qubitsok.com
Cut Noise. Work Quantum.
Americas, United States, College Park
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Posted 124 days ago
🏢 IonQ
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USD 162K - 213K per year
Role Type
Role Focus
Seniority
Employer Type
Visa / Relocation Details
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
The position is specifically within the controls system team, responsible for real-time device control.
IonQ's technology is explicitly stated as being based on trapped-ion technology.
The role explicitly requires experience with FPGA codesign for the control systems.
Writing high-quality, production-ready code in Rust is a primary responsibility.
The controls system team creates the embedded systems that perform real-time control, which is a type of control software.
The controls system manages the real-time execution and scheduling of the quantum computer operations, often down to the pulse level.
The role requires experience with hardware test equipment like oscilloscopes and logic analyzers, typical lab techniques.