Student Assistant: Future Data Infrastructure of Smart Grids

Immigration Policy Lab; Zürich; Vor Ort; CHF 2.755.000 - 3.582.000; Teilzeit

Benefits dieser Stelle

Hands-on experience with real-world数据?

Collaborative research environment

Zusammenfassung

ETH Zürich seeks a Student Assistant to develop a scalable data infrastructure for future smart grids. You will work on containerized environments, ensure secure and reliable data flow between ETH, utilities, and grid management systems, and contribute to dashboards for researchers.

Ideal candidates are ETH students in CS/EE/Power Eng, fluent in English, able to commit 8–15 hours per week, with strong Git, Python, and Linux skills. German is a plus but not required.

Qualifikationen

• ETH student enrolled in CS/EE/Power Eng or related field.
• Fluent in English; German a plus but not required.
• Available to work 8–15 hours per week; reliable and detail‑oriented.
• Strong Git, Python, and Linux skills; familiarity with distributed systems.
• Ideal if you have experience with RabbitMQ, Grafana, SQL, Docker, or front‑end work.

Aufgaben

• Develop data infrastructure in containerd environments with emphasis on security and scalability.
• Improve data transmission pipelines between ETH, utilities, and energy systems.
• Work with time‑series databases to ensure high‑volume ingestion and low latency.
• Assist in backup, replication, and disaster recovery planning.
• Build Grafana dashboards and experimental APIs for live grid insight.

Kenntnisse

Git

Python

Linux

RabbitMQ

Grafana

SQL

Docker

Front-end development

Ausbildung

ETH student in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Power Engineering, or related fields

Tools

Grafana

Docker

RabbitMQ

SQL

Jobbeschreibung

Student Assistant: Future Data Infrastructure of Smart Grids

10%-30%, Zurich, fixed-term

As part of Grid2050 and NCCR Automation, we are building a high-performance, secure, and fault-tolerant data infrastructure to power cutting-edge energy research. Grid2050 connects real-world electricity grid measurements, smart meter data, and actuator control into a single ecosystem for experimentation at scale.

Project background

The future smart grid features the widespread integration of distributed energy resources, introducing new challenges to infrastructure in areas such as automatic control, data management, and communication. The Internet of Things, big data technologies, and operational technology must be reliably and securely integrated to ensure smart grid operations.

We are seeking a reliable and highly motivated student assistant to support our research. In this role, you will design and develop data infrastructure to tackle real-world challenges in smart grid research, ensuring our infrastructure meets requirements in the future—such as scalability under load, resilience to failure, and adaptability to change.

The starting date is flexible but an early start is preferred.

Job description

• Infrastructure Development: Work in containerd environments, ensure the security, availability, scalability and accountability of our server.
• Communication Pipeline: Enhance and extend data and command transmission intrastructure between ETH, utilities, and energy management systems—ensuring they’re reliable (think “backpressure handling” and “exactly-once” semantics) and maintainable.
• Databases: Work with time-series databse designed for high-volume ingestion and low-latency queries, and make sure they are scalable and realible under extreme scenarios.
• Reliability & Recovery: Implement replication, backup, and disaster recovery strategies—making sure the system survives faults without losing data.
• Front-end Development: Build visualization dashboards (Grafana) and remote experimentation APIs to give researchers live insight into grid behavior and improve user experiences on our platform.

Profile

• You are an ETH student enrolled in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Power Engineering, or related fields.
• You are passionate about data engineering, systems development, and energy-related topics.
• You are fluent in English. German is a plus but not mandatory.
• You are available to work approximately 8 - 15 hours per week (i.e. one or two days per week).
• You have strong expertise in Git, Python, and Linux development environments.
• Ideally, you have worked with one or some of the following fields: RabbitMQ, Grafana, SQL, Docker, and front-end development.
• You pay strong attention to details, and you work responsibly.

Workplace

We offer

• Hands-on experience with real-world data infrasturcture, and distributed system design.
• Working alongside leading academics, industry partners, and a collaborative research community. Rare chance to see theory play out on a real part of our critical infrastructure.
• Flexible working conditions, state-of-the-art facilities, and remuneration according to ETH student assistant salary guidelines Stundenlohn – Staffnet | ETH Zürich.

We value diversity and sustainability

In line with our values, ETH Zurich encourages an inclusive culture. We promote equality of opportunity, value diversity and nurture a working and learning environment in which the rights and dignity of all our staff and students are respected. Visit our Equal Opportunities and Diversity website to find out how we ensure a fair and open environment that allows everyone to grow and flourish. Sustainability is a core value for us – we are consistently working towards a climate-neutral future.

Working, teaching and research at ETH Zurich

About ETH Zürich

ETH Zurich is one of the world’s leading universities specialising in science and technology. We are renowned for our excellent education, cutting-edge fundamental research and direct transfer of new knowledge into society. Over 30,000 people from more than 120 countries find our university to be a place that promotes independent thinking and an environment that inspires excellence. Located in the heart of Europe, yet forging connections all over the world, we work together to develop solutions for the global challenges of today and tomorrow.

Questions regarding the position should be directed to Hanshuo Wu ([e-mail]) (no applications).