All about careers

One major aspect of careers at the ESRF is that they are very often marked by interdisciplinarity. Scientific and technical interdisciplinarity are at the core of the ESRF’s success and all staff members are expected to show openness regarding the jobs and skills of their colleagues. Even when we work on one specific technical field, we need to collaborate with people from other fields. Our jobs can be classified into 4 categories:

• Science jobs (Scientists, Post-docs, PhD students)
• Engineer and Technician jobs (Mechanics, Electronics, Vacuum, Software, Instrumentation...)
• Administrative jobs (Finance, Communication, HR, Procurement...)
• Management jobs

We dedicate a significant part of our yearly budget to training our staff. Our Human Resources policy encourages internal mobility and many of our staff members have the opportunity to change jobs along their career.

Discover our jobs

Post-Doc

Most of our post-doctoral fellows are attached to a beamline and have a three-fold role. They:

• participate in the in-house research programmes of the beamline they are attached to;
• contribute to the operation of the beamline, including the support to external users as “local contact”. This consists of helping the users organise and prepare their experiment, setting-up the experiment and guiding the users throughout the experiment, and occasionally supporting them in the analysis of the collected data;
• develop their own research programme exploiting the capabilities of the beamline.

Beamline Technician

Each beamline has a dedicated beamline technician who is in charge of various technical maintenance and development activities.

Our beamline technicians work within an international and multidisciplinary team and use their mechanical skills, their knowledge about electronics and software as well as their communication and social skills to conduct the following missions. They:

• carry out the maintenance of scientific equipment
• install and test beamline components and equipment
• adapt or create equipment requested by the beamline team and participate in beamline development projects
• organise, follow up and verify external interventions
• collaborate with their team and with members of other teams (technicians, engineers, scientists...)

Electronics Engineer

Our electronics engineers usually work within a team and may manage teams or projects. Their main missions are the following:

• Electronics support (development, improvement, maintenance) for the beamlines and the accelerator complex
• Development of electronics for control and data acquisition
• Coordination of the production of control electronics modules
• Communication within the team and with other teams for the development and integration of innovative instrumentation
• Identification and follow-up of subcontractors and electronics suppliers to ensure proper acquisition of devices and services
• Technological watch on external technical developments

Testimonies

Read the profiles of some of our staff members and find out what they say about their experience at the ESRF.