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 at our Bothell, WA office, with the option to work a few days a week remotely.
Travel: Up to 10%, domestic and international.
Job ID: 1753
The Role:
At scale, quantum computers will be integrated into classical datacenters — combining the unique strengths of CPUs, GPUs, and QPUs will help us solve the world’s hardest problems. We’re building a cloud service that lets customers combine quantum and classical computation seamlessly, where the classical can be either general-purpose or high-performance computing (HPC). As a Senior Staff Software Engineer leading our hybrid execution efforts, you’ll define and build the platform that makes hybrid quantum-classical workloads easy to write, extend, and run in production.
Responsibilities:
- Lead the design and delivery of our Hosted Hybrid Service, partnering closely with product management to define the product and validate it
- Define the execution model for the hybrid service — how quantum-classical workloads are defined, how they can be extended, and how customers specify HPC computation when it’s needed
- Drive the infrastructure strategy for the classical compute — both HPC and non-HPC — that backs hybrid jobs, in partnership with our cloud infrastructure team
- Build and maintain a library of reusable quantum workloads for customers and internal teams to build on
- Establish best practices for code development, quality assurance, documentation, and continuous integration and deployment
- Collaborate across HPC, Cloud, and Product teams, and communicate with executive leadership
- Mentor junior staff members; we’ll ultimately be building a team around you!
You’d be a good fit with:
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, or equivalent practical experience -- untraditional backgrounds are welcome and encouraged!
- Demonstrated experience as a technical lead, with the ability to deliver projects in a dynamic and ambiguous environment
- 10+ years experience in software engineering
- Experience designing, building, and operating cloud-hosted services or APIs that external customers depend on
- Familiarity with containerization technologies such as Docker and container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes
- Experience defining extensible service or function models (e.g. plugin architectures or function-as-a-service)
- Experience designing developer-facing libraries or SDKs used by external customers
You’d be a great fit with:
- 15+ years experience in software engineering
- Experience with hybrid quantum-classical computing frameworks or quantum SDKs
- Experience integrating cloud services with HPC infrastructure
- Exposure to quantum physics 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, IT, or equivalent practical experience
- Demonstrated experience as a technical lead and ability to deliver projects in dynamic, ambiguous environments
- 10+ years experience in software engineering
- Experience designing, building, and operating cloud-hosted services or APIs used by external customers
- Familiarity with containerization technologies such as Docker and container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes
- Experience defining extensible service or function models (e.g., plugin architectures or function-as-a-service)
- Experience designing developer-facing libraries or SDKs used by external customers
- Experience mentoring junior staff and building engineering teams
- Experience with hybrid quantum-classical computing frameworks or quantum SDKs
- 15+ years experience in software engineering
- Experience integrating cloud services with HPC infrastructure
- Exposure to quantum physics 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 — Health coverage is described as comprehensive, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, HSA options, and no-cost mental-health support. Company materials also cite strong premium coverage levels for employees and dependents in recent years.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid maternity, paternity, and bonding leave are presented as fully paid for eligible employees. This breadth of family support is emphasized across company and job materials.
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) with company match up to 5% is part of the package, with materials noting a relatively short vesting schedule. Retirement support is positioned as a core element of total rewards.
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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