Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array
The Joint ALMA Observatory requires for the ALMA Department of Engineering:
Technical Lead - Control Specialist
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is a (sub)millimeter wave interferometer consisting of 66 antennas located on the Llano de Chajnantor in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, and equipped with receivers covering atmospheric windows between 30 and 950 GHz. ALMA is a partnership of the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO representing its member states), National Science Foundation (NSF USA) and National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS Japan), together with National Research Council (NRC Canada) and National Science Council (NSC) and Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA Taiwan), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) is operated by ESO, Associated Universities Inc/National Radio Astronomy Observatory (AUI/NRAO) and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ).
ALMA Position:
Technical Lead - Control Specialist
Job Description:
The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) is seeking an experienced engineer to become the Technical Lead in the Engineering Services Group, part of the ALMA Department of Engineering (ADE), with focus on industrial control systems. This role will provide technical guidance to the JAO engineering groups by providing input for defining maintenance procedures, troubleshooting and diagnose support, and by improving the first-line response to failures in the observatory. This shall be a support for the preventative, corrective, and predictive maintenance of core scientific equipment at the ALMA observatory, which consists of 66 antennas, located at 5000m above sea level on high-precision kinematic foundations, equipped with state-of-the-art millimeter/submillimeter instrumentation, power plant, power distribution, HVAC and fire extinguishing systems. The successful candidate will be working in a multi-disciplinary team comprising of other technical leads and specialists, and will be facilitating to ensure that the control systems are maintained according to the established maintenance processes. The goal is to maximize the array availability for the scientific observations.
Duties & Main Responsibilities:
· Continuously monitor and improve the operation of a high-quality laboratory for diagnostic, repair of the corresponding subsystems.
· Lead development and implementation of maintenance and operations processes for control systems and procedures at the Operation Support Facility and the Array Operations Site.
· Coordinates with the Integrated Engineering Team (IET) members the reporting, logistics, and execution of the off-site activities by the institutions of the ALMA partner organizations.
· Write technical reports and develops charts, graphs, and schematics to describe and illustrate malfunctions, deviations from design specifications, and functional limitations.
· Train engineers/technicians and others in the performance of their duties.
· Assist in the development and interpretation of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for these subsystems.
· Provide feedback to the worldwide project partners by reporting, maintaining a continuous improvement process, defining staff trainings, and guiding the development program on these particular subsystems.
· Recommends changes required to achieve functional requirements of the units.
· Perform diagnostics of array engineering problems.
· Maintain system performance budgets.
· Monitor technical performance and prepare recommendations for improvement.
· Maintain system verification procedures.
· Oversee the engineering operations documentation and support its maintenance.
· Proactive compliance with ALMA and government safety policies and procedures in own work area.
Other related duties as assigned.
Professional Requirements for the Position:
· University degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering or equivalent experience, with strong knowledge and proven experience in industrial control systems.
· A minimum of five years of experience in maintenance, troubleshooting and repair of instrumentation and control systems is required.
· Experience in design, construction and commissioning of instrumentation and control systems would be considered an asset.
· Knowledge in industrial control applications, such as: PID controllers, servo motion controllers, temperature-controlled system, among others.
· Knowledge of PLC programming and troubleshooting, and field bus communication protocols, such as OPCUA, ModBus, ProfiBus, CAN Bus, EtherCat.
· Knowledge of C/C++ or other programming languages for embedded system.
· Knowledge of Python or other programming languages for data analysis.
· Knowledge of Microsoft Windows and Linux Operative System.
· Expert user of Microsoft tools (Visio, Excel, Word, MS Project).
· High ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships and communication in English.
· Self-organized, proactive, flexible and autonomous person.
· Must pass any applicable knowledge/skills tests.
· Must possess a valid driver’s license
· English - advance level, reading and writing
General Conditions:
· A training period outside the country (USA/Europe) may be required for this position. Willingness to travel overseas for both short and extended periods for meetings, training, etc. is required.
· Duty Station: mainly at OSF (San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta) on a mixed 8x6 and 4x3 shift. Transportation to and from designated pick-up points provided. Occasional work at SCO office (Vitacura, Santiago) in 5x2 shift.
· Work is typically performed in a research or development environment, both indoors and outdoors.
· Must work near moving mechanical parts and/or electrical equipment.
· Occasionally required to climb or balance; and stoop, kneeling crouch.
· Work is typically performed in high altitude conditions (from 3000 to 5000 m) and in high, precarious places and in outside weather conditions
· Specific vision abilities include close vision, distance vision, color and depth perception.
Must pass High-Altitude Medical Exam for work at high altitude.
Candidates are invited to submit the following information through this website, no later than the deadline date:
- Resume in English
- Cover letter in English explaining how you comply with the job requirements
- The names and information of three (3) professional references
- Monthly gross salary expectations
Este aviso se publica dentro del marco de la Ley N° 21.015, que incentiva la inclusión de personas con discapacidad al mundo laboral. This notice is published within the framework of Law No. 21.015, which encourages the inclusion of people with disabilities in the world of work.
Only electronic applications written in English will be considered.
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