applications is 20 May 2025.
Interviews are expected to start soon after this date.
ESO Values
An important element in any successful employment relationship is harmony in values between an organisation and its people.
The ESO values are:
ESO strives for excellence through innovation.
ESO provides outstanding services to its communities.
ESO fosters diversity & inclusion.
ESO believes in the key role of sustainability for its future.
Achieving the above are recognized as only possible on the basis of personal values and attitudes that we expect from our employees: respect, integrity, accountability, commitment, collaboration, and clear & open communication.
Applicants to any ESO role are asked to reflect on their affinity with these values and advised they may be asked about them if called for interview.
Diversity
ESO has established diversity as an important value of the Organisation, is committed to providing an equal opportunities environment and is actively seeking to promote a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce. Please visit https://www.eso.org/public/about-eso/sustainability/dei-at-eso/ for further details.
Nationality
No nationality is in principle excluded from employment at ESO, however, recruitment preference will be given to nationals of our Member States, host states and strategic partners: Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Chile, irrespective of gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity or religion.