Young Graduate Opportunity in the Directorate of Internal Services

ESA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to achieving diversity within the workforce and creating an inclusive working environment. We therefore welcome applications from all qualified candidates irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics. Applications from women are encouraged.

This post is classified F1 on the Coordinated Organisations’ salary scale.

Location

ESRIN, Frascati, Italy 

Our team and mission

ESA’s High-Performance Computing (HPC) team is responsible for managing and maintaining ESA's state-of-the-art computing infrastructure, which supports various scientific and engineering projects across the Agency.

We are a team of experienced professionals who are passionate about sharing our knowledge and supporting the growth of all new team members. The HPC team fosters a culture that encourages curiosity, learning and innovation, making it an ideal environment for young graduates to develop new skills and contribute to cutting edge projects.

As a member of the team, you will have access to a wide range of resources and professional development opportunities, including workshops, seminars and networking events. This is a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience with HPC technologies, deepen your understanding of AI/GPU workloads, and contribute to a project that has the potential to significantly impact ESA's science and engineering initiatives.

The selected candidate will become part of a dynamic and supportive environment where you can grow professionally, learn from experienced mentors, and make a meaningful contribution to an exciting project in the field of High-Performance Computing and artificial intelligence.

You are encouraged to visit the ESA website: http://www.esa.int

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

The aim of this specific project is to investigate and develop strategies for efficiently parallelising and optimising AI/GPU workloads on ESA's HPC resources. This includes distributed training and inference of deep learning models, as well as exploiting the full potential of GPU nodes through techniques such as mixed-precision training and tensor core utilisation.

As a Young Graduate Trainee, you will have the opportunity to:

• Gain hands-on experience with state-of-the-art HPC technologies and deepen your understanding of AI/GPU workloads;
• Explore and experiment with parallelisation and optimisation techniques for distributed training and inference of deep learning models;
• Work with the HPC team to implement and test new approaches on ESA's HPC resources;
• Document findings, best practices and recommendations;
• Present progress and results in meetings and talks.

Throughout your traineeship, you will be immersed in a dynamic and supportive environment where learning and innovation are highly valued. By joining the HPC team, you will have the opportunity to grow professionally, learn from experienced mentors and make a meaningful contribution to an exciting HPC project.

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation

Operational Efficiency

Fostering Cooperation

Relationship Management

Continuous Improvement

Forward Thinking

Education

You should have just completed or be in the final year of your master’s in computer science, engineering, physics, mathematics, or a related field with a focus on HPC, AI, machine learning or deep learning.

Additional requirements

You should have good interpersonal and communication skills and should be able to work in a multicultural environment, both independently and as part of a team.

The following would be considered an asset for this role:

• Some familiarity with deep learning frameworks
• Experience with GPU programming
• Basic understanding of parallel computing concepts and techniques (MPI, OpenMP)
• Knowledge of containerisation technologies (e.g., Docker, Singularity)

The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another Member State language would be an asset.

During the interview motivation and overall professional perspective/career goals will also be explored.

Other information

For behavioural competencies expected from ESA staff in general, please refer to the ESA Competency Framework.

For further information on the Young Graduate Programme please visit: Young Graduate Programme and FAQ Young Graduate Programme

At the Agency we value diversity and we welcome people with disabilities. Whenever possible, we seek to accommodate individuals with disabilities by providing the necessary support at the workplace. The Human Resources Department can also provide assistance during the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss this further please contact us email contact.human.resources@esa.int.

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Please note that applications are only considered from nationals of one of the following States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Nationals from Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, as  Associate Member States, or Canada as a Cooperating State, can apply as well as those from Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus as European Cooperating States (ECS).

According to the ESA Convention, the recruitment of staff must take into account an adequate distribution of posts among nationals of the ESA Member States*. When short-listing for an interview, priority will first be given to candidates from under-represented Member States*. 

In accordance with the European Space Agency’s security procedures and as part of the selection process, successful candidates will be required to undergo basic screening before appointment conducted by an external background screening service. 

*Member States, Associate Members or Cooperating States.