Principal Platform Engineer

Atom Computing; Colorado; On-site; USD 170,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Unlimited PTO

401K matching

Short- & long-term disability

FSA

Dependent care benefits

Life insurance

Drinks, snacks & catered team lunches

Job summary

Atom Computing is seeking a Principal Platform Engineer to design, build, and operate our compute infrastructure powering quantum research workflows. You will own infrastructure-as-code, deployment automation, and observability across on-prem lab environments and cloud platforms.

You will collaborate with software, hardware, and control systems teams to navigate complex design decisions, ensuring security, reliability, and scalable performance in a high-availability lab setting in Boulder, CO.

Qualifications

• BS or advanced degree in Computer Science.
• 7+ years of post-degree experience as infrastructure/platform/systems engineer.
• Experience with complete infrastructure build-out or major platform migration.
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code tooling (Terraform, Ansible, Pulumi, or similar).
• Experience with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Podman, Kubernetes).
• Hybrid environments spanning on-prem hardware (Proxmox, K8S) and cloud providers (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Knowledge of networking fundamentals, Linux administration, and CI/CD pipeline design.
• Expertise in monitoring, logging, and observability tooling (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, or equivalent).

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain classical compute infrastructure supporting quantum control systems.
• Work with software, control systems engineers, and physicists to match workload requirements with infrastructure.
• Own infrastructure-as-code, deployment automation, and system observability across on‑prem and cloud.
• Establish and enforce security, access control, and compliance standards (e.g., NIST 800-53, SOC2).
• Participate in on-call rotation and drive incident response and reliability improvements.
• Evaluate and integrate new infrastructure tooling, balancing build-vs-buy decisions with velocity.

Skills

IaC & automation

Cloud platforms

Container orchestration

Networking basics

Linux administration

CI/CD design

Monitoring & observability

Education

BS or MS in Computer Science

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

Pulumi

Docker

Podman

Kubernetes

Proxmox

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

At Atom Computing, we build quantum computers using arrays of optically trapped neutral atoms that will empower customers to achieve unprecedented computational breakthroughs. Join a world-class team of scientists, engineers, and business professionals to advance the state-of-the-art in quantum computing.

Atom Computing is seeking a Principal Platform Engineer to build and operate the systems that power our quantum computing and research workflows. In this role, you will design and design infrastructure spanning on-prem lab environments and cloud platforms, driving key trade-off decisions across reliability, security, scalability, and cost. This position requires solid expertise in infrastructure and platform engineering and strong systems thinking, along with the ability to navigate complex design problems.

Due to the need for collaboration with Atom’s software, hardware, and control systems teams, this role is required to be in the office in Boulder, CO at least 3 days per week.

Job Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain classical compute infrastructure supporting quantum control systems
• Work closely with Atom Computing’s software engineers, control systems engineers, and physicists to understand workload requirements and deliver compute infrastructure that meets them
• Own infrastructure-as-code, deployment automation, and system observability across on-prem lab environments and cloud platforms
• Establish and enforce security, access control, and compliance standards (e.g., NIST 800-53, SOC2) across systems
• Participate in on-call rotation and drive incident response, root-cause analysis, and reliability improvements
• Evaluate and integrate new infrastructure tooling, balancing build-vs-buy decisions against team velocity and operational overhead

Experience & Education

• BS or advanced degree in Computer Science
• 7+ years of post-degree experience as an infrastructure, platform, or systems engineer

Qualifications

• Have gone through a complete infrastructure build-out or major platform migration
• Currently working with infrastructure-as-code tooling (Terraform, Ansible, Pulumi, or similar)
• Currently working with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Podman, Kubernetes)
• Experience managing hybrid environments spanning on-prem hardware (Proxmox, K8S) and cloud providers (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
• Knowledge of networking fundamentals, Linux systems administration, and CI/CD pipeline design
• Expertise in monitoring, logging, and observability tooling (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, or equivalent)

$170,000 - $200,000 a year

Atom Computing provides a wide variety of perks and benefits, including fully paid medical, dental, and vision insurance for our employees and their dependents. Additionally, unlimited paid time off, 401K company matching, short- and long-term disability, FSA, dependent care benefits, and life insurance. We also offer drinks, snacks, and catered team lunches in our offices, every day!

The base salary range for this position is between $170,000 - $200,000, commensurate with experience. In addition to salary, we offer an annual bonus and equity in the company.