Lead Platform Engineer

OQC; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

OQC in London is seeking a Lead Platform Engineer to set the technical direction for our hybrid compute platform, connecting classical and quantum resources into a single extensible system. You will design foundations that enable product teams to run secure, observable workloads across CPUs, GPUs, simulators and QPUs.

This senior individual contributor role requires owning architecture, defining stable interfaces, and leading integrations with Databricks and QPU systems while remaining hands-on

Qualifications

• Significant experience as a senior distributed‑systems architect or engineer building compute platforms.
• Deep hands‑on engineering in Python, Go or Rust.
• Strong experience designing APIs, containerised systems and event‑driven architectures.
• Experience with Kubernetes, Slurm or comparable workload orchestration technologies.
• Strong understanding of security and observability within distributed platforms.
• Proven ability to design stable interfaces across heterogeneous compute or hardware resources.
• Technical depth to set architectural direction while remaining hands‑on.
• Strong ownership and communication across technical and commercial teams.
• Degree or equivalent practical experience in Computer Science or Software Engineering.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture and technical direction of OQC's hybrid spine and execution-record contracts.
• Design stable abstractions across CPUs, GPUs, simulators and QPUs for workload mobility.
• Architect capability matching, orchestration, fallback mechanisms and backend adapters.
• Set engineering standards for reliability, security, testing, observability and extensibility while staying hands‑on.
• Lead integrations with Dell/AMD infrastructure, Databricks, QPU systems and customer environments.
• Coordinate technical contributors across Product, Engineering, Commercial and leadership teams.
• Shape the platform for long‑term evolution to support new compute resources.

Skills

Distributed‑systems

Python

Go

Rust

APIs

Kubernetes

Slurm

Security

Observability

Architecture

Ownership

Communication

Education

Degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering

Tools

Databricks

Job description

Lead Platform Engineer

At OQC, we aren’t just theorising about the future; we’re building it. Born from a philosophy of bold innovation, we’ve successfully transitioned quantum computing from an academic dream into a commercial reality. The most exciting thing is that we’re just getting started and we’ve recently closed our £260 million Series C funding round – the largest fundraise ever completed by a quantum computing company in Europe.

The Purpose

As Lead Platform Engineer, you'll set the technical direction for OQC's hybrid compute platform—the architecture connecting classical and quantum resources into a single, extensible system. You'll design the foundations that enable product teams to run secure, observable and repeatable workloads across CPUs, GPUs, simulators and QPUs.

The Role

Based in London, this is a senior, hands‑on individual contributor role with significant ownership of OQC's hybrid compute architecture. You'll define stable interfaces across diverse compute resources, make critical architectural decisions and establish the engineering standards that allow the platform to scale.

You'll work across Product, Engineering, Commercial and leadership teams, while leading integrations with technologies and environments including Dell/AMD infrastructure, Databricks and QPU systems. You'll provide technical leadership without stepping away from the engineering—remaining close to the architecture, code and complex systems challenges that underpin the platform.

What You'll Be Working On

• Own the architecture and technical direction of OQC's QAIDC hybrid spine, Hybrid IR, device-capability model and execution-record contracts.
• Design stable abstractions across CPUs, AMD GPUs, simulators and QPUs, enabling workloads to move reliably across classical and quantum resources.
• Architect capability matching, task orchestration, fallback mechanisms, policy enforcement and backend adapters across the platform.
• Set engineering standards for reliability, security, testing, observability and extensibility while remaining highly hands‑on with implementation.
• Lead integrations with Dell/AMD infrastructure, Databricks, QPU systems and customer environments.
• Coordinate technical contributors across Product, Engineering, Commercial and leadership teams, turning complex requirements into clear priorities and technical decisions.
• Shape the platform for long-term evolution, ensuring today's architectural choices can support new compute resources and increasingly sophisticated hybrid workloads.

What We're Looking For

• Significant experience as a senior distributed‑systems architect or engineer building compute platforms, orchestration systems, ML infrastructure or similarly complex distributed technology.
• Deep hands‑on engineering expertise in Python, Go or Rust.
• Strong experience designing APIs, containerised systems and event‑driven architectures.
• Experience with Kubernetes, Slurm or comparable workload orchestration technologies.
• Strong understanding of security and observability within distributed platforms.
• Proven ability to design stable interfaces across heterogeneous compute or hardware resources.
• The technical depth to set architectural direction while remaining highly hands‑on with engineering and implementation.
• Strong ownership and communication skills, with experience working effectively across multiple technical and commercial disciplines.
• Degree or equivalent practical experience in Computer Science, Software Engineering or a related discipline.

The 'Nice-to-Haves'

• Experience building enterprise platforms, data products or technology for regulated customer deployments.
• Familiarity with quantum computing or hybrid classical‑quantum products.
• Experience integrating complex platforms with external infrastructure, hardware or customer environments.
• A pragmatic and curious approach to solving problems in fast‑evolving technical environments.
• A relevant professional or postgraduate qualification.

Why Join OQC

You will join a world‑class team at the forefront of the next computational era. We offer a culture of bold innovation, the chance to work with unique lab infrastructure, and the opportunity to see your work redefine the limits of computation.

Learn more about our benefits and positive work culture here: https://oqc.tech/company/careers-at-oqc/