Staff Software Engineer, PsiQuantum
Systems
$186.5-240k
+ Equity
Quantum computer builder
Job no longer available
Quantum computer builder
501-1000 employees
Job no longer available
$186.5-240k
+ Equity
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To build and deploy useful, fault tolerant quantum computers.
Role
Who you are
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience)
- 10+ years of experience developing systems software for complex hardware
- Strong programming skills in C++, Python, or Rust
- Experience with hardware abstraction layer design and implementation
- Knowledge of communication protocols (I²C, SPI, PCIe, etc.)
- Understanding of real-time operating systems and constraints
- Proficiency with automated test frameworks and continuous integration
- Experience with instrumentation control and data acquisition
- Strong debugging and problem-solving abilities
- Familiarity with version control systems and collaborative development workflows
- Knowledge of system diagnostics and performance analysis techniques
- Experience working with hardware-in-the-loop testing or hardware/software co-design
- Proven ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams
- Demonstrated experience with calibration routines for precision instruments
- Track record of successful system commissioning or bring-up projects
- Experience with hardware-software interface design
- Proven ability to work effectively in cross-functional technical teams
- History of implementing robust error handling and system recovery mechanisms
Desirable
- Understanding of quantum computing principles and operations
- Experience with RPCs, RESTful APIs, IDLs, data serializations (protobufs, gRPC, JSON, etc.)
- Experience with Apache Airflow or other workflow management platforms
- Experience with internals of bare metal, VM, or container orchestration and management platforms
- Experience writing high performance IO code in Python
- Experience with (semi)-automatically converting / transpiling Python to Rust
- Experience with photonic components and their control requirements
- Familiarity with control theory and feedback systems
- Experience with distributed systems and microservice architectures
- Knowledge of DevOps practices and infrastructure-as-code
- Understanding of signal processing and digital filters
- Experience with GUI development for system control applications
- Familiarity with data visualization techniques for system monitoring
- Experience with optical systems calibration or control
- Background in developing laboratory automation software
- Experience with thermal or environmental control systems
- Experience with high-precision measurement equipment
- Track record of optimizing system performance through software improvements
- Experience designing user interfaces for complex scientific instruments
What the job involves
- The OS Core team at PsiQuantum works closely alongside engineers and scientists in the electronics, system architecture, and validation teams to develop scalable, high performance systems software for the operation, control, calibration, and management of PsiQuantum’s photonic quantum computers
- As a software engineer, systems on the OS Core team you will get to build the operating system for a fault tolerant quantum computer, work closely with engineers and scientists spanning multiple disciplines, and contribute to the future of computing in a foundational way
- Design, implement, optimize, and maintain systems software for photonic quantum computing systems
- Develop automated system and calibration, initialization, and bring-up sequences
- Create comprehensive system management tools for monitoring and control
- Implement diagnostic software for fault detection and isolation
- Design interfaces between hardware subsystems and control software
- Optimize system performance through careful characterization and tuning
- Develop commissioning protocols and verification tests
- Maintain system configuration management and versioning
- Collaborate with hardware and simulation teams to ensure software compatibility
Our take
Quantum computing will change the world more than any other imminent technological development, and PsiQuantum sits at the forefront of the charge to build the first quantum computer that will actually work.
The company is unique for the scale of their ambitions. Rather than focusing on what they term “intermediate milestones” like building smaller proof of concept systems, PsiQuantum builds the first large-scale, error-corrected computer, using photonics to deliver over 1,000,000 qubits (current quantum machines have yet to cross the 1,000 qubit mark).
There are plenty of companies building quantum computers, including the likes of IBM and Google, but these prototypical machines lack the size to correct errors, making them exponentially less useful than what PsiQuantum aims for. While other companies operate in the same sphere, PsiQuantum is unequivocally a leader in its field, founded by world-class academics and recently securing $1B in funding, making it the largest funding round for a quantum computing startup.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
16% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
Jun 2025
$1bn
GROWTH EQUITY VC
Jun 2024
$125m
CONVERTIBLE
Total funding: $2.7bn
Company benefits
- Financial & Retirement: 401(k) with company match, equity grants, and access to financial wellness tools and planning resources.
- Health: Competitive health coverage for you and your dependents that go beyond your standard medical, dental & vision.
- Wellness: $200 quarterly health reimbursement, 12 therapy + 6 coaching sessions with Modern Health for you and depndents, and annual membership to Care.com.
- Time Off: Discretionary Time Off (DTO) for full-time employees in addition to federal holidays and an end-of-year company shut-down.
- Family Leave: 12 weeks of paid parental leave with the support of a dedicated leave consultant.
- Flexible WOrk: Work in office, hybrid, or remote depending on your team and location.
Company HQ
Palo Alto, CA
Leadership
Jeremy O'Brien
(Co-Founder & CEO)Prior to founding PsiQuantum, researched and taught at universities across the world, including Bristol, Stanford, Osaka, Sydney and Queensland.
Mark Thompson
(Co-Founder & Chief Technologist)Previously worked as an R&D Engineer at Toshiba and was a research fellow at the University of Cambridge. Is currently a Professor of Quantum Photonics at Bristol University as well as Chief Technologist at PsiQuantum.
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