Principal Hardware Engineer

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

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

401(k) matching

Equity grants

Wellness tools

Paid leaves

Holiday shutdown

Job summary

PsiQuantum in the United States seeks a Principal Hardware Design Engineer to support the Electronics team for photonic switching products. You will collaborate with thermal, mechanical, firmware, and optical engineers to ensure designs meet system and product requirements.

The role emphasizes robust PCB design, signal integrity, EMI control, testing electro-optic modules, and developing bench software. Candidates should have advanced degrees in EE or physics and a track record delivering

Qualifications

• Master's or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or equivalent.
• 10+ years of product development experience delivering commercial hardware.

Responsibilities

• Architect a PCB hardware design from a functional requirements document.
• Design schematics and layout for analog and digital circuitry, including DACs/ADCs, high-speed transceivers, FPGA's, microcontrollers, clock distribution, and power.
• Ensure robust signal integrity and EMI suppression.
• Design and create test set-ups for testing of electro-optic modules.
• Develop bench software to drive measurements.
• Analyze data to extract key performance parameters.
• Maintain detailed documentation of hardware designs, test results, and design changes.
• SI simulation using Cadence and Ansys tools

Skills

PCB design

Analog/digital circuitry

Signal integrity

EMI suppression

Test setup development

Education

Master's or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering or Physics

10+ years product development experience

Tools

Cadence

Ansys

Oscilloscopes

Vector Network Analyzers

Signal generators

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 Zennstrom.

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 for our photonic switching products. This engineer will collaborate in cross-functional teams of thermal, mechanical, firmware, and optical engineers. The designs will meet the requirements of the overall system architecture and product requirements.

Responsibilities:

• Architect a PCB hardware design from an functional requirements document.
• Design, create schematics, and oversee PCB layout of analog and digital circuitry consisting of but not limited to DAC's, ADC's , high-speed transceivers, 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 bench software to drive measurements.
• Analyze data and extract key performance parameters.
• Maintain detailed documentation of hardware designs, test results, and design changes.
• SI simulation using Cadence and Ansys tools

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 within one of the following U.S. geographic zones, each with its own salary range.

• Zone 1- Bay Area and NYC
• Zone 2-Examples include LosAngeles and Washington DC
• Zone 3-Examples include Austin, Chicago, and Sacramento
• Zone 4-Examples include Nashville and Phoenix/Tempe and manyremote 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.

The estimated annual base salary rangefor this role is:

• 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