About the role:
The Performance Optimization team is a unique hybrid of physicists and ML engineers improving the quality, speed and reliability of the quantum chip lifecycle, from chip design to optimal error correction.
As a Senior Software Engineer at Alice & Bob, you will serve as the architectural anchor for the team, building the robust software ecosystem required to scale quantum innovations from proof-of-concept to mission-critical production systems.
Your impact extends beyond individual contributions; you will raise the engineering bar across the organization by designing scalable frameworks, enforcing rigorous best practices, and acting as the primary liaison between our research-driven initiatives and the broader software engineering team. In this role, you aren't just writing code—you are architecting the foundational systems that will define the future of fault-tolerant quantum computing.
Responsibilities
- Software Architecture & Strategy: Lead the transition of software culture from experimental scripts to robust, production-grade systems. You will architect the frameworks and data pipelines that underpin our optimization stack, ensuring modularity, scalability, and long-term maintainability.
- Engineering Culture & Standards: Elevate the software engineering maturity of the team. You will grow best practices in code quality, automated testing, API design, and documentation, mentoring both ML engineers and physicists.
- System Implementation: Hands-on building of critical infrastructure and backend services. You will develop frameworks used by dozens of researchers, and integrate our ML models with the quantum hardware control stack and data platforms.
- Cross-Team Coordination: Serve as the technical bridge between the Performance Optimization team and other software engineering groups. You will ensure our tooling aligns with company-wide architectural standards and leverage existing platforms.
Requirements
- Experience: 5+ years of industry experience in Software Engineering, with a track record of designing and maintaining complex backend production systems.
- Technical Mastery: Expert-level proficiency in Python. Deep understanding of software design patterns, API architecture, and asynchronous programming.
- Production Engineering: Solid experience with the full software lifecycle, including CI/CD pipelines, containerization, and cloud infrastructure management.
- Communication & Leadership: Proven ability to explain complex engineering trade-offs to non-software experts (e.g., scientists) and experience driving technical consensus across teams.
Nice to Have
- Background in physics: Education in physics or experience working alongside physicists.
- Machine learning expertise: Experience applying ML in industry, or working alongside ML scientists. You understand the challenges of modelling, evaluation and inference.
- Specific software expertise: Hands-on experience working with functional programming and scientific computing, in particular on GPU with JAX.
- Zero-to-One Mindset: A proven track record of taking ownership of ambiguous problems and delivering structured, stable software solutions without needing hand-holding.
Benefits
- Our success is your success: own it with our BSPCE plan
- Direct IP Compensation: Earn substantial bonuses for driving the core patents that define our quantum architecture.
- Flexible remote policy, up to 40 % a month
- A Parental Plan including additional benefits such as crèche support or additional days-off to take care of under 12 years old children
- Subsidized membership with Urban Sports Club
- Mental health support with moka.care
- 25-day vacation policy (as per French law) + RTT
- Half of transportation cost coverage (as per French law), or yearly allowance for the die-hard bicycle users
- Competitive health coverage with Alan
- Meal vouchers with Swile, as well as access to a fully equipped and regularly stocked kitchen
- French language courses covered by the company for those interested
Recruitment Process
- Screening Call with Grace, Talent Acquisition Specialist (30 min)
- Hiring Manager Interview with Etienne, Senior Manager, Performance Optimisation (45 min)
- Take-home assessment
- Technical Interview/Presentation with the Team (90 min)
- Leadership Team Interview (45 min)
- Fit Interview (45 min)
- Reference check
Top Skills
What We Do
Founded in 2020, Alice & Bob secured $30 M funding in Series A. Today, we're recognized as one of the leaders in Quantum Computing. Our cat qubits are error corrected by design, reducing hardware requirements by up to 200 times compared to other platforms enabling fault-tolerant quantum computing at scale. Our headquarters is located in Paris, with offices in Boston, MA. We are 80+ smart and dedicated innovators, coming from 17+ countries and growing by the day. We are committed to one mission: build a useful quantum computer. Check open positions: bit.ly/joinusatAB
.jpg)
