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.
About Skyloom
Skyloom, an IonQ company, is a telecommunications company founded with the mission to develop, deploy, and operate one of the fundamental pieces of tomorrow's space communication infrastructure to provide data transport services on a planetary scale. If you have a strong sense of purpose, focus, urgency, and willingness to compete, or if working on space lasers excites you, join our team to develop the future generation of space communication technology.
Skyloom is building the orbital infrastructure for the next renaissance in global connectivity. As Earth’s first space-based telecommunications company, we deliver fiberless, planetary-scale data transport that dramatically increases bandwidth, availability, and resiliency—while reducing latency and total cost of operations.
Our proprietary optical technology enables secure, ultra-high-capacity connections across our end-to-end, multi-orbit network or within your own infrastructure, unlocking a new standard for global communications.
Location: This role will be on-site at our Broomfield, Colorado, office.
Travel: Up to 5%
Job ID: 1700
The Role
The Senior Optomechanical Engineer will be responsible for designing, analyzing, and optimizing optical systems for space-based communication technologies. This role requires hands-on experience with optical design software, a strong background in optics, and the ability to collaborate across disciplines to deliver optical designs that are both innovative and capable of cost-effective mass production.
Responsibilities
- Lead the full lifecycle of optomechanical systems, including conceptualization, detailed design, analysis, and prototyping. Focus areas include optical mounts, alignment mechanisms, and structural designs that ensure optical stability under space conditions (thermal, vibrational, and mechanical stress), as well as laboratory environment conditions.
- Use mechanical design software to develop and analyze high-precision mechanical structures and kinematic mounts for optical elements such as lenses, mirrors, beam splitters, waveplates, and laser systems.
- Conduct in-depth analysis using optical design software to optimize system performance, focusing on aspects such as manufacturing and alignment tolerances, spot size and wavefront error.
- Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, software and control engineering teams to ensure seamless integration of optical subsystems into spacecraft or ground-based platforms.
- Develop and implement optomechanical design and analysis strategies to ensure stability and accuracy performance against thermal expansion, vibration, and stress responses. Conduct Structural-Thermal-Optical Performance analysis to validate design requirements.
- Develop assembly procedures for optomechanical systems and oversee their implementation. Participate in testing in simulated space environments, including vibration, thermal, and alignment verification.
- Create detailed design documentation, including test procedures and assembly guidelines. Share expertise and mentor other team members engineers and cross-functional peers in both mechanical and optical design.
- Work with both internal and external stakeholders to refine system specifications, present results, and ensure successful delivery of optical systems within project timelines.
- Comply with federal, state, and company policies, procedures, and regulations.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree or higher in Optics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field.
- Proven experience designing and analyzing optomechanical systems, particularly for space-based or high-precision optical instruments.
- Extensive experience with optical design software (e.g., ZEMAX) and mechanical design tools (e.g., SolidWorks, Siemens NX).
- To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, candidate must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with optical design in the context of space-flight systems or astronomy is highly desirable.
- Experience working in a cleanroom environment (ISO 5 to ISO 8).
- Spanish speaking is a plus.
Compensation
The approximate base salary range for this position is $126,887 - $166,127. The total compensation package includes base salary, bonus, equity, and a range of benefits available on our career site.
**Benefits will be provided by Skyloom, Inc., an IonQ Company, and will differ from the benefits listed on the IonQ website.**
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 401K, 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 or higher in Optics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering, Physics, or related technical field
- Proven experience designing and analyzing optomechanical systems, particularly for space-based or high-precision optical instruments
- Extensive experience with optical design software (e.g., ZEMAX)
- Extensive experience with mechanical design tools (e.g., SolidWorks, Siemens NX)
- U.S. Person status for export-control purposes (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual) or eligible to obtain required Department of State authorizations
- On-site work at Broomfield, Colorado
- Experience with optical design in the context of space-flight systems or astronomy
- Experience working in a cleanroom environment (ISO 5 to ISO 8)
- Spanish speaking
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
Gallery
