System Engineer

École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL; Vaud; On-site; CHF 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

EPFL is seeking a Systems Engineer for the School of Engineering (STI) to advance infrastructure, automation, and scalable services for research and education. You will lead automated provisioning, AI-assisted tooling, and secure operations across Linux, Windows, and virtualization platforms.

You will collaborate with STI AdminITs and EPFL central IT to deliver resilient IT services, ensure compliance, and drive continuous improvement in platform engineering.

Qualifications

• Degree in CS or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years in system or infrastructure engineering.
• Fluent in French and English (minimum B2).
• Hands-on DevOps, IaC, automated provisioning.
• Strong programming with Python, shell, PowerShell.
• Proficient with Linux and Windows servers.
• Experience with virtualization and containers.
• Experience with IT governance, security and compliance.
• Experience with enterprise storage, AD, NFS/SMB.
• Experience with data centre infrastructure.
• Proficient in configuration management and CI/CD.
• Strong networking knowledge; team collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Apply SRE practices to improve reliability and observability.
• Escalate and resolve complex incidents including IT security.
• Guide STI AdminITs on best practices and incident response.
• Serve as technical reference for accreditation and access control.
• Design automated infra services and standard provisioning workflows.
• Enhance security and resilience via vulnerability management.
• Provision and manage storage resources for STI labs.
• Develop automated deployment workflows using IaC, CI/CD.
• Provide expert-level consult on long-term infra solutions.
• Integrate AI-assisted tools while ensuring data protection.
• Coordinate with EPFL central IT for strategic delivery.

Skills

Bilingual FR/EN

DevOps practices

Infrastructure as Code

Python

PowerShell

Shell scripting

Linux

Windows Server

CI/CD pipelines

Networking fundamentals

IT governance & security

Data centre operations

Education

Degree in Computer Science

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

Docker

Kubernetes

Active Directory

VMware

Git

Job description

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EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, is one of the most dynamic university campuses in Europe and ranks among the top 20 universities worldwide. The EPFL employs more than 6,500 people supporting the three main missions of the institutions: education, research and innovation. The EPFL campus offers an exceptional working environment at the heart of a community of more than 18,500 people, including over 14,000 students and 4,000 researchers from more than 120 different countries.

Mission

• As a Systems Engineer at EPFL’s School of Engineering (STI), you will enable and support research, education, and innovation on a global scale. As a technical expert, you will advance modern infrastructure and platform engineering practices, driving automation, standardised deployment workflows, and reliable, scalable services that accelerate scientific research.
• You will actively contribute to the adoption of AI-powered tools and practices, leveraging emerging technologies to accelerate automation, enhance operational efficiency, and continuously improve the quality and reliability of IT services.
• You will work across Linux, Mac and Windows server environments, virtualisation, provisioning and management of EPFL’s storage and HPC services, and automation using configuration management, while also operating software license services and addressing complex identity, authorization, and access management challenges.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Apply Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices to improve service reliability, observability, and operational resilience, using automation, clear service ownership, and measurable service objectives to reduce manual effort and improve service quality.
• Act as an escalation point for complex incidents, including IT security and compliance inquiries.
• Collaborate closely with STI AdminITs by providing guidance on IT best practices and supporting them in resolving urgent IT security incidents and other technical issues.
• Serve as the technical reference for accreditation and access control within the School of Engineering.
• Design and develop reusable, automated infrastructure services and standardised provisioning workflows, enabling research laboratories to access and deploy IT resources efficiently, with an increasing focus on self-service capabilities and reduced manual intervention.
• Strengthen infrastructure security and resilience through proactive vulnerability management, system hardening, and regular testing of backup and recovery procedures.
• Provision and manage storage resources from EPFL’s shared storage services, including access management and service enablement for STI’s research laboratories.
• Design and continuously improve automated, reproducible application deployment workflows using Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, and modern platform engineering practices.
• Provide expert-level consultation to resolve complex IT issues, proposing sustainable, long-term infrastructure and platform solutions for STI units.
• Integrate AI-assisted engineering tools into daily work to accelerate automation, troubleshooting, documentation, and service improvement, while ensuring security, data protection, and human oversight.
• Manage software license services, ensuring reliable access for STI users.
• Act as a link between STI and EPFL’s central IT, promoting close collaboration and strategic delivery of IT infrastructure and services.

Must-Haves

• A degree in computer science or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• At least 5 years of hands‑on experience in system or infrastructure engineering within complex and heterogeneous IT environments.
• A clear and confident communicator, fluent in spoken and written French and English (minimum level B2 in both), able to engage with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Hands‑on experience with DevOps practices, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and automated infrastructure provisioning, with a focus on reusable, maintainable, and standardised solutions.
• Strong programming and scripting skills, particularly in Python, shell scripting, and PowerShell, with the ability to develop maintainable automation tools and software solutions.
• Strong proficiency in Linux and Windows operating systems used in server environments.
• Experience with virtualisation and container technologies, in production environments.
• Experience working with IT governance, security, and compliance requirements.
• Solid experience with enterprise storage systems, data management and access control, Active Directory, and common storage protocols such as NFS and SMB, ideally in environments supporting data-intensive workloads.
• Practical experience with data centre infrastructure, including racks, servers, networking equipment, and hardware lifecycle operations.
• Proficiency in configuration management and CI/CD pipelines supporting infrastructure and application deployments.
• Strong understanding of networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, SSL certificates, DNS, routing, firewalls, and network troubleshooting.
• A team player who enjoys working across teams and supporting a diverse community of researchers, engineers, and stakeholders.
• Methodical and solution-focused, with strong attention to detail in operating and evolving complex IT systems.

Nice-to-Haves

• Experience working in a research and/or higher education context, particularly with data-intensive workloads.
• Previous experience providing technical leadership, mentoring colleagues, or coordinating infrastructure initiatives.
• Experience leading complex infrastructure deployment and migration projects; project management certifications are an advantage.
• Knowledge of software license management.
• Hands‑on experience with AI‑assisted engineering tools and a demonstrated interest in applying AI to infrastructure operations and automation.
• Familiarity with Swiss and European data protection laws and relevant regulatory requirements.

Additional Info

• The duty station for this position is EPFL's campus at Ecublens, Lausanne.
• Occasional travel may be required to other EPFL campuses (travel is compensated).

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and the position will remain open until filled.

We offer

At EPFL, we believe that people achieve great results when they feel supported, respected and enabled to succeed. By joining our community, you will help shape the future of society through education, research and innovation.

We offer an inspiring, international and collaborative environment where your work has real impact and your ideas are valued. Combined with flexible ways of working and attractive employment conditions, we aim to create an environment where everyone can contribute, grow and make a difference.

Beyond work, ourcampuses host a vibrantcommunity and unique environment, enriched by initiatives promoting equality, inclusion, diversity, well-being and sustainability as well as an engaging program of cultural, sports and community activities throughout the year.