Contract type : Fixed term contract (1 year renewable)
Level of qualifications required : Master, Engineer Diploma or PhD
Salary : Depending on professional experience (beginners accepted)
Professional sector : Informatics, statistics and scientific computing
Job location : Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (OCA) – Boulevard de l'Observatoire, 06300 Nice. Partial telework-eligible position
Description of employer and working environment
Geosciences and astronomy are two fields in which both observational and simulation data are becoming increasingly voluminous, varied and complex, with the consequent need for 1/ services to store and manage them in a distributed way, manipulate them efficiently, visualize and exploit them through cross-referencing with other information, and 2/ interoperable services to make them accessible and to distribute the high value-added products resulting from processing.
The engineer will work at OCA. This institution is made up of three research units (UMR) and a support and research unit (UAR), with a total of almost 450 people on 4 sites. The engineer will be part of the UAR Information Systems team. He/she will be required to work on projects emanating from the various UMRs of OCA and thus interact directly with members of several teams as well as with those of several local, national and international groups working on this theme. He/she will thus help position the OCA as a regional expert in the field.
General job description
- Support the development of distributed management of massive, multi-type data within National Observation Services at OCA in geosciences and astronomy.
- Collaborate at national and international level in the design and implementation of distributed and interoperable data storage systems, as part of major projects in the discipline in which the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur is involved.
Job description
The position is opened in the context of the needs related to CNRS/INSU National Observation Services, in which OCA researchers are involved. It focuses on our national (Data Terra, CNES, EPOS-France) and international (EPOS, SKA) data and service infrastructures, for which technical prototyping phases are starting, with developments both on large-scale archiving and distribution and on (post)-processing and analysis chains. Among the projects to which we are contributing are the densification of geophysical sensor networks through the use of telecom fiber optics (DAS technology), with collected data flows of the order of TB/day, and the setting up of the SKA Observatory (SKAO), which will produce several TB/s of raw data and around 700 Po/year of observation products to be distributed via a network of SKA Regional Centres (SRC Net).
The engineer will carry out the following activities :
- Participate in the co-definition and prototyping of future distributed data centres in conjunction with local, regional and national structures.
- Develop and manage domain-specific metadata access registries and protocols.
- Support data formats (in collaboration with the Strasbourg Astronomical Data Center, the International Virtual Observatory Alliance and the Open Geospatial Consortium, among others).
- Maintain a technological watch on massive data, and monitor developments in the national and international environment.
Skills
- Expertise in distributed massive data storage and management systems (e.g. data lake, ...)
- Mastery of data flow and metadata management tools
- Knowledge of access protocols and data standards
- Knowledge of system administration (Linux, shell scripting, python, etc.)
- Knowledge of iRODS, RUCIO data grid environments and/or Cloud technologies
- Network and security skills
- plus : knowledge of remote visualization tools (VNC, etc.)
- plus : knowledge of Geographic Information Systems technologies
- plus : knowledge of IT security, authentication/authorization systems
- Proficiency in IT development project management techniques
- Proficiency in scientific communication techniques
- Fluency in English (written, spoken); document drafting, active participation in meetings
- Capability to interact with researchers in charge of services and other engineers involved
- Organizational skills, ability to meet specifications and deadlines
- Creativity and sense of innovation
- Taste for teamwork
Deadline to apply
Applications (CV, cover letter and contact details of two professional references, to be sent by e-mail to the contacts below) will be examined on an ongoing basis, and interviews will be held from January 8, 2024 until the position is filled (starting date of the position is February 1th, 2024).
Contacts
Philippe Berio, OCA Associate Director - Philippe.berio@oca.eu
Jean-Philippe Ghibaudo, Head of the OCA IT Department - Jean-philippe.ghibaudo@oca.eu
All our positions are open to people with disabilities. Recruitment is based on skills, regardless of origin, age or gender.