Role Description:

Infrastructure Design Coordinator

(Manager, Engineer or Architect)

This Version:
Ver. Created Comment Distribution Corresponding...
1.0 2015-12-11 First release. Open Editor: C.M. Townsley
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Keywords:
Recruitment; Advert; Infrastructure Coordinator

Version History:
Ver. Date Comment Distribution Corresponding...
0.1 2015-11-26 Initial version M-A.B. Editor: C.M.Townsley
0.2 2015-11-27 First internal release PO Editor: C.M.Townsley

CTA Construction Project Page 1 of 4 MAN-PLANS/151126 | v. 1.0 | 11 December 2015

Infrastructure Design Coordinator Role Description
 Civil & Infrastructure Design Coordinator
(Manager, Engineer or Architect)

Project Background

The Cherenkov Telescope Array is a multinational project to construct a world-wide unique large-scale
facility for astronomy at very high energies of the electromagnetic spectrum in the Tera-electronvolt
domain. CTA will consist of over 100 Cherenkov telescopes of 23 m, 12 m and 5 m dish size located at
two sites in the northern and southern hemisphere. Subject to completion of detailed negotiations the
sites will be in northern Chile and La Palma.

Across the world 30 countries are engaged in the CTA project, with over 1,000 scientists and engineers
from over 200 research institutions. The project is listed on the ESFRI roadmap of future European
research infrastructures, is highly ranked on national and community roadmaps, and is supported by the
European Commission. The total investment volume for CTA is estimated to be e300m for equipment
plus manpower. Final approval of CTA construction is anticipated in 2016; however some countries
are already committed to contributing significantly to CTA construction and significant prototyping and
design work has already taken place, including the completion of full telescope prototypes. CTA is
a cooperative project; the bulk of telescope components and associated software will be provided as
in-kind contributions by participating institutes and research organizations.

CTA is currently nearing the end of its pre-construction phase, preparing the final design of the instru-
ments and of the site infrastructure. The project is centrally co-ordinated by the CTA Project Office
located in Heidelberg, Germany and is well supported financially. The construction phase is expected to
last until at least 2020. More information about the project can be found at www.cta-observatory.org.

Role Description

The CTA Project Office invites applications for a Manager/Engineer/Architect to co-ordinate the design
of civil infrastructure of the two array sites.

In CTA terms ‘civil infrastructure’ for each site includes: telescope foundations (approximately 99 (South)
/ 19 (North) of various designs), a technical building (to contain a computing centre and other techni-
cal facilities), maintenance/storage facilities and operations centre (perhaps with residential facilities)
together with connecting roads, power, drainage and communications networks. One particular feature
of the southern array is its remote location at high altitude in Chile; the northern array site in La Palma
is less remote but both still present logistics challenges.

The successful candidate will co-ordinate the preparation of final designs using external consultants and
architects, additionally commissioning various technical studies to evaluate site conditions, all the way
through the design process up to and beyond construction commissioning. The candidate must have
an excellent technical understanding of site infrastructure to fulfil the role. The role does not presently
foresee the supervision of actual construction which will be directly under the responsibility of remote
site managers (under the authority of the project office), however significant interaction will be required
to maintain design consistency and track progress. Major construction contracts will be commissioned
by the project office.

The project has completed RIBA stage 2 (conceptual design) and recently commissioned a RIBA 3 de-
sign study to establish the developed design of the southern array site, and will soon be commissioning a
similar study for the northern array. In addition; many other preparatory studies have taken place, such
as for topology and lightning protection. The successful candidate would be primarily responsible for
managing these and future studies, consolidating them into a single design of the overall site infrastruc-
ture. The candidate will also carry out or commission further technical studies as necessary to reduce
risk in the final design, including installing monitoring devices on site.

A particular aspect of the project to reduce risk is the creation of a complete and comprehensive BIM
model of the site infrastructure. The successful candidate will be overall responsible for this model
and ideally will possess the skills to develop it further, although the major work will be carried out by
sub-contracted consultants.

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Infrastructure Design Coordinator Role Description
CTA is a complex project with many interactions. The successful candidate must demonstrate an ability
to interact and be flexible towards many other project participants from many disciplines and nationalities.
In particular; it is important to quickly understand day-to-day life and operations of an observatory to
develop requirements for the infrastructure.

Activities include:

• Analyse design work needed and develop plans in conjunction with contracted engineers and
architects;
• Challenge assumptions and design ideas and develop solutions;
• Write statements of work and commission work through the procurement process;
• Manage contracts including the interaction with architects and other consultants;
• Interact with CTA project teams external to the project office to determine and document infras-
tructure requirements;
• Carry out requirements, cost and schedule analysis and any other analysis studies required;
• Record and explain CTA infrastructure requirements and manage architects/consultants;
• Ensure all work is fully documented to a high standard;
• Demonstrate and document the fulfilment of infrastructure requirements;
• Incorporate safety aspects into the design.
• Manipulate (at minimum) a BIM model of the array infrastructure to enter and extract information.

Competences/qualifications required include:

• Full understanding of the infrastructure design process, ideally to a national methodology such as
the RIBA plan of work;
• Ability to generate, analyse and present cost and schedule information;
• Full appreciation of the scope of work involved on a project of the magnitude of CTA;
• A (higher) degree or equivalent qualifications in a technically relevant subject (for example engi-
neering or architecture);
• Ability to manipulate (at minimum) a BIM model of the CTA infrastructure, and ideally to edit it;
• Ability to plan work in a methodical manner and using established project management techniques
(such as WBS, gantt charts, risk management etc). A project management qualification would be
an advantage;
• Familiarity with industrial requirements and specifications management systems and the V&V pro-
cess;
• Demonstrable experience of work within an environment based on quality assurance and method-
ical processes;
• Experience of procurement, contract management and logistics;
• Good (excellent) English writing skills and use of software for documentation. Spanish would be
beneficial but not obligatory;
• Excellent knowledge of computing systems for day to day work (Office, CAD, etc), and willing-
ness/ability to adapt to new systems;
• Ability to work within a small, but steadily growing and flexible international team where a proactive
approach and mutual assistance is part of the culture;

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Infrastructure Design Coordinator Role Description
 • Extremely high levels of self-motivation and adaptability;
• Interest in the project as a whole, and willingness to get involved in other areas of work.

The successful candidate would be based at the project office in Heidelberg and would report in the first
instance to the CTA Project Manager. Some travel will be required.

All project communication is in English. The German language is not required to carry out the role:
Heidelberg is an ‘international’ city so lack of German is not a serious impediment to day-to-day living.
Both array sites are located in Spanish-speaking countries so Spanish would be an advantage although
not obligatory.

The precise job title will depend on the skills and experience of the successful candidate, as will further
management responsibilities. The contract will be for an initial period of two years with a very strong
possibility of further extension subject only to satisfactory performance. The salary is competitive and
accompanies a very flexible and pleasant working environment, with a small team and excellent on-site
restaurant facilities.

The role is exciting and presents a unique opportunity to develop world-class facilities for a prestigious
project with global reach.

Applications should consist of a CV and cover letter, including contact details of two references. A
portfolio of previous work would be very useful to support the application but is not obligatory. Please
send to Tiziana Abegg (tabegg@lsw.uni-heidelberg.de) to whom questions should also be addressed.

(CTA Consortium institutes only: this position is also available as an in-kind contribution from member
institutes. If you are interested in this position under secondment from your home institution please apply
via your institute responsible.)

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Infrastructure Design Coordinator Role Description