About IonQ:
IonQ, Inc. [NYSE: IONQ] is the world’s leading quantum platform and merchant supplier - delivering integrated quantum solutions across computing, networking, sensing, and security. IonQ’s newest generation of quantum computers, the IonQ Tempo, is the latest in a line of cutting-edge systems that have been helping customers and partners including Amazon Web Services, and AstraZeneca achieve 20x performance results and accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. In 2025, the company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance.
Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, IonQ has operations in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Washington, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Our quantum computing services are available through all major cloud providers, while we also meet the needs of networking and sensing customers across land, sea, air, and space. IonQ is making quantum platforms more accessible and impactful than ever before.
Location: This role is based out of our College Park, MD, Boulder, CO, or Bothell, WA offices. We offer a hybrid work model, allowing for remote work a few days per week.
Travel: Up to 15%, domestic and international.
Job ID: 1750
The Role:
We're looking for an HPC Cluster Engineer to join our Infrastructure Team. Our mission is to build and operate the internal high-performance computing platform that IonQ's researchers and application developers rely on to advance quantum computing.
In this role, you'll help design, build, and maintain an HPC platform that spans on-premises and cloud clusters. Day to day, that means developing automation tooling, configuring infrastructure at scale, and helping scientific users get the most out of their workloads.
You'll also work closely with the rest of the Infrastructure Team to integrate the HPC platform with the other systems behind IonQ's quantum computers. This role will be a great fit if you enjoy working alongside researchers and want your work to directly accelerate scientific computing.
Responsibilities:
- Design, deploy, and operate high-performance computing systems for running quantum simulations and applications.
- Develop automation and tooling for configuring Linux systems both on-premises and in the cloud.
- Support IonQ's internal researchers and software developers as they run simulations and other workloads.
- Build technical relationships with stakeholders across teams running a wide variety of workloads.
- Self-manage your projects, priorities, and deadlines; identify, track, and mitigate roadblocks and technical risks.
- Grow into a go-to resource for configuring, automating, and running HPC workloads within IonQ's technical community.
You'd be a good fit with:
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or equivalent practical experience — non-traditional backgrounds are welcome and encouraged!
- 5+ years working with Linux systems on HPC clusters, including areas like cluster management, performance tuning, and resource management.
- Familiarity with HPC workload schedulers such as Slurm, PBS, or Grid Engine.
- Comfort with Git or other version control systems for managing source code and system configurations.
- Proficiency with scripting and programming languages such as Python, Go, and Bash.
- Experience with Ansible or another configuration-management and system-automation tool.
- Experience delivering projects in a fast-moving, sometimes ambiguous environment.
You'd be a great fit with:
- Experience running scientific applications on a Slurm HPC cluster.
- Experience deploying and operating HPC clusters using NVIDIA GPUs.
- Experience with high-performance networking fabrics such as InfiniBand or RoCE.
- Experience with Linux container tools such as Docker, Podman, Singularity, or Enroot.
- Experience running web services and other long-running containerized workloads with Kubernetes.
- Experience deploying HPC clusters on GCP or AWS.
- A research-computing background supporting an academic, national-lab, or industry research community.
- Exposure to quantum physics, quantum computing, and/or quantum information science.
The total compensation package includes base, bonus, equity, and a range of benefit options found on our career site.
If this role has a commission structure, the compensation range below just reflects the base compensation range.
Compensation will vary based on individual factors such as education, qualifications, and experience of the final candidate(s), specific office location, and calibration against relevant market data and internal team equity. Posted base salary figures are subject to change as new market data becomes available. Our benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans, matching 401(k), unlimited PTO and paid holidays, parental/adoption leave, legal insurance, and a home technology stipend. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided when a candidate receives an offer of employment.
At IonQ, we believe in fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all while striving to identify and eliminate barriers. We empower employees to thrive by fostering a culture of autonomy, productivity, and respect. We are dedicated to creating an environment where individuals can feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued.
We are committed to equity and justice. We welcome different voices and viewpoints and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.
US Technical Jobs. The position you are applying for will require access to technology that is subject to U.S. export control and government contract restrictions. Employment with IonQ is contingent on either verifying “U.S. Person” (e.g., U.S. citizen, U.S. national, U.S. permanent resident, or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum) status for export controls and government contracts work, obtaining any necessary license, and/or confirming the availability of a license exception under U.S. export controls. Please note that in the absence of confirming you are a U.S. Person for export control and government contracts work purposes, IonQ may choose not to apply for a license or decline to use a license exception (if available) for you to access export-controlled technology that may require authorization, and similarly, you may not qualify for government contracts work that requires U.S. Persons, and IonQ may decline to proceed with your application on those bases alone. Accordingly, we will have some additional questions regarding your immigration status that will be used for export control and compliance purposes, and the answers will be reviewed by compliance personnel to ensure compliance with federal law.
US Non-Technical Jobs. Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum. Accordingly, we will have some additional questions regarding your immigration status that will be used for export control and compliance purposes, and the answers will be reviewed by compliance personnel to ensure compliance with federal law.
If you are interested in being a part of our team and mission, we encourage you to apply!
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or equivalent practical experience
- 5+ years working with Linux systems on HPC clusters (cluster management, performance tuning, resource management)
- Familiarity with HPC workload schedulers such as Slurm, PBS, or Grid Engine
- Comfort with Git or other version control systems
- Proficiency with scripting and programming languages such as Python, Go, and Bash
- Experience with Ansible or another configuration-management and system-automation tool
- Experience delivering projects in a fast-moving, sometimes ambiguous environment
- Experience running scientific applications on a Slurm HPC cluster
- Experience deploying and operating HPC clusters using NVIDIA GPUs
- Experience with high-performance networking fabrics such as InfiniBand or RoCE
- Experience with Linux container tools such as Docker, Podman, Singularity, or Enroot
- Experience running web services and other long-running containerized workloads with Kubernetes
- Experience deploying HPC clusters on GCP or AWS
- Research-computing background supporting an academic, national-lab, or industry research community
- Exposure to quantum physics, quantum computing, and/or quantum information science
IonQ Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about IonQ and has not been reviewed or approved by IonQ.
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Healthcare Strength — Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage is described alongside HSA/FSA options, disability and life insurance, and mental health support. Inclusive elements such as transgender health benefits are also part of the package.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid maternity, paternity, and bonding leave is described as fully paid for eligible employees. Additional leave types such as bereavement leave are also included in time-off provisions.
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) plan with company matching up to 5% is included as part of the core package. Vesting is noted as applying over time, indicating the match is structured as a longer-term retention benefit.
IonQ Insights
What We Do
Quantum computers are a revolutionizing technology — they have the potential to transform business, society, and the planet for the better, and IonQ is at the forefront of this revolution. After over 25 years of academic research, IonQ was founded in 2015 by Chris Monroe and Jungsang Kim with $2 million in seed funding from New Enterprise Associates, a license to core technology from the University of Maryland and Duke University, and the goal of taking trapped ion quantum computing out of the lab and into the market. In the following three years, we raised an additional $20 million from GV, Amazon Web Services, and NEA, and built two of the world’s most accurate quantum computers. In 2019, we raised another $55 million in a round led by Samsung and Mubadala, and announced partnerships with Microsoft and Amazon Web Services to make our quantum computers available via the cloud. In 2020 and 2021, we built additional generations of high performance quantum hardware, added Google Cloud Marketplace to our cloud partner roster and announced a series of collaborations and business partnerships with leading academic and commercial institutions. On October 1st, 2021, IonQ began trading as IONQ on the New York Stock Exchange, making it the world's first public pure-play quantum computing company. We remain hard at work realizing the world-changing potential of quantum computing.
Why Work With Us
We’re growing a passionate, diverse team of collaborative, creative people. We believe in pursuing innovative, challenging work with integrity, alongside team members we can learn from and grow with.
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