Principal Hardware Design Engineer

PsiQuantum; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 236,000 - 277,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

401(k) match

Equity grants

Wellness benefits

Family support

Life insurance

Paid leave

Holidays

Discretionary time off

End-of-year shutdown

Job summary

PsiQuantum in Milpitas, CA, is seeking a Principal Hardware Design Engineer to own pivotal hardware designs for the quantum computer. You will collaborate with thermal, mechanical, firmware, and optical engineers to ensure the system architecture and physical framework meet demanding performance goals.

The role emphasizes robust signal integrity, EMI suppression, and test‑set design for electro‑optic modules, with a focus on PCB layout and high‑speed data links.

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or equivalent.
• 10 years of relevant experience in product development and release to volume manufacturing leading to multiple successful commercial products.

Responsibilities

• Design, create schematics, and oversee PCB layout of analog and digital circuitry including high‑speed transceivers and data links.
• Ensure robust signal integrity and EMI suppression in all designs.
• Design and create test set‑ups for testing electro‑optic modules.
• Characterize, optimize, and debug analog, digital, and electro‑optic circuitry using suitable equipment.
• Develop software to drive measurements and analyze data.
• Maintain detailed documentation of hardware designs, test results, and design changes.

Skills

Hardware design

PCB layout

Signal integrity

EMI suppression

Test setups

Measurement software

Cross-functional

Documentation

Education

Master's or PhD in EE/Physics

Tools

PCB design tools

Oscilloscopes

Vector network analyzers

Job description

• This role is based in our Milpitas, CA, office, and requires being onsite 5 days a week.

• This role is based in our Milpitas, CA, office, and requires being onsite 5 days a week.

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

The mission of PsiQuantum's Principal Hardware Design Engineer role is to support the Electronics team by owning hardware designs integral to the underlying system of the quantum computer. This engineer will collaborate in cross‑functional teams of thermal, mechanical, firmware, optical engineers. The designs will meet the requirements of the overall system architecture and physical framework of the quantum computer.

Responsibilities

• Design, create schematics, and oversee PCB layout of analog and digital circuitry consisting of but not limited to high‑speed transceivers, 10+ Gbps electrical and optical data links, FPGA's, microcontrollers, clock distribution, power supply filters, inrush current limiters and power distribution.
• Ensure robust signal integrity and EMI suppression in all designs.
• Design and create test set-ups for testing of electro‑optic modules.
• Characterize, optimize, and debug analog, digital, and electro‑optic circuitry using equipment such as mixed signal & sampling oscilloscopes, vector network analyzers, signal generators, multimeters, DC power supplies.
• Develop software to drive measurements.
• Analyze data and extract key performance parameters.
• Maintain detailed documentation of hardware designs, test results, and design changes.

Experience/Qualifications

• Master's or Ph.D. Degree or above in Electrical Engineering, Physics or equivalent.
• 10 years of relevant experience in product development and release to volume manufacturing leading to multiple successful commercial products.

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 withinone of the followingU.S. geographic zones, each with its own salary range.

• 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), and 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.

Zone 1

$235,600—$276,800 USD

Zone 2

$212,000—$249,100 USD

Zone 3

$188,400—$221,400 USD

Zone 4

$164,900—$193,800 USD