Senior Software Engineer, Transport

Oxford Ionics; Oxford; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

IonQ in Oxford is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join the Transport Software team. You will develop the framework that translates high-level ion transport specifications into voltage waveform data and drive hundreds to thousands of DAC channels with runtime parametrisation for calibration.

You will work with physicists to shape control software used in scaling trapped-ion quantum computers, collaborating across experiments, simulations, and hardware teams.

Qualifications

• Strong programming skills in a systems programming language.
• Experience with performance-sensitive computing.

Responsibilities

• Develop framework to describe ion transport constraints and synthesize voltage waveform data.
• Collaborate with scientists to understand requirements for experiment and simulation.
• Contribute to design of transport operations for quantum circuits and their calibration.
• Interface with runtime, FPGA and electronics teams to shape system architecture.

Skills

Systems programming

Performance-oriented

Python

Rust

C++

Job description

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join our Transport Software team at IonQ, based in our Oxford office. In this role you will work with physicists to develop ion trap control software, guiding the trajectories of hundreds to thousands of ions in parallel using electromagnetic fields. This will directly contribute to the team's mission of scaling the computational capacity of our trapped-ion quantum computers.

This role will play a central role in shaping the control software that supports our work in building the world's most advanced quantum systems.

Responsibilities

In this position, you will develop our framework for describing ion transport constraints and, in combination with an electromagnetic model of the ion trap, synthesise voltage waveform data to drive hundreds to thousands of independent DAC channels, with runtime parametrisation to enable closed-loop calibration and mid-circuit feedforward.

You will have the opportunity to accelerate the design and analysis of transport waveforms for trapped-ion quantum computers, and to develop the high-performance data pipelines required to control ion traps of this size and complexity, contributing directly to our roadmap for utility-scale quantum computing.

Key responsibilities include:

• Building the framework that transforms high-level ion transport specifications into voltage waveform data and readies it for runtime execution.
• Supporting the transport waveform team in developing new solvers and physics simulations as components in this framework.
• Collaborating with experimental and theoretical scientists to understand their requirements for experiment and simulation.
• Contributing to the design of transport operations used for quantum circuits, and how they are parametrised and calibrated.
• Interfacing with runtime, non-real-time control, FPGA and electronics teams to shape the overall system architecture.

Requirements

To be successful you will need strong programming skills in a systems programming language, experience with performance-sensitive computing, and a desire to produce high-quality code appropriate to control software deployed in production. We are looking for someone who can build and iterate on high-performance code in a collaborative, cross-disciplinary environment and contribute effectively within a fast moving, highly technical team.

You'd be a great fit with:

• Familiarity with mathematics and experience with numerical programming, such as in Python.
• Experience with a systems programming language like Rust or C++. We use Rust in our systems, experience of this language is not essential but a desire to learn it is beneficial.
• Excellent communication skills both within the context of software and across disciplines.
• Experience producing and maintaining high-quality code in a production context.
• Being comfortable with rapidly evolving requirements, and eager to learn and develop your skills.