CSIR Vacancies

To apply, click on the link at the end of the posts and all the best with your applications.

1. Internship: Mining Engineering
2. Business Develop Practitioner 
3. Senior Internal Auditor
4. Maintenance Planner
5. Software Engineer: Radar Data Processing and Control
6. Senior System Administrator
7. Senior Network Administrator
8. Senior Automation and Integration Engineer
9. Software Developer: Artificial Intelligence (AI) X3

Internship: Mining Engineering

Internship: Mining Engineering (Four positions)

(Eighteen Months Contract)

About the job:

The CSIR has an internship opportunity in the Mandela Mining Precinct, which is hosted within the CSIR Business Excellence and Integration portfolio. The purpose of this internship is to provide graduates with an opportunity to gain practical work experience through research and development of competitive technologies and innovative products under the guidance of researchers and engineers within cross-functional teams. These positions are based in Johannesburg.

For more info about the Mandela Mining Precinct, please visit https://www.csir.co.za/mandela-mining-precinct

Key responsibilities:

• Conduct literature review of previous research done locally and internationally in the areas mentioned above;
• Undertake time and motion studies on identified mining engineering technologies at various mine sites
• Engage with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) on technologies related to the above areas at various mine sites
• Write reports on processes and results;
• Present results/research work, when required;
• Perform general administrative tasks as required by project leads/programme

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mining
• Post graduate qualification will be an added advantage
• Exposure to Metalliferous mining environment and Mechanised mining environment would be an added advantage
• The following skills are required;
  • Self-motivated and a team player;
  • Analytical, numerical, methodical, innovative and results driven;
  • Willingness to learn and work under pressure;
  • Administrative skills (minutes taking, filing and research);
  • Pro-active and focused;
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills;
  • Good attention to details;

• Ability to prioritise and have a good sense of urgency and accuracy;
• Must have a valid Drivers Licence;
• Must have clear/no criminal record;
• All international qualifications require an evaluation report / certificate issued by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).

Short-listed candidates may be subjected to a prescribed medical test / assessment, as it is a requirement in the mining sector.

Closing date: 15 March 2024

PLEASE NOTE THAT FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN TO SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES ONLY.

For more info, please email us at Recruitment02@csir.co.za. Please do-not send your application to this mailbox, it is only for inquiries.

Business Develop Practitioner 

Business Development Practitioner (Two positions) (Three-Year Contract)

About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for Business Development Practitioner in the Smart Places Cluster. The main purpose of this position is, in collaboration with the Business Development Manager and Centre Manager, to identify, coordinate and lead the securing of major strategic contract initiatives that will contribute to the growth and sustainability of the centre. It is also to manage relationships with key external stakeholders at the highest level, in government and the private sector, locally and internationally, in collaboration with the management structure.

For more information about the division/cluster/portfolio please visit: https://www.csir.co.za

Key responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain excellent relationships with key internal and external clients;
• Develop and maintain strong links with selected research areas in the CSIR;
• Maintain visibility in CSIR and external media;
• Manage client feedback through surveys and other means;
• Attend conferences and events that focus on the sector;
• Work closely with the Communications department in marketing the Centre;
• Conduct select market analysis of the sector in collaboration with researchers in the Line;
• Ensure strong network with other science councils, government and the private sector;
• Identify potential new areas of business and solicit such business (projects) from clients;
• Contribute substantially to the centre meeting its annual sales budget and
• Provide instrumental guidance in the areas where there is low sales;
• Ensure all proposals and other client agreements have been approved by CSIR legal section and follow the prescribed routing process, and
• Track project activities and ensure that the deliverables of these contracts and initiatives are met and clients satisfied.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A bachelor’s degree in engineering, science, business management or economics. At least five years’ experience in a business development role in a Research, Development and Innovation environment.
• Experience in working with private sector, international sector and different tiers of government.
• Evidence of substantive knowledge and experience in client/stakeholder relationship management.
• Evidence of substantive knowledge and experience in business development.
• Experience in financial and business mechanisms and processes.

Closing date: 15 March 2024

PLEASE NOTE THAT FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN TO SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES ONLY.

For more info, please email us at Recruitment02@csir.co.za  Please do-not send application to this mailbox, it is only for inquiries.

Senior Internal Auditor

Senior Internal Auditor

About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Senior Internal Auditor in the Internal Audit Service portfolio. The incumbent will provide an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity, designed to add value and improve the organization’s operations. This position is based in Pretoria.

Key responsibilities:

• Apply the ethical principles of integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behaviour in the context of an audit.
• Develop an understanding of the audit approach, methodology and tools through planning and conducting preliminary investigations and preparing an Audit Planning Memorandum (APM) prior to undertaking each audit project.
• Develop an understanding of the client business and the areas audited through: 
• Researching and familiarization of applicable policies and procedures of the business.
• Obtaining data from other functions within the organization or externally (where necessary) while performing the audits
• Interpret the policies, procedures and processes and assess compliance thereof within the organisation.
• Plan and perform an audit with professional scepticism recognising that circumstances may exist that cause potential risks.
• Execute already established audit programs within the required timeframe.
• Develop or update audit programs based on the risks identified and changes in operations.
• Document working papers in line with the IIA standards to assist in:
• Preparing an evidence-based draft report, including conclusions drawn from the work undertaken and recommendations for improved control.
• Providing a detailed audit trail of the work performed.
• Formulate audit findings, make recommendations by discussing the findings of the audit fieldwork with the client and seek agreement to actions/recommendations made
• Work independently, show initiative and sound professional judgement.
• Compile audit certificates and perform any other ad hoc projects that may be allocated by the Group Manager.  
• Develop and maintain relationships with clients and represent the IAS in various forums as directed by the Group Manager.
• Assist in the supervision and development of junior staff and new staff in the department.
• Conduct audits as per the approved annual plans and as allocated by the Group Manager.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A National Diploma or Bachelor’s degree in Internal Auditing with at least four years’ audit experience.
• Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) qualification or studying towards a CIA qualification.
• Any other certifications such as CFE, CCSA, CRMA will be an added advantage.
• Thorough knowledge of risk management and internal controls.
• Familiarity with accounting and auditing concepts and theory.
• Technical competency in Microsoft Office Suite.
• Knowledge about internal audit practices and trends.
• Ability to develop an understanding of legislation applicable to the CSIR and how these impacts on the audits.
• Understanding the PFMA and all applicable legislation.
• Use of automated audit tools such as IDEA or Audit Command Language (ACL) data analysis tool and Teammate will be an advantage.
• Ability to multitask and proper time management.
• Ability to handle audit projects independently.

Closing date: 11 March 2024

PLEASE NOTE THAT FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN TO SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES ONLY.

Maintenance Planner

Maintenance Planner

About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for Maintenance Planner in the Facilities Management and Security Services (FM&SS) Portfolio.

The purpose of the job is:

• To plan maintenance and technical services work through job scoping, resource allocation, procurement of materials and services and ensure implementation of works timeously;
• To use the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), asset register and maintenance tasks to ensure all equipment is maintained to requirements;
• To monitor and generate reports on maintenance performance for presentation during planning and scheduling meetings with maintenance supervisors and Management;

The position is based in Pretoria.

Key responsibilities:

• Implement of maintenance strategies and developing maintenance procedures;
• Utilize latest Maintenance Management tools to ensure effective maintenance of all assets;
• Proactively manage communication and relationships with all customers. Act as liaison between customers and FM&SS staff on FM&SS related issue;
• Apply the latest maintenance safety technologies to ensure best-in-class maintenance safety performance and statutory compliance;
• Develop detailed work packages for preventive maintenance routine (PMR) and corrective maintenance activities for maintenance teams;
• Analyse and screen corrective maintenance (CM) job cards and burning maintenance issues for opportunities to perform root cause failure analysis to prevent future failures. Coordinate root cause analysis;
• Analyse spare parts inventory requirements and continuously improve inventory control;
• Compile of weekly reports for presentation and discussion at planning and scheduling meetings to assist supervisors with backlog management;
• Implement FM&SS’s procurement requirements for spares, materials, and outsourced work;
• Update maintenance tasks per asset to capture any changes and improvements and ensure job cards from the CMMS always have current information;

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• National Diploma in Mechanical, Electrical or Industrial Engineering with at least three years Maintenance Planning experience;
• Supervision of skilled maintenance trades will be advantageous;
• Good organizational skills;
• Experience in analysing trends in performance parameters;
• Computer literacy;
• Knowledge and experience in use of a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) will be advantageous;
• Planning and organising;
• Verbal & written communication;
• Teamwork. 

Closing date: 13 March 2024

PLEASE NOTE THAT FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN TO SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES ONLY.

Software Engineer: Radar Data Processing and Control

Software Engineer: Radar Data Processing and Control

About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Software Engineer in the Radar and Electronic Warfare Impact Area within the Defence and Security Cluster. The incumbent will be responsible to design and develop software applications, modules, and sub-systems for use in the Integrated Radar Software Solutions Research Group. This position is based in Pretoria.

For more information about the impact area and cluster, please visit https://www.csir.co.za/radar-and-electronic-warfare and https://www.csir.co.za/defence-and-security respectively.

Key responsibilities:

• Interpret requirements and specifications for design and development;
• Design, development and testing of Real-Time signal and data processing applications for Radar Systems;
• Debug, fault find, test and perform software release in accordance with set procedures;
• Comply with project configuration management systems and practice;
• Generate data packs and design documentation;
• Understand and implement full software development life cycle;

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Bachelor of Engineering degree in electronic or computer engineering with an exposure in the following:
  • C++;
  • Signal processing;
  • Development of computational software in radar data processing and control or related fields such as machine learning;
  • Development for deployment on both Windows and Linux;
• A Master’s degree in related engineering field will be advantageous;
• Training, knowledge and/or experience in the following is an advantage:
  • Embedded Software Development;
  • Data visualisation, Map Display software and GUI development;
  • Boost Library;
  • Qt to develop GUIs;
  • Software and hardware design processes and methodologies;
  • Computational high level language experience such as MATLAB or Python;
  • Electronic hardware and software interfacing and integration;
  • Understanding of RF and high speed digital systems;
  • Systems engineering, especially for software systems; 
• Proven capability of document preparation;
• Strong analytical thinking skills;
• Ability to obtain or maintain a positive security clearance is compulsory.

Closing date: 17 March 2024

PLEASE NOTE THAT FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN TO SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES ONLY

Senior System Administrator

Senior Systems Administrator

About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Senior Systems Administrator in the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) area, within the National Integration Cyberinfrastructure System (NICIS), which is hosted by Next Generation Enterprises and Institution cluster. The incumbent will be responsible for setup and ongoing support of virtual machines (VMs), Cloud database portal, OpenStack cloud infrastructure, HPC and other CHPC ICT systems. The position is based in Cape Town.

For more info about the programme and Cluster, please visit https://www.chpc.ac.za and https://www.csir.co.za/nextgen-enterprises-and-institutions.

Key responsibilities:

• Provision and de-provision of VMS and cloud accounts;
• Deploy, manage, and operate cloud environments;
• Contribute and identify appropriate use and operational best practices;
• Create (where appropriate) automation, to streamline provisioning and de-provisioning processes;
• Assist users with their cloud-related inquiries, troubleshooting issues, and providing guidance on how to effectively use OpenStack services and resources;
• Develop and maintain technical documentation, guidelines, and best practices for the OpenStack cloud environment;
• Lead certain data/service migration projects;
• Lead/Contribute on new projects or upgrade of systems;
• Back-up servers and associated operating systems and software;
• Demonstrate leadership in either field of HPC/Cloud (storage, cluster/cloud design and configuration, interconnects or applications porting and tuning)
• Conduct research on HPC and cloud related hardware and software in support of procurement and system development;  
• Proactively keep up to date with the latest developments and advancements in OpenStack technology;
• Monitor the health and performance of the OpenStack cloud environment;
• Participate on Human Capital Development initiatives;
• Take initiatives and be a team player.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A National diploma or Bachelor’s degree in information technology or related field (e.g. computer systems engineering, computer science) with at least five years’ experience in LINUX system administrator, of which one year should be in Cloud administration;
• Experience in the following would be advantageous:
  • Linux system administration;
  • Linux based Cloud systems administration; 
  • Implementations of cluster technologies;
  • Linux installation and packaging tools, especially RPM;
• Should have knowledge and experience working with Dev-ops tools;
• Should have knowledge about HPC;
• Proven experience with systems planning, security principles, and general software management best practices;
• Extensive experience with bash, python scripting and more;
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Ability to work in a team-oriented and collaborative environment;
• Detail-oriented, strong work ethic and high standard of excellence;
• Fast learner, achiever, sets high personal goals;
• Must be able to multitask projects and meet their respective deadlines.

Closing date: 13 February 2024

PLEASE NOTE THAT FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN TO SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES ONLY.

Senior Network Administrator

Senior Network Administrator

About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Senior Network Administrator in the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) area, within the National Integration Cyberinfrastructure System (NICIS), which is hosted by Next Generation Enterprises and Institution cluster. The incumbent will be responsible to manage both the HPC and Cloud Network and other CHPC IT systems. This will include but not limited to, identify, analyse, and react to security incidents, events, and threats, and manage security controls. This position is based in Rosebank, Cape Town.

For more info about the programme and Cluster, please visit https://www.chpc.ac.za and https://www.csir.co.za/nextgen-enterprises-and-institutions.

Key responsibilities:

• Design and implement network infrastructure for HPC and OpenStack Cloud, including physical and virtual network components;
• Manage HPC network and ensuring compliance with security policies and procedures;
• Implement network automation and orchestration using tools such as Ansible, Puppet, or Chef;
• Collaborate with OpenStack administrators, HPC administrators, developers, and operations teams to ensure smooth integration and operation of the OpenStack and HPC platforms;
• Keep up to date with the latest network technologies and trends, and evaluating their potential impact on HPC and OpenStack;
• Design and implement security measures, including firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and encryption technologies, to prevent unauthorized access and ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the HPC and OpenStack Cloud resources;
• Design and implement the network infrastructure to ensure optimal performance of the HPC systems. This includes configuring the HPC network switches, routers, and other hardware components to support the high-bandwidth requirements of the HPC applications;
• Monitor the performance of the HPC systems and identifies bottlenecks and other issues that affect system performance, optimize the performance of the system, including tuning the network and adjusting system settings;
• Provide technical support to users of the HPC systems, including troubleshooting and resolving issues related to system performance, and Network related issues;
• Ensure HPC network device cabling and connectivity needs are designed, implemented and deployed in keeping with industry standards;
• Work with and keep up to date on networking technology from a diverse range of vendors.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Bachelor’s degree in information technology, information systems, computer science/engineering, electronic engineering, or related field with at least five years’ experience in an academic or research community environment, HPC network and Security support;
• Experience with system management, monitoring/alerting tools (e.g., Ganglia, Nagios, Prometheus, Zabbix)
• Experience in interfacing with HPC network technologies such as InfiniBand;
• Experience supporting (HPC) High Performance Computing environments;
• Experience with the use of configuration management and orchestration tools such as Ansible;
• Demonstrated experience with installation, configuration, testing and operation of network equipment from multiple equipment providers;
• Network programming experience including the ability to automate network management;
• Knowledge of Linux Open-source tools, operating systems, and network administration;
• Knowledge and experience diagnosing system issues on Linux-based clusters;
• Knowledge and experience with open Networking, specifically Cumulus Linux;
• Technical knowledge of Linux-based cloud infrastructure technologies, such as: virtualisation, containerisation, software-defined networking (SDN), network function virtualisation (NFV), high speed networks, and orchestration;
• Demonstrated ability to quantify, analyse, determine root cause, and resolve system and communication network issues, and develop preventive actions;
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively within a team, to include the ability to lead moderately complex projects or small project teams.

Closing date: 12 March 2024

PLEASE NOTE THAT FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN TO SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES ONLY.

Senior Automation and Integration Engineer

Senior Automation and Integration Engineer

About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Senior Automation and Integration Engineer in the Aeronautic Systems Impact Area within the Defence and Security Cluster. The incumbent will be responsible to provide hardware and software engineering development, integration, support and management services to the Experimental Aerodynamics and Wind Tunnel (WT) Facilities Groups, from high-level systems architecture to low-level software and hardware design, development and testing. This position is based in Pretoria.

For more info about the cluster and impact area, please visit https://www.csir.co.za/defence-and-security and https://www.csir.co.za/aeronautics-systems respectively.

Key responsibilities:

• Conduct automation and integration activities applicable to the suite of wind tunnel facilities’ plant control systems, and wind tunnel facilities’ test model support systems, with a strong focus on automation, control, and data acquisition activities.
• Responsible for hardware and software development and implementation (requirements definition, design, development, testing and integration) of wind tunnel facility plant control systems, testing environment control systems, wind tunnel test article positional control systems, and wind tunnel test article data acquisition systems;
• Plan and manage all software engineering (projects and tasks) within Experimental Aero and Wind Tunnel Facilities Groups using CSIR ERP systems;
• Resource planning and allocation;
• Lead the development of concept and technology demonstrators, derived from requirements;
• Generate documentation for the developed products and applications in terms of system engineering processes and project reports;
• Research the latest technical developments i.e. researching and proposing new software and hardware solutions for diverse application areas within the Wind Tunnel Facilities and Exp Aero groups;
• Collaborate and network with tertiary academic institutions, user groups and forums, locally and internationally;
• Work in the wind tunnel environment as part of a wind tunnel testing team on wind tunnel systems;
• Provide software and hardware systems support and troubleshooting during Wind Tunnel test campaigns;
• Evaluate and analyse the software, hardware, and ICT systems currently in the Wind Tunnel Facilities, while identifying areas for modification, improvement and upgrades;
• Create and manage Wind Tunnel Facilities ICT roadmap;
• Provide coaching and mentoring to junior engineer/s and technologists.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronic/computer/mechatronic engineering with at least five years’ experience in real time server and desktop operating system environments focusing in/on the following:
  • Development, automation, interfacing and control of electro-mechanical systems;
  • Software architecture, object-oriented software development and software systems engineering processes;
• Must have experience in the following:
  • Working with multidisciplinary teams;
  • Supervision of junior engineers and technologists;
  • UML and related software development and planning methodologies;
  • XML markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing data;
• The following training, knowledge and/or experience is required:
  • Embedded software development;
  • MATLAB;
  • Programming languages FORTRAN, C, C++, JAVA;
  • Network communications;
  • PLCs (Siemens and Allen-Bradley) hardware and programming;
  • Data acquisition systems;
• Ability to read and draw PLC Ladder Logic diagrams;

Closing date: 27 March 2024

PLEASE NOTE THAT FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN TO SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES ONLY.

Software Developer: Artificial Intelligence (AI) X3

Software Developer: Artificial Intelligence (AI)

(Three positions)

About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for Software Developer: Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Emerging Digital Technologies for fourth Industrial Revolution (EDT4IR) Research Centre within the Next Generation Enterprises and Institutions Cluster. The incumbent will be responsible to design, develop and implement AI systems architecture and solutions. This position is based in Pretoria.

For more information about the cluster, please visit https://www.csir.co.za/nextgen-enterprises-and-institutions.

Key responsibilities:

• Develop innovative solutions in AI and remain well-versed in new technologies in the evolving AI space;
• Supervise/mentor junior staff in the area(s) of expertise;
• Generate and contribute towards science engineering and technology (SET) activity outputs e.g., reports, guidelines, system requirements, peer-reviewed publications, and technology and software packages;
• Understand and interpret client requirements by contributing to user requirement analysis and/or well-articulated proposals;
• Remain current in field of expertise with respect to new approaches in tools, methods or technologies;
• Participate in external task teams or committees in relevant domains;

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Bachelor’s degree in computer science/engineering, electrical/electronic engineering, information technology or related field with at least three years’ experience in Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (ML) and software development in Artificial Intelligence Technologies;
• An Honours or Master’s degree will be advantageous;
• Experience in the following:
  • Applied machine-learning with regression, classification, etc. models for supervised learning;
  • Big-data unsupervised learning;
  • Data platform engineering;
  • Building AI models with a deep learning framework such as TensorFlow, Keras or Theano;
  • Bringing theoretical machine-learning approaches illustrated in academia research papers to actual implementations, i.e. implemented and deployed into large-scale production system certain advanced ML and applied ML algorithms;
• The following knowledge will be advantageous:
  • Cloud-based platforms: AWS, IBM Cloud, Azure;
  • Understanding of transforming/implementing software/algorithms for use in real-life systems;
• Must be able to:
  • Select hardware to run an ML model with the required latency;
  • Supervise/mentor/develop junior staff; 
• Must have knowledge and/or experience of object-orientated software engineering;
• Demonstrated skills in: analytical thinking, flexibility and adaptability, investigative orientation, planning and organising, problem solving, verbal and written communication, teamwork, self-management (planning, prioritising and time management – includes the ability to work independently), systems level thinking, multi-disciplinary knowledge.
• Strong quantitative skills (mathematics/statistics/computer science);
• All international qualifications require an evaluation report / certificate issued by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).

  CLOSING DATE: 24 March 2024

PLEASE NOTE THAT FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN TO SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES ONLY.

Click here to apply

All the best with your applications