Software Quality and DevOps Engineer

About ESO

The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive ground-based astronomical observatory. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries.

ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in northern Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor (home to ALMA), and the ESO Headquarters are located in Garching, near Munich, Germany.

At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory, and will host and operate the southern array of the Cherenkov Telescope Array, the world's largest and most sensitive high energy gamma-ray observatory. ESO is a major partner in ALMA. On Cerro Armazones, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), which will become 'the world's biggest eye on the sky' and whose operations will be fully integrated into the Paranal Observatory.

Position

Software Quality and DevOps Engineer

Location: Garching

Deadline: 20/04/2026

Role Overview

Due to the need for resources associated with the ELT/VLT and ALMA programmes, for its SCS Department, within the Directorate of Engineering at its Headquarters in Garching, near Munich, Germany, ESO is advertising the position of Software Quality and DevOps Engineer.

The primary assignment of the successful candidate will be the development and test environment for the ALMA Dataflow development projects. The environment supports software configuration management, continuous integration, regression testing and production of release packages for the science operations and the scientific users of ESO observatories. Finally, s/he will contribute to the Data Flow System application support activities, software configuration management issues, and to the continuous improvement of SCSEQ's development and test infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Enable and optimize CI/CD practices to ensure reliable, automated software delivery.
• Own and maintain development and test environments, ensuring stability, scalability, and reproducibility.
• Drive automation across build, test, deployment, and release processes.
• Embed quality controls and validation mechanisms into the delivery lifecycle.
• Establish monitoring and observability practices to ensure system transparency and operational insight.
• Implement fast feedback mechanisms that quickly surface build failures, performance degradation, and production risks.
• Improve system reliability, performance, and operational efficiency.
• Promote DevOps culture and best practices across development and QA teams.

Reporting To

Head of Software Engineering and Quality Group in SCS/DoE

Key Competences and Experience

Essential:

• Proven experience as a Software Engineer, with a focus on QA and DevOps.
• Strong expertise in CI/CD pipeline design and maintenance using tools such as Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, or Azure DevOps, including pipeline-as-code practices.
• Proven experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for environment provisioning and configuration management.
• Hands-on experience with configuration management and automated deployment tools, such as Ansible.
• Solid experience with containerization and orchestration technologies, including Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience designing and maintaining automated test frameworks, including: API testing (e.g., REST, Postman, Karate, REST Assured), UI test automation (e.g., Selenium, Cypress, Playwright), Performance and load testing (e.g., JMeter, Gatling).
• Proficiency in designing Integration and regression testing strategies for CI pipelines.
• Proficiency in implementing DevOps quality gates (static code analysis, security scanning, artifact versioning, test coverage enforcement).
• Experience in software release management, versioning strategies and artifact repositories (e.g., Nexus, Artifactory).
• Proficiency in scripting and automation (e.g., Shell, Python).
• Proficiency with programming languages like Java or Python.
• Experience with relational databases (Oracle, Sybase, PostgreSQL, or equivalent), including basic performance tuning and schema management.
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum or SAFe environments, with iterative delivery and continuous testing practices.

Desirable:

• Experience working with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud), including networking, IAM, monitoring, and cost-aware architecture design.
• Strong understanding of DevSecOps principles, including security testing, vulnerability management, and secure CI/CD practices.
• Familiarity with virtualization and cloud-native environments, including VMware and container-based infrastructure.

Language Skills

• Excellent command of the English language.

Remuneration and Contract

We offer an attractive remuneration package including a competitive salary (free of income tax for applicants from ESO member states), comprehensive pension scheme and medical, educational and other social benefits, as well as financial help in relocating your family and support to place your child/children in daycare.

Our Salary Structure: ESO's salary structure is based upon a range of career paths which reflect the nature and level of our jobs. Each career path is made up of two or three grades which are used to further reflect experience. Please follow this attached 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, in particular for the ELT Programme, and as defined in the applicable policies and staff rules and regulations. 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 possible duty trips to all ESO sites in Chile.

Career Path: V

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.

Deadline for applications is 20 April 2026.

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.

Contact Us

Email: vacancy@eso.org