Is CERN a good company to work for as a Software Engineer?

Software Engineer professionals working at CERN have rated their employer with 4.5 out of 5 stars in 81 Glassdoor reviews. This is a higher than average score with the overall rating of CERN employees being 4.3 out of 5 stars. Search open Software Engineer Jobs at CERN now and start preparing for your job interview by browsing frequently asked Software Engineer interview questions at CERN .

Does CERN pay Software Engineer employees well?

Software Engineer professionals rate their compensation and benefits at CERN with 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 81 anonymously submitted employee reviews. This is 4.5% better than the company average rating for salary and benefits. Find out more about Software Engineer salaries at CERN.

How happy are Software Engineer professionals working at CERN?

92% of Software Engineer employees at CERN would recommend their employer to a friend. This rating has decreased by 4% in the past 12 months. Software Engineer professionals have also rated CERN with a 4.7 rating for work-life-balance, 4.8 rating for diversity and inclusion, 4.6 rating for culture and values and 3.9 rating for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at CERN?

Technical Student (125) , Software Engineer (112) , Fellow (61) , PhD Student (36) , Senior Fellow (24) , Doctoral Student (23) , Research Fellow (23) , Internship (22) , Mechanical Engineer (20) , Junior Fellow (19) , Postdoctoral Fellow (19) , Engineer (18) , Project Associate (18) , Intern (16) , Administrative Student (15)

What are the pros of working at CERN according to real employee reviews?

"Good salary and tons of benefits." ((in 131 reviews)); "Best experience ever Great people" ((in 77 reviews)); "Amazing environment and great colleagues." ((in 60 reviews)); "good benefits and health insurance" ((in 53 reviews)); "they was very helpful and pay was good" ((in 33 reviews))

What are the cons of working at CERN according to real employee reviews?

"Bad management, nothing else fdgdfgdf" ((in 42 reviews)); "Almost no Career Opportunities" ((in 17 reviews)); "Slow career progression" ((in 16 reviews)); "Had 5 supervisors, overall)" ((in 11 reviews)); "Incredible nepotism everywhere." ((in 7 reviews))

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CERN

CERN Software Engineer reviews

4.5

92% would recommend to a friend

(81 total reviews)

Fabiola Gianotti

99% approve of CEO

45% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.8

Diversity & inclusion

4.7

Work/Life balance

4.6

Culture & values

4.5

Compensation and benefits

4.0

Senior management

3.9

Career opportunities

Software Engineer employees have rated CERN with 4.5 out of 5 stars, based on 81 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Software Engineer professionals have an excellent working experience there. CERN is rated 24% above average by Software Engineer professionals compared to other employers within the Regierung & öffentliche Verwaltung industry (3.6 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

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Parent or family caregiver

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Reviews by job title

81 reviews

5.0

Jun 10, 2015

Best combination of work, engineering, and life

Software engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

a) You have the freedom to work on the issues that you believe important... as far you are mostly right b) Most bosses are your peers c) The salary spread is small compared to the rest of the world. That is, the difference between the top management, and the cleaning guy is around 10. d) Holidays

Cons

a) Given CERN 60 years of history, an engineer usually spends > 50% time maintaining old systems that are >20-30 years old b) Short contracts c) Doing a good job does not assure your contractual future. There is quite a lot of luck involved in the process d) You have to actually work :)

4.0

Apr 26, 2015

Great experience

Software engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

- International and multicultural environment, a lot of young people, a lot of opportunities for informal communication and after-work activities - Plenty of opportunities for learning: there is a good mix of experienced developers who can mentor you and junior developers who bring new ideas into the project - Working with up-to-date software technology: many teams take the time to research new technologies and update their stack - Good working conditions and infrastructure: offices are spacious, many on-site services from restaurant to post office, lots of holidays

Cons

- Career opportunities are limited, long-term contracts are not many and may be difficult to acquire

4.0

Oct 6, 2014

It's a nice place to work.

Software engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Good work-life balance, flexible working hours.

Cons

Not many benefits apart from a nice compensation.

Viewing 67 - 69 of 81 Reviews

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Jobs at CERN

C++ Software Engineer (SY-EPC-CCS-2026-115-GRAP)

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Schweiz

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Full-Stack Software Engineer for CERN's PLM Platform (EN-IM-PLM-2026-127-GRAE)

Software Developer for Control Systems (BE-ICS-STF-2026-105-GRAP)

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CERN Software Engineer reviews

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Best combination of work, engineering, and life

Great experience

It's a nice place to work.

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