Research Engineer: Software Packaging with Guix for HPC (Bordeaux)

Research Engineer: Software Packaging with Guix for HPC (Bordeaux)

Level of qualifications required : Graduate degree or equivalent

Other valued qualifications : Master's degree, Engineer's degree or PhD in computer science

Fonction : Temporary scientific engineer

Level of experience : Recently graduated

About the research centre or Inria department

The Inria center at the University of Bordeaux is one of the nine Inria centers in France and has about twenty research teams. The Inria centre is a major and recognized player in the field of digital sciences. It is at the heart of a rich R&D and innovation ecosystem: highly innovative SMEs, large industrial groups, competitiveness clusters, research and higher education players, laboratories of excellence, technological research institute...

Context

We are looking for candidates with a Master's degree, Engineer's degree, or PhD in computer science to join a team responsible for the packaging, deployment, and testing of software libraries for high-performance computing (HPC).

Duration: initial contract of 3 years with possible extension.

Hiring dates are flexible with a possible start from May 2026 (subject to extensions due to administrative requiremets). We will process applications as they arise.

This work is part of the NumPEx project ( ) endowed with more than 40 million euros over 6 years from 2023, to build a software stack for Exascale supercomputers related to the arrival in Europe of the first Exascale machines, with one recently announced for France. These machines will be among the most powerful in the world ( ), used for traditional scientific applications and increasingly also for artificial intelligence. Our role in NumPEx is to design and implement an innovative packaging, deployment, and testing strategy. Commonly used solutions show their limits in front of the complexity of supercomputers and applications, as well as the need for reproducibility for open science. Our goal is to build a solution based on a new generation of software packagin tools: Guix , Spack . This position focuses on Guix. You can have a look at the team activity at or . We also regularly contribute to the discussions on software production at the International INPEX workshops ( ).

You will contribute to the design and implementation of the packaging and continuous integration strategy. You will participate in the deployment and testing of the infrastructure. You will also participate to user support and to training activity around all these aspects. In close connection with the Guix and Guix-HPC communities, with supercomputer administration teams, and with scientific software developers, you will participate in:

• the design of the packaging strategy of the NumPEx project;
• packaging and maintaining foundational HPC packages, from Open MPI to HIP/ROCm and related tools;
• the design of a package test and validation solution taking into account the specificities of supercomputers (high-performance networks for MPI, GPU architectures, and possibly non-x86 CPU architectures);
• groundwork on Guix, such as: supporting non-root usage; ensuring adequate continous integration and automation tooling;
• organizing and making training sessions for scientists and developers, and providing support for supercomputer system administrators.

Skills

Master's degree, Engineer's degree or PhD, beginner or confirmed (salary adjusted according to experience) in computer science.

The essential expected skills are:

• Good practice of Unix/Linux and system administration;
• Good programming experience (C/C++, Python, or other languages);
• Experience with build systems, version control systems, as well as testing and continuous integration (CMake, Git, GitLab, etc...);
• English proficiency and a taste for team work;
• Skills related to package management (be it with Guix, Nix, Spack, apt, rpm, or any other package management) and containers (Singularity/Apptainer, Docker,…) are a plus;
• Prior experience with collaborative free and open source software development is also welcome, but not required.

An initial training time will be provided to complement the candidate's skill set.

You will integrate an academic research environment which will give you, throughout your contract, the opportunity to complete your training on cutting-edge technologies and to become a proficient free software contributor.

Benefits package

• Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
• Leave: 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 extra days off due to RTT (statutory reduction in working hours) + possibility of exceptional leave (sick children, moving home, etc.)
• Possibility of partial teleworking (90 days / year) and flexible organization of working hours (except for intership)
• Social, cultural and sports events and activities
• Access to vocational training
• Social security coverage under conditions

Remuneration

Wage according to the profile :From 2,692 €gross / month(depending on experience and qualifications).

Warning : you must enter your e-mail address in order to save your application to Inria. Applications must be submitted online on the Inria website. Processing of applications sent from other channels is not guaranteed.

Instruction to apply

To apply, please provide a CV and a cover letter .

Please make sure to explain your motivation for this position, as well as information that allows us to better understand your skills—internships and reports, links to free and open source software contributions, academic and/or technical publications, and references.

Defence Security : This position is likely to be situated in a restricted area (ZRR), as defined in Decree No. relating to the protection of national scientific and technical potential (PPST). Authorisation to enter an area is granted by the director of the unit, following a favourable Ministerial decision, as defined in the decree of 3 July 2012 relating to the PPST. An unfavourable Ministerial decision in respect of a position situated in a ZRR would result in the cancellation of the appointment.

Recruitment Policy : As part of its diversity policy, all Inria positions are accessible to people with disabilities.

Inria is the French national research institute dedicated to digital science and technology. It employs 2,600 people. Its 200 agile project teams, generally run jointly with academic partners, include more than 3,500 scientists and engineers working to meet the challenges of digital technology, often at the interface with other disciplines. The Institute also employs numerous talents in over forty different professions. 900 research support staff contribute to the preparation and development of scientific and entrepreneurial projects that have a worldwide impact.