Senior Technical Programme Manager, Quantum Systems Infrastructure

Location: Oxford, England
Travel: As needed
Job ID: 1905

The Role:

We are looking for a Technical Programme Manager to join the Quantum Systems Infrastructure (QSI) team at IonQ's Oxford office. QSI builds and runs the platform our next-generation quantum computers are built, tested, released and operated on, from bare metal in the lab to cloud, working across both Oxford and the US.

Your mission is to run the machinery that keeps QSI’s portfolio visible, planned and unblocked so engineers can engineer, leaders can lead, and the business always knows what is changing and why it matters. You will work very closely with the Technical Programme Managers in the Software and Science teams, ensuring our processes and workflows complement and integrate with their work, rather than duplicating effort.

We run a centralised PMO operating model at IonQ which you will be a core part of though on a day to day basis you will work alongside the QSI team. As part of this model, this role will not make technical decisions, own engineering headcount, or define product but it will make the programme around those things run.

Responsibilities:

You will own programme execution across QSI’s delivery streams, translating a leadership-visible roadmap into clear plans, measurable milestones and predictable delivery. You will create and run the operating rhythm that keeps teams aligned and leaders informed. When priorities shift, you will implement structure to that ambiguity, clarifying scope, coordinating trade-offs and pushing problems to resolution.

Key responsibilities include:

• Owning programme execution across QSI’s delivery streams: one planning rhythm, one backlog discipline, ensuring dependencies and risks surfaced early and chased to resolution.
• Running the roadmap-to-delivery link: keeping the roadmap, Jira and reality agreeing with each other, and making slippage visible early.
• Owning the programme ceremonies and the design of the workflows behind them (day-to-day stand-ups are run by the engineering managers).
• Working hand-in-hand with the Software and Science TPMs: shared or integrated processes wherever teams interact, and no duplicated ceremonies, boards or reporting.
• Coordinating across teams - Continuing Engineering (US), the PMO, product and science teams - serving as QSI’s cross-functional programme liaison.
• Establishing programme cadences and reporting (changelogs, demos, leadership summaries etc) in plain English that non-infrastructure stakeholders can read and trust.
• Running the intake and triage process so requests reach the right stream with the right priority, without engineers being interrupt-driven.

Requirements:

We’re looking for a technically fluent Programme Manager who brings structure, pace and clarity to a fast-moving infrastructure organisation. You will be comfortable working in a deeply technical environment, working daily with platform and systems engineers, while translating progress, risks and trade-offs into clear reporting senior stakeholders can trust. You will thrive in ambiguity and an organisation where you are able to drive change. You do not just coordinate: you unblock teams, keep plans honest, and raise the bar on how programmes are run.

You will have prior experience tunning technical programmes across multiple engineering teams, ideally in infrastructure, platform or systems engineering environments. You should be fluent with modern programme tooling, such as Jira, Confluence and GitHub, and have the judgement to keep process lightweight.

You’d be a great fit with:

• Experience harmonising ways of working across sibling teams or departments, integrating processes rather than multiplying them.
• Strong, plain-English communication and the ability to make infrastructure work legible to non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to manage multiple workstreams simultaneously across sites and time zones in a fast-paced, changing environment.
• A chase-without-nagging, escalate-without-drama working style, and a clear sense of the difference between a risk and a noise.

Additional experience would be beneficial, such as a background in hardware-adjacent software (labs, manufacturing, robotics, scientific instruments), exposure to regulated or government-customer delivery, or agile coaching / scrum mastery experience. Working knowledge of quantum computing concepts would be a plus though is not essential.

Benefits:

Be part of a team that’s shaping the future of quantum. We offer more than just a role, you’ll join a world class community of scientists, engineers and innovators working to unlock the full potential of quantum computing.

We offer a range of benefits, including opportunities to further your career alongside industry leaders, a competitive salary with IonQ stock options, an annual performance bonus, generous annual leave, flexible hybrid working, private medical and dental insurance for you and your family, and much more.

Join us and be part of the future of quantum computing.

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer and welcome applicants from all backgrounds.