Post-Career Break Fellowship

Reconnect with your career in science or engineering in a world-renowned scientific environment. This fellowship offers flexible full- or part-time opportunities to update your skills in a cutting-edge international environment.
See open positions by Field of Work

Programme overview

Taken a career break? This programme is your opportunity to make a comeback. CERN’s Post Career Break Fellowship is designed to help you seamlessly transition back into science or engineering. Reconnect with your expertise, contribute to innovative projects, and relaunch your career in a supportive, international environment where your skills and passion can thrive.

What we offer

  • A monthly net stipend between 6372-7004 Swiss Francs per month depending on your degree
  • Coverage by CERN’s comprehensive health insurance scheme (for yourself, your partner and children) and contribution to CERN Pension Fund
  • Depending on your individual circumstances: an installation grant, family, child and infant allowances as well as travel expenses to Geneva upon joining CERN
  • 30 days of paid leave per year plus 2 weeks during annual closure of CERN
  • On-the-job and formal training including language classes
  • A contract duration of 6 to 24 months, with a possibility to extend to up to 36 months
Your pathway back 
to science or engineering: reconnect, contribute, and thrive with CERN.

Explore a wide range

of opportunities

Applied Physics

Applied Physics

Applied Physics at CERN plays a vital role in transforming theoretical concepts into tangible technologies that drive both scientific discovery and practical innovation. From developing cutting-edge particle detectors to contributing to global medical advancements, CERN's applied physicists are at the forefront of technology that changes the world.

Chemical, Materials & Process Engineering

Chemical, Materials & Process Engineering

From advanced materials to innovative processes, we develop the technologies that enable CERN's scientific and engineering achievements.

Civil Engineering

Civil Engineering

Creating an inspiring and welcoming environment for CERN's scientific community by managing and developing CERN's buildings and infrastructures.

Data Science, AI & Analytics

Data Science, AI & Analytics

Data powers discovery. We transform complex information into insights, intelligence and innovation that accelerate science and improve CERN's operations.

Electrical Engineering

Electrical Engineering

Powering the world's most advanced scientific facilities. We design, operate and innovate the electrical systems that make CERN's research possible.

Electronics Engineering

Electronics Engineering

Precision electronics are at the heart of every discovery. We design the intelligent systems that measure, control and capture the signals shaping modern physics.

Experimental Physics

Experimental Physics

CERN’s Experimental Physics challenges the limits of our understanding, transforming bold theories into high-energy collisions that reveal the universe’s deepest secrets. From designing experiments to analysing breakthrough data, our physicists push the boundaries of knowledge every day. Ready to turn theory into discovery?

Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability

Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability

Playing a pivotal role in ensuring the well-being of our people and the sustainability of our operations.

Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical Engineering at CERN is crucial to advancing technology and enabling cutting-edge scientific discoveries. Our engineers design, build, and maintain sophisticated machinery, complex accelerator systems and experimental facilities that power some of the world’s most complex and impactful experiments.

Information Technologies

Information Technologies

Software is crucial to CERN's mission of producing particle beams for physics experiments, coordinating thousands of devices through a sophisticated accelerator control system. Our engineers and technicians develop software across all layers, from embedded real-time systems to micro-service-based backend servers and user interfaces. We leverage mainstream, open-source technologies such as Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Java, Python, and Kafka, ensuring our knowledge is broadly applicable beyond CERN.

Technology Transfer & Innovation

Technology Transfer & Innovation

Innovation doesn't stop at the laboratory. We transform CERN's technologies and expertise into real-world solutions that create impact far beyond particle physics.

Theoretical Physics

Theoretical Physics

Theoretical physics at CERN explores the fundamental principles of particles and forces, providing the framework for understanding the universe at its most fundamental level. It transforms abstract concepts into testable predictions, ensuring that CERN remains at the cutting edge of discovery.

Here is a sneak peek of the eligibility criteria and recruitment process

Eligibility Criteria

  • Nationality
    You are a national of a CERN Member State or Associate Member State.
    Currently, we cannot consider applications from Pakistani, Lithuanian, Latvian, Cypriot and Croatian nationals, as the ceiling defined under Article II.5 of the Associate Membership Agreement has been reached.
    Our Member and Associate Member States
  • Specific role requirement
    You have interrupted your career for personal reasons (e.g. family or care responsibilities, health problems, etc.). Unemployment or a career change is not considered a career break for the purposes of this programme.
  • Educational background & professional experience
    For Applied Sciences and Engineering: By the application deadline, you have a master’s degree with 2 to 6 years of professional experience since graduation or a PhD with a maximum of 3 years of professional experience since graduation. You are not eligible with a bachelor’s degree.

    For Theoretical and Experimental Physics: By the application deadline, you have a PhD and up to 6 years of professional experience since graduation. You are not eligible with a master’s or bachelor’s degree.
  • Previous CERN experience
    You have never had a CERN fellow or graduate contract before.

Recruitment process for this programme

  1. Submit application
    Apply with your CV (in English or French) and complete the online application before the deadline.
    Add a letter explaining your career break + a copy of your diploma or a certificate of achievement from your school (if you don’t yet have your paper diploma).
  2. Application review and interview
    Your application will be reviewed and you may be invited to take part in an online interview with the hiring manager(s) to discuss your application, CERN and the position, and for you both to determine if it could be a good fit.
  3. Selection
    Hiring managers meet for selection twice a year.
  4. Offer and onboarding
    If you are successful, you will receive a job offer. Once you accept, your onboarding journey begin!

Open positions in the Post-Career Break Fellowship

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Data Science, AI & Analytics
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Electrical Engineering
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Electronics Engineering
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Experimental Physics
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Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability
0
Mechanical Engineering
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Information Technologies
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Technology Transfer & Innovation
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Theoretical Physics
0
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Applied Physics

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Experimental Physics

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Mechanical Engineering

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Information Technologies

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