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 opportunity to support a once‑in‑a‑generation global science project
- Apply your cloud and DevOps expertise to enable next‑era astronomical discovery
- Join our team shaping the future of the SKA Regional Centre Network (SRCNet)
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 Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) is delivering one of the world’s most ambitious science and engineering projects – a global telescope system designed to transform our understanding of the Universe. As part of this effort, the Australian SKA Regional Centre (AusSRC) is developing advanced data capabilities that will help researchers unlock the full scientific potential of the enormous datasets produced by the SKA telescopes.
In this role, you will contribute to the development and operation of cloud platforms that underpin SRCNet – a distributed international network of data centres that will store, manage and process the Exabyte‑scale output of the SKAO. SRCNet is essential for enabling astronomers worldwide to visualise, analyse and make discoveries from SKA data, supporting open science and reproducibility.
As a Cloud DevOps Engineer, you will help build and refine cloud ecosystems for both testing and production, integrate storage services, and guide how the Australian SKA science data centre should be designed and operated. You will collaborate closely with partner organisations across the global SKA community, applying your cloud deployment and operational experience to improve infrastructure reliability, performance and scalability.
You will also be part of a friendly, collaborative team contributing towards international coordination as the SKA moves into an exciting phase of construction and capability development. The role may include occasional domestic and international travel and will require flexibility to work across time zones as needed.
If you’re excited by cloud engineering, large‑scale scientific computing and the chance to contribute to a major global science mission, this is a great opportunity to apply your skills where they’ll make a long‑lasting impact!
Your high-level duties will include:
- Contributing to the design, development, deployment, and maintenance of a research cloud ecosystem.
- Collaborating with other teams to ensure that the infrastructure and its dependent applications function seamlessly together.
- Working alongside cross-functional teams to identify and resolve operational issues, ensuring high availability and optimal performance of our systems.
- Regularly communicating work outcomes and demonstrating system functionality.
- Creating and maintaining comprehensive documentation related to infrastructure, processes, and workflows.
- Liaising with clients to determine their needs and taking personal responsibility for client satisfaction.
Role particulars
Location and office arrangements: Sydney (Marsfield), NSW; or Perth (Kensington), WA
Salary: AU$118K – AU$127K per annum plus up to 15.4% superannuation
Tenure & work schedule: Indefinite; Full-time (preferred) – part-time and flexible work arrangements can be considered based on needs of the role and individual circumstances.
Reference: 101699
As the successful candidate, you will bring:
- A tertiary or graduate qualification in Science, Computing, Engineering, or a related field, and/or equivalent work experience.
- Demonstrated expertise with containerization and orchestration technologies, specifically Kubernetes and Docker, to support the development, deployment, and maintenance of local distributed services.
- Proven experience implementing core DevOps practices, including building CI/CD pipelines, utilising Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and managing environment observability, supported by strong scripting abilities in Python, Bash, or similar languages.
- Demonstrated experience in managing underlying system resources, including bare-metal or cloud compute allocation, high-performance storage infrastructure, and foundational network environments.
- Strong problem-solving skills and sound judgment in complex and distributed settings.
- Proven ability to manage workloads and meet targets in a dynamic and collaborative environment.
- Strong documentation skills to produce clear, maintainable records of infrastructure components, workflows, and policies.
- Excellent ability to work in multi-institutional, cross-functional teams encompassing scientists, software developers, and system administrators.
For full details about this role, and the desirable criteria for technical competencies, please review the Position Description.
Not sure if you meet all the criteria?
While it is CSIRO policy that the successful candidate must meet all the essential criteria, there are many ways to demonstrate this. Don’t let the list discourage you. If you are unsure about applying, please reach out to the contact person in the Position Description.
Setting you up for success
We are committed to providing a recruitment process that is fair, equitable and accessible to everyone. We recognise that it may be helpful for us to adjust our process to make it equitable for your individual situation. Please contact the Talent Acquisition Partner via email (see details in the Position Description) and let us know how we can support you.
Eligibility
Applications for this position are open to Australian Citizens, New Zealand Citizens, and Australian Permanent Residents.
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 CV and a detailed cover letter, responding to each of the selection criteria in detail, that best demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the requirements of this role. Please attach your selection criteria responses to your cover letter as one document.
Applications close
31 July 2026, 11:00pm AEST
