Senior Software Engineering Leader, Rigetti Computing
$250-290k
Offers equity
Office located in Berkeley, CA or Fremont, CA
Cloud-based quantum computing
Open for applications
Cloud-based quantum computing
101-200 employees
Open for applications
$250-290k
Offers equity
Office located in Berkeley, CA or Fremont, CA
101-200 employees
Company mission
To build the world’s most powerful computers to help solve humanity’s most important and pressing problems.
Role
Who you are
- BS or equivalent degree in Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics, or a related field
- 10+ years of software engineering experience, including at least 3 years in a senior technical leadership role. Ph.D. or Masters as a part of this
- Demonstrated experience building data systems that incorporate scientific models
- Demonstrated experience with software systems that manage large data sets, metadata sets, and scalable data pipelines
- Experience with streaming architectures and tools (E.g. Kafka, Kinesis, Spark Streaming)
- Proficiency and experience with Amazon’s AWS for development and production deployment and distributed computing
- Proficiency in Python and one of JavaScript or TypeScript
Desirable
- Knowledge of quantum device physics (superconducting qubits, trapped ions, or photonics), quantum information science
- Knowledge of quantum control systems and low-level hardware/software interfaces (cryogenic hardware, RF electronics, qubit calibration)
- Knowledge of fabrication processes in semiconductor or quantum systems
- Familiarity with EDA tools, process design kits (PDKs), and chip layout software (e.g., KLayout, Cadence)
- Proficiency and experience in scientific computing platforms, simulation tools, and scientific computing libraries and tools (NumPy, SciPy, PyTorch, etc.)
- Proficiency and experience in machine learning applied to scientific and operational systems for prediction and system optimization
- Proficiency and experience in a compiled language like go or rust
What the job involves
- We are seeking a Senior Software Engineering Leader to head the team responsible for software systems that enable the creation, delivery and maintenance of Rigetti’s quantum computers
- This includes systems for device design, chip fabrication workflows, physics-informed data analysis, quantum gate-design, and quantum mitigation and error correction technologies
- This also includes managing the team and supporting the development of software systems for quantum QPU and system characterization
- This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who thrives at the intersection of state-of-the-art software engineering, hardware, and scientific computing
- As a Senior Software Engineering Leader, you will drive the creation of software platforms that enable the design, fabrication, characterization, and measurement of quantum systems, with a strong emphasis on integrating into the engineering process
- You will lead a team of professional software engineers, and collaborate closely with quantum hardware teams, quantum control systems designers, chip designers, fabrication engineers, and algorithm researchers
- You’ll be responsible for engineering and system design that spans the entire gamut of our foundry operations through the delivery of an integrated quantum computing system, and delivery of characterization and measurement software to customers
- This is a unique opportunity to build software systems critical for the design and delivery of Rigetti’s computing systems, and, in some cases, delivered to customers to operate and maintain those quantum computers
- Define and execute the software roadmap for tools that support quantum chip design, fabrication data management, and process analysis, with physics-informed models at their core
- Develop software frameworks to integrate design, simulation, fabrication, and characterization data into a unified pipeline
- Lead the development and support the acquisition of tools for design verification, device modeling (including electromagnetic and noise modeling), and process optimization, informed by real-world physics constraints
- Support the development of Rigetti’s quantum characterization and measurement platform
- Lead the on-going design and development of the environment that knits these systems into a comprehensive integrated set of tools to develop and deliver quantum computers
- Build and lead a high-performing, cross-disciplinary software team (including software engineers, physicists, and data scientists)
- Support a strong platform engineering and operational mindset to enable high quality delivery at scale and speed
- Mentor and develop team members in software engineering best practices, modern software systems architecture, platform engineering, and scientific software for research and development driven environments
- Foster a culture of collaboration between software engineers, physicists, and design and fabrication teams, ensuring all teams contribute to and benefit from shared software tools
- Partner with quantum device physicists to build or acquire software that accurately models qubit behavior and fabrication variations
- Work with foundry teams to ensure software systems capture process data and link it directly to design and performance outcomes
- Collaborate with quantum engineers, quantum performance teams to develop software frameworks that accelerate experimental data analysis, linking test results back to QPU performance, design and fabrication parameters
- Oversee the development, and architecture of data platforms and modeling tools that combine design files, fabrication process data, and device performance metrics
- Drive the development and support for tools for design rule checking (DRC), layout-vs-schematic (LVS) checks, and process-aware design verification for quantum devices
Our take
Quantum computing received its first proof of concept in recent years, but remains abstract and unapproachable in terms of real-life applications. The technology would be enormously beneficial in combination with recent tech innovations such as cloud computing, but this application has been relatively unexplored.
Rigetti Computing builds quantum-computer systems that can be accessed through a cloud-based platform. These cloud services allow users to utilize the power of Rigetti's computers, built through a hybrid of quantum processors and traditional servers. The idea here is to increase access to the cutting-edge potential of quantum computing to all types of companies.
Despite the company's respected position in the field, which saw its 2022 participation in a joint project with Riverlane to tackle syndrome extraction (a key step in making quantum computers more accurate), it has found little fortune in 2023. In February it layed off 28% of its staff and replaced both its CFO and CTO, as it faced delisting from the Nasdaq stock exchange. The company hopes that refocussing on its core technology will enable it to recover from this situation and regain its footing moving forward.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 11 rounds)
Jun 2022
$0.7m
GRANT
Aug 2020
$79m
SERIES C
Total funding: $272.7m
Company benefits
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage - we cover 98% and 95% of employees’ and dependents’ premiums respectively
- Stock-based compensation for every full time employee
- Flexible vacation policy
- Remote work options
- Generous parental and military leave
Company HQ
Southwest Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Leadership
Subodh Kulkarni
(CEO)Member of the Board of Directors at KeyTronic Corp, Chairman of the Board at Prism Computational Sciences, and BoD Member at CyberOptics, where they were formerly the President and CEO.
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