Manager, Quantum Systems Validation

Blackbird Ventures Pty; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 182,000 - 214,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive health coverage

401(k) with company match

Equity grants

Wellness benefits

Paid time off and holidays

Job summary

PsiQuantum is developing and validating subsystem components for a scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computer. The role leads a focused validation team across photonic, electronic, firmware, and software domains, planning tests and developing advanced quantum characterization methods.

The successful candidate will drive validation plans, coordinate cross-functional teams, and ensure test coverage from subsystem level through integration, in a fast-paced startup environment focused on quantum

Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical projects involving optical/electronic hardware, firmware, software, and data infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Manage the validation team, including oversight, talent management, and coaching.
• Develop validation/verification plans and meet development schedules.
• Plan and execute system integration tests across hardware/firmware/software.
• Lead calibration, self-test, and diagnostic function definitions for the subsystem.
• Provide cross-functional support for design-for-test, calibration, data acquisition, and debugging.
• Lead in situ performance evaluation within a larger system.

Skills

Technical leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

Quantum hardware experience

Project management

Team coaching

Cross-site/time-zone coordination

Job description

PsiQuantum's mission is to build the first useful quantum computers: machines capable of delivering the breakthroughs the field has long promised. Since our founding in 2016, our singular focus has been to build and deploy million-qubit, fault-tolerant quantum systems.

Quantum computers harness the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems that even the most advanced supercomputers or AI systems will never reach. Their impact will span energy, pharmaceuticals, finance, agriculture, transportation, materials, and other foundational industries.

Our architecture and approach is based on silicon photonics. By leveraging the advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry, including partners like GlobalFoundries, we use the same high-volume processes that already produce billions of chips for telecom and consumer electronics. Photonics offers natural advantages for scale: photons don't feel heat, are immune to electromagnetic interference, and integrate with existing cryogenic cooling and standard fiber-optic infrastructure.

That approach has since been tested at the highest level of scrutiny the U.S. government applies to emerging technology, and it has held up. In 2025, PsiQuantum closed a $1 billion funding round that valued the company at $7 billion. In 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce signed a $100 million Letter of Intent under the CHIPS and Science Act, followed by a $125 million agreement with DARPA under Stage C of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, PsiQuantum's most valuable U.S. government agreement to date. This year, we also broke ground on our utility-scale quantum computer in Brisbane, Australia, and continued building out our Chicago site. Victor Peng, our CEO, and co-founder Jeremy O'Brien, now Executive Chairman, lead a team and board that reflects how seriously the world is taking this build, joined this year by Intel's Lip-Bu Tan and Atomico's Niklas Zennström.

PsiQuantum also develops the algorithms and software needed to make these systems commercially valuable. Our application, software, and industry teams work directly with leading Fortune 500 companies, including Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Mitsubishi Chemical, to prepare quantum solutions for real-world impact.

Quantum computing is not an extension of classical computing. It represents a fundamental shift, and a path to mastering challenges that cannot be solved any other way. The potential is enormous, and we now have the funding, the government validation, and the sites under construction to make it real.

Job Summary:

At PsiQuantum we are developing and testing prototype subsystems which will scale into a datacenter-sized, fault-tolerant quantum computer. These subsystems each perform a specific function of the quantum computer to generate entangled states of photons that, when scaled up and networked together, collectively enable quantum error correction and quantum algorithms. The successful candidate will lead a focused team to validate the performance of one or more fully integrated quantum subsystems, including photonic, optic, cryogenic, electronic, electro-optical, firmware, and software aspects. The team will plan and execute design validation testing of the subsystem, define and validate automated self-test functions, and develop novel quantum characterization, verification, and validation techniques for photonic qubit states.

Responsibilities:

• Manage the validation team of the quantum subsystem, including technical oversight, project management, talent management, performance evaluations, and coaching.
• Develop validation and verification plans, and execute to deliver on these objectives within a demanding development schedule.
• Plan and execute system integration test points of hardware, firmware, software, to ensure that issues are identified and debugged at an appropriate level of integration before the full subsystem test.
• Lead the definition and documentation of the quantum and semi-classical calibration, self-test, and diagnostic functions of the subsystem. Define and validate quantum tests at intermediate points in the quantum computer, to verify the quantum photonic states being generated meet system requirements.
• Provide cross-functional support to other engineering teams by communicating design-for-test requirements, calibration requirements, data acquisition and processing requirements, performance data, and debugging support for all issues arising during subsystem-level tests.
• Lead the assessment of the subsystem’s in situ performance evaluation while it is operated within a larger system.

Experience/Qualifications:

• Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical projects involving the integration of optical and electronic hardware, firmware, software, and data infrastructure.
• Demonstrated experience with some, or all, of the following:
  • Quantum optics, single photon generation and detection
  • Quantum characterization, verification, and validation
  • Integrated silicon photonics
  • Mixed-signal, analog, RF electronics design and test
  • Electro-optical device design and test
• Demonstrated ability to design and execute complex experiments or engineering tests in a cross-functional environment.
• Proven team player with an ability to work effectively across departments, sites, time zones.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with an ability to communicate effectively to a variety of audiences including senior leadership and technical experts.
• Demonstrated interest in PsiQuantum’s mission and vision for quantum computing, with an ability to contribute within a fast-paced start-up environment consistent with PsiQuantum’s values of communication, collaboration, respect, results, and challenge.

PsiQuantum provides equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. PsiQuantum does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable laws.

Note: PsiQuantum will only reach out to you using an official PsiQuantum email address and will never ask you for bank account information as part of the interview process. Please report any suspicious activity to [e-mail].

We are not accepting unsolicited resumes from employment agencies.

Base pay is one part of the total compensation package. Full-time roles are eligible for equity and benefits. Our compensation ranges reflect the cost of labor across multiple U.S. geographic markets, and we pay based on defined geographic zones. This position may be filled within one of the following U.S. geographic zones, each with its own salary range.

Actual compensation may vary outside of these ranges and is dependent on various factors including, but not limited to, a candidate's qualifications, relevant education and training, competencies, experience, geographic location, business needs, and internal equity. Your recruiter can share more details about the salary range applicable to your location during the hiring process.

• Zone 1 - Bay Area and NYC

• Zone 2 - Examples include Los Angeles and Washington DC

• Zone 3 - Examples include Austin, Chicago, and Sacramento

• Zone 4 - Examples include Nashville and Phoenix/Tempe and many remote locations

This position includes the following benefits:

• competitive health coverage for you and your dependents
• 401(k) with company match
• equity grants
• access to financial wellness tools and planning resources
• wellness benefits
• family support programs
• life and disability insurance
• paid leave programs
• company-designated paid holidays
• discretionary time off (DTO)
• an end-of-year company shutdown

Some of these benefits have eligibility requirements and may vary based on location, role, or employment status. Many of these benefits are subsidized or fully paid for by the company.

Estimated annual base salary range for this role is:

• Zone 1 - $182,200 - $214,100 USD

• Zone 2 - $164,000 - $192,700 USD

• Zone 3 - $145,800 - $171,300 USD

• Zone 4 - $127,600 - $149,900 USD