Skip to main content

Specialist and/or Project Scientist in Experimental High Energy Physics, University of California, Irvine

We are no longer accepting applications for this recruitment. Browse open recruitments

Position description

The Physics & Astronomy Department at the University of California, Irvine, seeks an outstanding electrical engineering candidate to work on projects for experimental particle physics on ATLAS at the LHC and Neutrino experiments as part of a newly created electronics shop. The position is available immediately.

Position Summary:
UCI has been a member of the ATLAS collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) since 1994 and is actively involved in the Muon Spectrometer readout electronics and the Trigger and Data Acquisition Systems. The candidate is expected to contribute to the development of a hardware muon trigger and a hardware track trigger, for the upgrade of the ATLAS detector for the High-Luminosity LHC. These trigger systems consist of ATCA-based, complex, high-speed digital circuits communicating with fiber optics and using FPGA and ARM processors. The candidate will contribute to the R&D and the construction phases and he/she is expected to lead the technical design and specifications definition, firmware development for these hardware triggers and contribute to the validation and testing of these systems.
Additionally, the UCI group has a long-standing involvement in Neutrino experiments and the candidate will have opportunity to get involved in hardware projects on some of the following neutrino experiments: Arianna, Dune, Super-K, Hyper-K, Juno and LiquidO.

Responsibilities will include:
• Digital systems and logic design, fast analog and digital circuit design and testing, and development of FPGA­based trigger systems.
• Design, simulation and troubleshooting embedded systems, involving hands-on hardware prototype.
• Lead engineering tasks necessary from the design stages through the review, procurement, manufacturing, integration, testing, and operation of the hardware triggers.
• Work collaboratively with other engineers and physicists as well as mentor students and postdoctoral researchers working on the project.
• Document the firmware/electronics test procedures and test systems.
• Contribute to publications .
• Presenting work to scientific collaborators, conference, workshop and reviews.

Qualifications and Essential Job Functions:
• Bachelor’s Degree required for Specialist Series in Electrical Engineering (BSEE, MSEE), Computer Engineering (BSCE, MSCE) or in Physics/Applied Physics (BS/BSc, MS).
• PhD Degree required for Project Scientist Series in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering or in Physics/Applied Physics.
• At least 3 years working with complex electrical circuits and embedded hardware such as FPGA and ARM processors.
• Experience in FPGA firmware development and simulation (Verilog and/or VHDL), and high-level synthesis (HLS and/or OpenCL).
• Knowledge of electrical design and experience to draw and read electrical schematics and high-layer count PCB.
• Experience with electronics testing/qualification is expected, as is knowledge of Unix operating system and C programming.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and carry out independent research and project leadership.
• Good verbal and written communication skills.

Note:
• Salary is commensurate with experience.
• The appointment will be made either as a Specialist or as a Project Scientist depending on the candidate qualifications.
• The initial contract is one-year, renewable upon satisfactory job performance and continuing availability of funds.
• Work will be primarily performed at UC Irvine and will require travel to experiments as well as domestic travel to institutions with whom we collaborate.

Application instructions:
Interested candidates should apply online at the UC Irvine’s online application system, RECRUIT, located at https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/apply/JPF05086
and must submit in PDF format:

  1. Cover letter
  2. Curriculum Vitae including publications
  3. A statement describing past work experience in electronic engineering
  4. Three Reference Letters (to be submitted by the reference writers).

For general information about this position, please contact Prof. Anyes Taffard, ataffard@uci.edu.

Applications are being reviewed as we receive them, and the position will remain open until filled.

The University of California, Irvine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.

Application Requirements

Document requirements
Reference requirements
  • 3-5 letters of reference required

Job location

Irvine