Lab-Grade Systems & Network Engineer (Quantum Hardware)

Capella Space; College Park (MD); Hybrid; USD 127,000 - 166,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) matching

Unlimited PTO

Job summary

IonQ, Inc. is seeking a Senior Systems and Network Engineer to own the classical infrastructure supporting quantum hardware at our College Park site. You will provision servers, design lab networking, and automate infrastructure for scale.

You will work closely with software, DevOps and hardware teams, handling real hardware, cabling, and bespoke drivers while improving lab reliability and repeatability of builds.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of hands-on systems/network/infrastructure engineering.
• Experience configuring VLANs and on-prem devices.
• Automation and IaC experience with Ansible, Terraform, etc.
• Strong scripting in Python or Go.

Responsibilities

• Provision Linux servers and system heads for quantum hardware builds.
• Build and maintain infrastructure-as-code for provisioning.
• Design, configure, and troubleshoot lab and datacenter networking.
• Integrate non-standard lab hardware like cameras and laser systems.
• Use IPMI/BMC to manage servers remotely.
• Write runbooks and hand off criteria to operations teams.
• Collaborate with software, DevOps and hardware teams.
• Diagnose infrastructure issues blocking hardware builds.

Skills

6+ years exp

Python scripting

IPMI/BMC

Lab networking

Automation tooling

IaC tooling

Tools

Ansible

Kickstart

Foreman

Packer

Terraform

Cobbler

Job description

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 College Park, MD office, with the option to work a few days a week remotely.
Travel: Up to 15%
Job ID: 1741

The Role:

IonQ is building quantum computers at College Park, and the infrastructure underneath that work is a crucial component. A misconfigured VLAN or a failed provisioning job can stop a calibration run or delay a system build.

We are looking for a Senior Systems and Network Engineer to own the classical infrastructure layer that directly supports quantum hardware builds and operation at our College Park site. This means provisioning the servers and system heads that control quantum hardware, building and maintaining the lab and datacenter networking those systems run on, and integrating the cameras, laser control systems, and other bespoke scientific hardware that make a quantum system work.

This is lab-grade systems and network engineering: closer to research computing at a national facility than to corporate IT. You will spend your time with real hardware, real cabling, and real failure modes, and automation of infrastructure to help us continue to scale.

Responsibilities:

• Provision Linux servers and system heads for quantum hardware builds, including PXE boot, OS installation, and automated configuration
• Build and maintain infrastructure-as-code for server and network provisioning (Ansible, Kickstart, Foreman, Packer, Terraform, or equivalent), so systems are reproducible rather than hand-tuned
• Design, configure, and troubleshoot networking for lab and datacenter environments: VLANs, managed switches, firewalls, and structured cabling
• Integrate non-standard scientific and lab hardware into the compute environment, including cameras, laser control systems, and custom device drivers
• Use IPMI/BMC and other out-of-band tooling to manage a growing fleet of servers without physical intervention on every failure
• Define and document handoff criteria for when a system is ready to pass to the teams running experiments on it
• Diagnose and resolve infrastructure issues that are actively blocking a hardware build or an experimental run, and treat that urgency accordingly
• Partner with software, DevOps, and hardware engineering teams to understand what a new system needs before it arrives
• Write runbooks and documentation so that provisioning knowledge lives in a repo, not in one person's head

Requirements:

• 6+ years of experience in systems, network, or infrastructure engineering, with real hands-on time provisioning servers, not just managing a team that did
• Hands-on experience configuring and troubleshooting switches, firewalls, routers, and on-prem servers in a production environment; this is not a design-and-delegate role
• Direct experience configuring VLANs and managed-switch environments, including diagnosing and resolving a network problem yourself, without escalating to a dedicated network team
• Experience building or rebuilding a provisioning workflow using infrastructure-as-code or automation tooling (Ansible, Salt, Kickstart, Foreman, Cobbler, Packer, or equivalent)
• Experience integrating non-standard or custom hardware into a compute environment: a scientific instrument, a specialist peripheral, or a device with a custom driver
• Working knowledge of IPMI/BMC and out-of-band server management
• Strong scripting ability in Python, Go, or an equivalent language
• Comfort operating in an environment where infrastructure failure directly blocks the work, and where the playbook for a new hardware generation is still being written

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience at a company running significant on-prem compute infrastructure at scale (bare-metal cloud, colocation, high-density compute), where you managed a real fleet rather than a handful of machines
• Experience with Kubernetes or container orchestration in a bare-metal or hybrid environment
• Experience with configuration drift detection and enforcement, and can describe how you verified idempotency in a provisioning pipeline
• Familiarity with cloud networking (AWS, Azure, GCP) and hybrid on-prem/cloud environments
• Experience in a research, national lab, or scientific compute environment
• Prior exposure to quantum computing or another deep-tech hardware domain (not required; hands-on infrastructure experience matters far more than domain background)

The approximate base salary range for this position is $126,887 - $166,127. The total compensation package includes base, bonus, equity, and a range of benefit options found on our career site.

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!