Scientific Software Lead — Infrastructure

QuEra Computing; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

QuEra Computing Inc. in Boston, MA, is hiring a Scientific Software Lead to manage the Infrastructure team and advance shared language, compiler, and runtime foundations for the scientific software stack.

You will mentor engineers, drive architectural decisions, and collaborate with researchers and engineering leads to translate requirements into robust, reusable infrastructure; prior quantum computing experience is helpful but not required.

Qualifications

• Experience leading a software team with mentoring and delivery.
• Deep expertise in compiler engineering and language design.
• Strong grounding in program semantics or related theory.
• Track record delivering compiler/runtime infrastructure used by researchers.

Responsibilities

• Manage and mentor the Infrastructure team; set priorities.
• Lead technical direction for language abstractions, compilers, and runtimes.
• Guide language and compiler design with semantics and correctness.
• Collaborate with research and engineering to understand requirements.
• Own the quality, performance, and migration planning of infrastructure.

Skills

Team leadership

Compiler engineering

Programming languages design

Program semantics

Software engineering

Cross-team communication

Education

PhD welcomed

Tools

LLVM/MLIR

Clang

GCC

Job description

Scientific Software Lead — Infrastructure at QuEra Computing, Boston, MA, USA. A lead-level full time position in the Scientific Software and Compilation team, listed under software engineering.

Summary

QuEra Computing is hiring a Scientific Software Lead to manage the Infrastructure team and lead the development of shared programming language, compiler, and runtime foundations for our scientific software stack.

The team builds shared language, compiler, and runtime infrastructure that supports research and engineering across QuEra’s quantum software stack. Its work centers on language design, program semantics, intermediate representations, compiler analyses and transformations, and execution frameworks.

You will combine people management with hands-on technical leadership, working closely with researchers and engineering leads to turn specialized requirements into coherent, reusable infrastructure. The scope may also include tools for automated research and program optimization.

This role suits someone with strong programming languages and compiler expertise who enjoys mentoring engineers, making thoughtful architectural decisions, and supporting teams with different technical needs. Prior quantum computing experience is helpful but not required.

We value depth in relevant areas; experience across every topic is not expected. A PhD is welcome but not required.

The approximate base salary range for this position is $150,000 - $240,000.

We consistently monitor external market data and update base salary ranges accordingly. We determine base compensation decisions on several factors, including as geographic placement, role-specific knowledge, skills, and/or experience. In addition to our base salary offerings, we also provide equity grants for all new hires.

Responsibilities

• Manage and build the Infrastructure team: hire and mentor engineers, provide clear feedback, and establish priorities that balance foundational work with the needs of partner teams.
• Lead the team’s technical direction in collaboration with Scientific Software leadership, including language abstractions, intermediate representations, compiler interfaces, and shared execution infrastructure.
• Guide language and compiler design through explicit semantics, sound reasoning about correctness, and practical implementation; contribute directly to design reviews, code reviews, and critical engineering work.
• Partner with research and engineering teams to understand their requirements, identify useful shared abstractions, and support adoption through documentation, tooling, and stable interfaces.
• Own the quality and evolution of the infrastructure, including testing, performance, maintainability, compatibility, and migration planning.

Requirements

• Experience managing or leading a technically strong software team, with demonstrated responsibility for mentoring, prioritization, and delivery.
• Deep practical expertise in compiler engineering and programming language design, including intermediate representations, analyses, transformations, and extensible compiler architectures.
• Strong grounding in program semantics, type systems, formal methods, or related theory, with the ability to apply that knowledge to concrete engineering decisions.
• A record of designing and delivering substantial compiler, language, runtime, or developer infrastructure used by other engineers or researchers.
• Strong software engineering skills and the ability to remain technically engaged through implementation, debugging, and review.
• Sound judgment in balancing generality, correctness, performance, and delivery, and the communication skills to resolve requirements across teams.

Nice to Have

• Substantial contributions to well-known open-source compiler, programming language, or runtime projects, such as LLVM/MLIR, Clang, GCC, Rust, CPython, or comparable ecosystems.
• Extensible compiler frameworks, domain-specific languages, staged programming, or meta-programming.
• Type systems, program semantics, abstract interpretation, effect systems, or formal verification.
• Interpreter and virtual machine design, bytecode, runtime interfaces, or deterministic execution.
• Rust and Python, including infrastructure spanning multiple implementation languages.
• Compiler testing, differential testing, fuzzing, equivalence checking, or performance benchmarking.
• Leading shared infrastructure through architectural changes and adoption by multiple teams.
• Supporting research-oriented development and turning experimental ideas into maintained infrastructure.