ESO's IT landscape is undergoing a broad digital transformation to modernise and improve its operations. A major focus of this effort is the Integrated Operations Programme, which is going to transform operations for the VLT and the upcoming ELT at the Paranal Observatory.
In this context, Site Reliability Engineers play a key role ensuring the reliability, scalability, and continuous improvement of ESO's digital infrastructure - supporting both site-specific needs and organisation-wide transformation.
You will work in an international environment, at the ESO Headquarters in Garching, Germany with the option of mobile working within our correspondent framework. You will frequently work at the ESO Vitacura Offices in Santiago and at the observatory sites in Chile.
Main Duties and Responsibilities:
* Collaborate with engineering and operations teams to improve the reliability, scalability, and performance of critical systems and services.
* Design, implement, and maintain monitoring, alerting, and observability solutions to ensure high system availability and rapid incident response.
* Contribute to building robust CI/CD pipelines and automate infrastructure provisioning using infrastructure-as-code tools.
* Identify and remediate reliability risks across systems, services, and deployments in cloud and on-premise environments.
* Develop and maintain operational runbooks, system documentation, and internal tooling for support and diagnostics.
* Drive continuous improvement in system performance, cost efficiency, and operational resilience.
* Operate in an international environment with a focus on collaboration, knowledge sharing, and long-term service sustainability.
Reports to:
Head of IT Architecture Group of the Information Technology Department within the Directorate of Engineering.
Key competences and Experience:
Essential:
* 3+ years of experience as a Systems Engineer, Network Engineer or in a similar infrastructure-focused role.
* Strong troubleshooting skills across networking, systems, and services.
* Solid experience with Linux system administration (e.g. RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu).
* 2+ years hands-on experience with WAN and LAN networking, especially in distributed or remote environments.
* Experience with OS virtualization (e.g. KVM, VMware)
* Experience with automation/configuration tools such as Ansible or Puppet (basic to intermediate).
* Advanced scripting skills in Bash or Python.
* Working knowledge of Git (cloning, branching, merging, conflict resolution).
* Experience operating in a multi-site, on-premise environment.
* Familiarity with monitoring and observability tools (e.g., Icinga, TIG, Prometheus, Grafana).
* Good communication skills and ability to work across teams.
* Experience with infrastructure documentation and change management processes.
* A solid understanding of containerization and orchestration technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes or similar
* Willingness to learn and grow into cloud technologies (e.g. AWS, Azure, GCP).
Desirable:
* Experience with Git platforms such as GitLab, GitHub, or Bitbucket.
* Understanding of web services, databases, and supporting infrastructure.
* Understanding of storage technologies (e.g. RAID, NAS, SAN, Object Storage).
* Exposure to cloud platforms (e.g. AWS, Azure, GCP), even at a basic level.
* Experience with automation to deploy and manage infrastructure, database and networking architectures
* Strong level of expertise programming in at least one of the following languages: Python, Bash, PHP, Java, Go, JavaScript
* Basic knowledge of project management practices (e.g. Agile, Kanban).
* Strong consulting, negotiation skills and ability to work within diverse teams and key stakeholders both internal and external to the organization.
Qualifications:
A Bachelor's degree or equivalent in relevant disciplines, e.g. data science, computer science, engineering is required.
Language Skills:
A very good command of English both oral and written is essential. A working knowledge of German and/or Spanish would be an advantage.
Remuneration and Contract:
We offer an attractive remuneration package including a competitive salary (tax free), 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 roles. Each career path is made up of two or three grades which are used to further reflect experience and performance. The role of IT Specialist is in Career Path V. Please follow this 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 extension(s) subject to individual performance and organisational requirements. For any further information, please visit ESO's conditions of employment (https://www.eso.org/public/jobs/conditions/). 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:
Garching near Munich, Germany with regular duty travel to the ESO Vitacura Offices in Santiago and to the observatory sites in Chile.
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 http://jobs.eso.org/. Applications must be completed in English and should include a motivation letter and CV. Within your CV, please provide the names and contact details of three persons familiar with your work and willing to provide a recommendation letter upon request. Referees will not be contacted without your prior consent.
Closing date for applications is 14.09.2025.
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.