High Performance Computing (HPC) Engineer - SKA-Low Telescope

Acknowledgement of Country 

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation. 

Role highlights

• Great ongoing opportunity to support world-class science with advanced computing
• Apply your HPC expertise to enable cutting-edge astronomical research
• Join a collaborative project shaping the future of radio astronomy technology!

About CSIRO

As Australia's national science agency, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Many of our iconic innovations were once considered impossible until someone, just like you, joined us and took on the challenge.

Visit CSIRO.au for more information.

The opportunity 

The SKA Observatory (SKAO) is a next-generation radio astronomy facility that will transform our understanding of the Universe and fundamental physics. In Australia, SKAO is partnering with CSIRO to construct and operate the SKA-Low telescope on Wajarri Yamaji Country in remote Western Australia, supported by teams in Geraldton and Perth.

The SKA-Low telescope will generate enormous volumes of data, requiring high-performance computing expertise to process this data and run complex scientific workloads. As part of the SKA-Low Site Reliability Engineering team, and within the broader SKA-Low Computing and Software group, the HPC Engineer will play a critical role in delivering computing and technology solutions for one of the world’s largest science projects. You will be responsible for managing and supporting the Science Data Processor High Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure, including platforms, workload/resource managers, and parallel filesystems.

You will also support scientists in running their workloads and pipelines, ensuring the HPC environment is secure, reliable, and optimised for performance. Working closely with Observatory Architects, Data Processing Engineers, Scientists, Project Managers, HPC vendors, and other specialists, you will help deliver a system designed to operate and evolve for decades.

If you’re passionate about high-performance computing and want to apply your skills to advance global science, this is a great opportunity to make an impact – so we would love to hear from you!

Your high-level duties will include: 

• Providing systems support for operation of Science Data Processor HPC infrastructure, including but not limited to, HPC platform management, HPC resource managers such as SLURM, fast parallel filesystems such as Lustre as well as underpinning support systems (Entra ID, the SKAO User management system).
• Assisting with the maintenance on Science Data Processor supercomputing infrastructure, including liaising with key stakeholders regarding timing and scope of maintenance.
• Undertaking problem solving at a high level for systems and workflows.
• Ensuring effective response to system support issues via request tracking.
• Managing faults and maintenance interactions with vendors.
• Ensuring effective documentation for systems support and operating procedures.
• Providing technical solutions to contribute to the procurement of additional infrastructure to enhance Pawsey supercomputing services.
• Liaising with users and their communities/representatives regarding delivery of system services to meet their requirements.

Role particulars

Location and office arrangements: Perth, Western Australia

Salary: AU$118K – AU$127K per annum (pro-rata for part-time) plus up to 15.4% superannuation

Tenure & work schedule: Indefinite; Full-time (We are open to applicants who wish to work part-time or job-share. Please indicate this in your application).

Reference: 101243

As the successful candidate, you will bring:

Essential

• A tertiary qualification in Science, Computing, Engineering or a related field, and/or significant demonstrated relevant industry experience.
• Proven experience in managing High Performance Computing (HPC) platforms (on-prem, cloud or hybrid) and with workload managers/schedulers (e.g. Slurm, Kubernetes).
• Demonstrated familiarity with parallel filesystems (e.g. Lustre).
• High-level skills in the use of scripting languages such as Python or Bash, for automation, orchestration and source code management.
• Experience in providing services to research domains, including engaging with researchers to determine requirements.

Desirable

• Strong understanding of key supercomputing technologies, including accelerator architectures, HPC interconnects, hierarchical storage, resource scheduling/policies, use and provision of web services, portals, cloud technologies, scripting, workflow tools and scientific workflow management.
• Understanding of job tuning, monitoring tools and profiling.
• Experience in providing services to research domains, including engaging with researchers to determine requirements.

For full details about this role, please review the Position Description. 

Eligibility 

Applications for this position are open to all candidates – Australian/New Zealand Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents or candidates who either hold, or are able to obtain, a valid working visa. Visa sponsorship may be provided to the successful candidate if required.

Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Life at CSIRO and flexible work arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. We can discuss flexible work arrangements with you during the recruitment process. CSIRO also offers a range of leave entitlements, benefits and career development opportunities. To find out more, visit Careers at CSIRO.

Inclusion and belonging

Solving Australia's greatest challenges takes a diversity of minds and lived experiences. We know diverse teams are more effective and deliver more innovative outcomes. As an equal employment opportunity organisation, we are committed to creating diverse and inclusive teams where people feel they belong. We recognise true diversity encompasses all ages, abilities, cultures, faiths, levels of education, genders, sexualities, diversity of thought and much more. We focus on hiring people who share our values of People First, Further Together, Making it Real and Trusted.

CSIRO holds Gold Status for the Australian Workplace Equality Index for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and a Science in Australia Gender Equity Bronze Award.

Child safety 

CSIRO is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved in our activities and programs. View our Child Safe Policy. 

How to apply 

Please apply online and provide a cover letter and CV that best demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the requirements of this role.

Applications close 

18 January 2026, 9:00pm AWST