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Americas, United States, College Park

Posted 124 days ago

Staff Software Engineer - Embedded Software

🏢 IonQ

USD 162K - 213K per year

+2 benefits
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Role Type

🛠️ Engineer / Developer

Role Focus

🏗️ Build Systems

Seniority

🌳 Senior / Lead

Employer Type

🏢 Industry

Visa / Relocation Details

  • Employment is contingent on verifying "U.S. Person" status (U.S. citizen, national, permanent resident, refugee, or granted asylum) due to U.S. export control laws and government contracts.
  • Candidates who do not verify U.S. Person status may be required to obtain necessary licenses or confirm a license exception under U.S. export controls.
  • IonQ may decline applications if the candidate does not qualify for government contracts work requiring U.S. Persons or cannot access export-controlled technology that requires authorization.

This role is for a Staff Embedded Software Engineer on the controls system team, responsible for creating embedded systems that provide real-time control for IonQ's trapped-ion quantum computers. The engineer will lead the design, architecture, and development of major software components and systems, focusing on expanding the real-time control scheduling and flow. Success requires writing high-quality code and collaborating closely with interdisciplinary staff, including research physicists and hardware engineers, throughout the entire software lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

Lead the design, architecture, development, testing, and maintenance of major software components and systems for real-time device control.

Produce high-quality, well-tested code ready for production, primarily using Rust and other relevant languages.

Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams, including research physicists and hardware engineers, throughout the software lifecycle.

Improve best practices and processes to continuously enhance the development workflow.

Provide mentorship on advanced technical issues to assist in the career development of team members.

Required Skills

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience

8+ years of software development experience in general-purpose programming languages (like Python or JavaScript)

Expert knowledge of at least one systems programming language (e.g., C, C++, Rust)

Experience with real-time software development

Experience with FPGA codesign

Experience writing embedded systems software

Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Nice-to-have Skills

Proficiency or exposure to higher-level programming, such as Python development

Experience with CI/CD pipelines

Experience analyzing and creating deterministic real-time software

Knowledge of Yocto, Buildroot, or other embedded packaging systems

Experience using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and other hardware test equipment

Technology Tags

Control Tech

The position is specifically within the controls system team, responsible for real-time device control.

Trapped ions

IonQ's technology is explicitly stated as being based on trapped-ion technology.

FPGA controllers

The role explicitly requires experience with FPGA codesign for the control systems.

Rust

Writing high-quality, production-ready code in Rust is a primary responsibility.

Control software

The controls system team creates the embedded systems that perform real-time control, which is a type of control software.

Pulse-level control

The controls system manages the real-time execution and scheduling of the quantum computer operations, often down to the pulse level.

Lab Techniques

The role requires experience with hardware test equipment like oscilloscopes and logic analyzers, typical lab techniques.