Electrical Engineer for Magnet Protection (TE-MPE-MP-2025-94-GRAE)

Your responsibilities

Help safeguard the magnets powering CERN's accelerator complex.

As an Electrical Engineer, you will join the Magnet Protection Systems Section within CERN's Technology Department. In this role, you will be actively involved in the electrical design, procurement, and commissioning of future magnet protection units, which are critical to ensuring the safe and reliable operation of CERN's superconducting magnets.

Your work will focus on the design, simulation, integration, and validation of electrical systems that include power capacitors, thyristors, control electronics, and related components. These systems form part of advanced magnet protection technologies such as Coupling-Loss Induced Quench (CLIQ) and its derivatives.

In this role, you will:

• Carry out circuit simulations for new CLIQ-like systems, including Energy Shift with Coupling (ESC), External-Coupled-Loss Induced Quench (E-CLIQ), and Capacitive Discharge (CD) units;
• Design new ESC, E-CLIQ, and CD systems, and contribute to the upgrading of existing CLIQ systems;
• Support the procurement of components such as power capacitors, and oversee their validation and mechanical integration into electrical racks;
• Collaborate with design and production engineers to ensure systems meet technical and project requirements;
• Participate in the acceptance testing of completed units;
• Analyse test data, assist in identifying and resolving issues, and contribute to design improvements.  

Your profile

Skills:

Experience and/or knowledge in the following areas is expected:

• Electrical design and integration of components into electrical racks;
• Electronic circuit design and testing;
• Hands-on experience with testing tools;
• Spoken and written English, with a commitment to learn French.

Eligibility criteria:

• You are a national of a CERN Member or Associate Member State.
• By the application deadline, you have a maximum of two years of professional experience since graduation in Electrical Engineering (or a related field) and your highest educational qualification is either a Bachelor's or Master's degree.
• You have never had a CERN fellow or graduate contract before.
• Applicants without University degree are not eligible.
• Applicants with a PhD are not eligible.

Job closing date: 17.06.2025 at 23:59 CEST.

Contract duration: 24 months, with a possible extension up to 36 months maximum.

Working hours: 40 hours per week

Target start date: 01-September-2025

This position involves:

• Work in Radiation Areas.
• Interventions in underground installations.
• A valid driving licence.
• Operations on electrical installations or in their vicinity (over 1000 Volt AC or 1500 Volt DC) requiring a specific authorisation.
• Exposure to electromagnetic fields under certain exposure conditions.

Given the occupational health risks associated with this position, the selected candidate must obtain medical clearance before a contract offer is confirmed.

Job reference: TE-MPE-MP-2025-94-GRAE

Field of work: Electrical or Electronics Engineering

What we offer

• A monthly stipend ranging between 5196 and 5716 Swiss Francs (net of tax).
• Coverage by CERN's comprehensive health scheme (for yourself, your spouse and children), and membership of the CERN Pension Fund.
• Depending on your individual circumstances: installation grant; family, child and infant allowances; payment of travel expenses at the beginning and end of contract.
• 30 days of paid leave per year.
• On-the-job and formal training at CERN as well as in-house language courses for English and/or French.

About us

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. Find out more on http://home.cern.

Diversity has been an integral part of CERN's mission since its foundation and is an established value of the Organization. Employing a diverse workforce is central to our success.