Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) Test Manager

Oxford Ionics; Oxford; On-site; GBP 75,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Oxford Ionics, part of IonQ, seeks a HIL Test Manager to build and lead the hardware test estate and QA systems. You will define, develop and own end-to-end test infrastructure, from self-service access to ongoing maintenance and upgrades, enabling fast feedback for quantum hardware software releases.

You will start with a small team, collaborating with QSI, Compute IT, Facilities, Manufacturing, Software and Science, and shape testing strategy across simulation and real hardware while driving

Qualifications

• Experienced test leader with structure, ownership and pace.
• Strong knowledge of modern CI/CD and automation-first mindset.
• Ability to guide test-automation development in Python or similar.
• Comfortable collaborating across multiple teams in a fast-moving environment.
• Experience leading small testing teams or functions.

Responsibilities

• Own the hardware test estate end to end and make it self-service.
• Hire, develop and lead a hardware-focused test team.
• Define test-system architecture and align with programme baselines.
• Plan and deliver new test-system builds with Manufacturing.
• Shape testing strategy: simulate vs real hardware and gate releases.
• Drive automation for provisioning, firmware flashing, recovery and config as code.

Skills

QA testing

CI/CD

Python

Automation

Test infra

Team leadership

Tools

GitHub Actions

Job description

Oxford Ionics, now part of IonQ, is pioneering the next generation of quantum computing. Using our world-leading trapped-ion technology, we're building the most powerful, accurate and reliable quantum systems to tackle problems that today's supercomputers cannot solve. Joining Oxford Ionics means becoming part of a global IonQ team that is transforming the future of quantum technology - faster, at scale, and with real world impact.

IonQ, Inc. [NYSE: IONQ] is the world's leading quantum company delivering solutions to solve the world's most complex problems. IonQ's newest generation quantum computers, IonQ Tempo and IonQ Forte Enterprise, are the latest in cutting-edge systems that have been helping customers and partners such as Amazon Web Services, AstraZeneca, and NVIDIA achieve 20x performance results. The company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance in 2025.

The company is accelerating its technology roadmap and intends to deliver the world's most powerful quantum computers with 2 million qubits by 2030 to accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. IonQ's advancements in quantum networking position the company as a leader in building the quantum internet.

Role:

We are looking for a HIL (hardware-in-the-loop) Test Manager to build and lead the team that owns our hardware test infrastructure: the systems our quantum-computer control software is tested on before it ever touches a real quantum system.

Every software and science change is validated against shared test systems before it reaches a quantum computer. We are now investing in the next generation of these: representative QA systems for fast feedback, and staging systems as close to a production quantum system as possible, with all the real-time and non-real-time hardware. You will define these systems, build them with our manufacturing team, and own them through their life: maintenance, upgrades to each programme baseline, and availability to the teams that depend on them.

This is a build-from-scratch role with budget and rack space already allocated. You will also act as our test architect: we have deep physics and engineering expertise, and you will bring the formal software-testing experience to shape what gets tested where (simulation versus real hardware) and how testing gates releases. You will start with one engineer hire alongside you and grow the team deliberately, turning the test estate into a reliable service the engineering teams depend on.

Responsibilities:

You will own the hardware test estate end to end and define how it is used. That includes making the estate self-service, with clear reservation and scheduling, published state and availability, and runbooks. Teams own their tests and what they gate on; your team owns the rigs and the plumbing.

You will hire, develop and lead a small team, starting with a hardware-focused test systems engineer, and work across the business with the wider Quantum System Infrastructure (QSI) teams, Compute IT, Facilities, Manufacturing, Software and Science.

Key responsibilities include:

• Own the hardware test estate: today's CI systems through to the new QA and staging systems for our current and future quantum-computer programmes.
• Define the test-system architecture: which systems exist, what each one represents, and how teams use them.
• Plan and deliver new test-system builds with Manufacturing, and own ongoing maintenance and upgrades so every test system tracks its programme's current baseline.
• Shape the testing strategy with the software teams: what runs in simulation or against emulators, what requires real hardware, and how hardware-in-the-loop results gate releases.
• Drive automation throughout: provisioning, firmware flashing, recovery and configuration of test systems as code, not manual effort.

Requirements:

We are looking for an experienced test leader who can bring structure, ownership and pace to how we validate software against real hardware. We treat QA and test as one discipline. You will have a working knowledge of modern CI/CD (GitHub Actions or comparable) and an automation-first instinct: repeatable and reliable over manual and heroic. You will be able to guide and review test-automation development in Python or similar; you direct the code, you do not have to be its main author.

These systems serve many teams, so strong collaboration and low ego matter: you will need to bring people with you as ownership and ways of working evolve. You will be comfortable with ambiguity and building from scratch in a fast-moving technical environment. Experience in quantum computing is not required. Experience with complex hardware and software systems or similarly demanding engineering environments is an advantage.

You'd be a great fit with:

• A strong software testing and QA background covering test strategy, test infrastructure and continuous integration. This is the core requirement.
• Experience owning test infrastructure where software is validated against real hardware, for example network and security appliances, autonomous vehicles, drones or defence systems, robotics, or other embedded products.
• Test-architecture capability: designing representative test environments, deciding what to test where, and balancing simulation against hardware-in-the-loop.
• Practical understanding of the pitfalls of testing with hardware in the loop, such as flaky devices, contention for rigs and environment drift. Deep hands-on electronics skills are not required.
• Experience leading or building a small testing team or function.