Technical Programme Manager, Quantum Benchmarking

Role Overview

Role:

IonQ is working with DARPA, through the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, to show when a utility scale, fault tolerant quantum computer can be delivered, with a target early in the next decade. Around forty scientists and engineers from national laboratories examine that plan in depth, and successive generations of our systems are verified and validated against it. It is one of the most consequential technology programs in the industry, and the program manager at its centre connects what we are building today with everything we plan to build next.

This role sits in our Architecture team in College Park, Maryland, and is the connection between internal quantum computer development at IonQ and the initiative. Conversations move from near term quantum control, through chip and error correction code design, to quantum error correction on future systems, so you will need to follow the science closely enough to plan it. You will turn test results and risk burndown into a schedule that a technically sophisticated customer can trust, and you will bring that customer with you rather than argue them round.

Responsibilities:

You will integrate the schedules of several internal quantum computer development efforts into one integrated master schedule that shows our path to fault tolerant, utility scale quantum computing, and you will present it to government customers and their technical experts. When a test event validates a system requirement or retires a risk, you will work out what it means for the schedule, forecast the remaining risk honestly and raise any gap before it threatens a contractual milestone.

You will own the external deliverables, including architecture documentation, verification and validation documentation, and the commissioning and delivery of systems into government laboratories. That means negotiating the structure, quality and content of deliverables with government evaluators, balancing internal engineering milestones against verification activity, and organising customer site visits and status reviews with the right internal experts in the room. Some analysis will look ahead to architectures beyond the systems in build today, so you will be comfortable working with ambiguity.

Key responsibilities include:

• Build and maintain a government quality integrated master schedule across internal development efforts.
• Track, forecast and report risk to upcoming contractual milestones.
• Manage architecture, verification and validation deliverables with government evaluation teams.
• Plan the commissioning and delivery of quantum computers to customer sites.
• Organise customer site visits, technical reviews and status reporting.

Requirements:

You will know trapped ion or neutral atom systems well, or have deep experience of another quantum hardware platform, because national laboratory experts will take every conversation into scientific detail. We look for around five years of hands on quantum experience, whether gained in industry, in a quantum control or systems role, or through a PhD, which counts towards those years. A degree on its own is not enough; what matters is that you understand what is going on and can tell when a plan will not close.

You will also have learned the programmatics, typically as a technical program manager, project engineer or chief engineer, often in a defence environment, and you will have built or owned an integrated master schedule. Organised, detailed and thorough, you will lead across a matrixed organisation without direct authority, and you will bring customers and colleagues along with you rather than argue to win. You will need to be able to obtain a US security clearance.

You’d be a great fit with:

• Experience with trapped ion or neutral atom quantum computing.
• Program planning as a chief engineer, project engineer or technical program manager on defence quantum programs.
• Experience working with national laboratories or government test and evaluation teams.
• Experience in quantum control systems, or as a program manager working closely with them.
• An active US security clearance.

This role is based in College Park, Maryland, with a minimum of three days on site each week.

The total compensation package includes base salary, bonus, equity, and a range of benefits available on our career site.