Staff System Architect -SNSPD Systems

Entangled Future; Genf; Hybrid; CHF 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

IonQ in Geneva, Switzerland, is seeking a Staff System Architect for the SNSPD Systems within the Quantum Platform - Network & Security team. The role is full-time and focuses on leading the technical architecture and roadmap for a next-generation SNSPD platform.

You will integrate quantum photonics, cryogenic systems, and embedded software to deliver scalable, reliable detectors with system-wide coherence and clear interfaces, while guiding cross-domain trade-offs and architectural decisions.

Responsibilities

• Be integral to the development of the SNSPD platform across quantum photonics, cryogenic systems, and embedded systems.
• Define end-to-end system architecture, ensuring alignment with a long-term product vision and translating requirements into system-level designs.
• Drive trade-offs across performance, cost, scalability, and integration while guiding cross-domain design challenges.

Job description

Staff System Architect -SNSPD Systems at IonQ, Geneva, Switzerland. A lead-level full time position in the Quantum Platform - Network & Security team, listed under hardware engineering.

We are looking for a Staff System Architect to be fully dedicated to the SNSPD product line, with a strong focus on leading the technical architecture and roadmap for our next-generation rack-mountable SNSPD (Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detector) platform. This role is critical to defining and guiding the technical evolution of our cutting-edge cryogenic photon detection systems, ensuring architectural coherence across hardware, software, and integration domains while supporting our product vision and market requirements.

We are looking for a proven architect of complex, multi-domain instruments, whether from space systems, astronomical instrumentation, scientific or medical imaging, electron or advanced optical microscopy, semiconductor equipment, or comparable fields who can bring that system-level rigour to our platform.

What you'll be doing

In this role, you will be an integral part of the development process for IDQ's SNSPD platform, with applications across quantum computing, networking, and sensing. You will be at the intersection of quantum photonics, cryogenic systems engineering and embedded systems to create scalable, maintainable architectures for autonomous 24/7 detector operations.

You will take ownership of the end-to-end system architecture of the SNSPD platform, ensuring alignment with a shared long-term product vision while translating product requirements into clear system-level designs and specifications. This includes defining system structure, interfaces, and key architectural decisions, as well as driving critical trade-offs across performance, cost, scalability, and integration. You will also align engineering execution with the architectural vision, guiding system integration and resolving complex cross-domain design challenges.