Senior Cloud Platform Engineer

Q-CTRL Pty.; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Job summary

Q-CTRL is seeking a Cloud Platform Engineer based in Santa Monica to support our Kubernetes-based SaaS platform and embedded deployments. You will help build scalable, secure infrastructure with a strong focus on IaC, automation, and low operational complexity.

Join a global team delivering quantum software innovations across defense and industry. The role offers hybrid collaboration with teams in Sydney and the US, and opportunities for growth within a fast-moving, high-performance culture.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in Platform/DevOps/SRE or equivalent.
• Experience running Kubernetes in production and provisioning production-grade clusters.
• Expert knowledge of public clouds using Infrastructure as Code to build self-service paths.
• Hands-on with various Linux distributions and system-level troubleshooting skills.
• Proficiency in Go and Python with quick understanding of codebase behavior.

Responsibilities

• Provide in-hours support for US-based researchers and engineers, and write ADRs and docs for synchronous alignment with Sydney team.
• Learn the stack, integrate insights into platform architecture, update code, and drive tech choices.
• Promote cloud best practices and a strong DevOps culture across engineering workflows.
• Develop toolchain support including CI/CD pipelines, GitOps operators, and IaC deployment tooling.
• Ensure applications are scalable, highly available, cloud-agnostic, and accessible via Zero Trust networking.

Skills

Platform Engineering

DevOps Engineering

Kubernetes in prod

Public clouds IaC

Go & Python

Linux troubleshooting

Tools

Kubernetes

Argo CD

Flux CD

GitOps tooling

Job description

About the team

At Q-CTRL, Quantum Computing Engineering is a global team of software engineers and infrastructure experts, combining deep technical expertise with a startup mindset to deliver real impact through software innovation. Our work is underpinned by robust standards, and by embracing the three virtues. Our team excels in areas across back-end, front-end, machine learning, and platform engineering.

We transform Q-CTRL’s world-leading technological breakthroughs into commercial software products with applications across defense, research, and industry. We work closely with Product, Design, and Research teams to accelerate the path to quantum advantage worldwide.

About the Role

The Q-CTRL Infrastructure team is part of the backbone of our software platform and hardware initiatives. Guided by our vision to make the right way the easy way, our mission is to build reliable, secure and maintainable infrastructure that enables Q-CTRL to scale its revolutionary quantum technology.

As a Cloud Platform Engineer, you will play a critical role supporting our Kubernetes-based SaaS platform, our growing hardware division and embedded deployments. You will help build infrastructure across diverse workloads, ensuring our end-to-end processes are fully code-driven, automated and optimized to keep operational complexity low.

Based in our Santa Monica office, you will collaborate closely with the bulk of our team located in Sydney, Australia. Joining an established team that offers strong support and values an open culture, you will drive continuous improvement by leveraging Infrastructure as Code and establishing golden paths that empower engineering teams to ship safely and autonomously.

What you’ll be doing:

• Providing in-hours support for US-based research and engineering teams, while authoring clear technical proposals, ADRs and documentation to drive asynchronous alignment with our Sydney team.
• Getting up to speed on our software stack, integrating insights from your experience into our platform architecture, updating code where needed and driving tech choices to hit our platform goals.
• Ensuring Q-CTRL stays current with cloud best practices, advocating for a strong DevOps culture and actively contributing to innovation across our engineering workflows.
• Developing toolchain support including CI/CD pipelines, operators such as those for GitOps, episodic environments, vulnerability scanning and automated Infrastructure as Code deployment tooling.
• Helping ensure our applications are scalable, highly available, cloud-agnostic and accessible via Zero Trust networking across public clouds as well as embedded client infrastructure.

Ideally you’ll have:

• 5+ years of industry experience in Platform Engineering, DevOps Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering or equivalent.
• Experience running Kubernetes in production and deep familiarity with everything needed to provision production-grade clusters.
• Expert knowledge of public clouds using Infrastructure as Code to build intuitive, self-service golden paths that enable engineering teams to ship safely and autonomously.
• Hands‑on experience with a variety of Linux distributions and strong system‑level troubleshooting skills.
• Proficiency in software development (primarily Go and Python) with the ability to quickly understand application behavior from codebases with minimal context.
• A pragmatic approach to system design that balances curiosity with maintainability, choosing simple, sustainable patterns that keep long-term operational debt low.

It would be fantastic if you have these skills/experience but not essential:

• Relevant Kubernetes certifications such as CKA, CKAD, or CKS.
• Relevant public cloud certifications such as AWS SAA/SAP or GCP ACE/PCA.
• Familiarity with the CNCF and its various projects.
• Experience using GitOps tools such as Argo CD or Flux CD.

Salary

The targeted base salary range for this position is between $150,000 - $225,000 and will ultimately be determined by specific job-related skills, experience, level, location and other contributing factors. Depending on the position offered, this role may be eligible for annual discretionary bonuses, equity and other forms of compensation outside of the targeted base salary range. For more information on benefits at Q-CTRL, please visit our careers page at https://q-ctrl.com/careers.

Should you have any questions related to the compensation package, please speak directly with the Talent Acquisition representative.

About Q-CTRL

Q-CTRL is the global leader in AI-powered quantum control infrastructure software. We build the tools that make quantum technology useful, solving the hardest challenges in quantum computing and quantum sensing to deliver real-world impact.

Founded in 2017, we operate globally with offices in Sydney, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Huntsville, Berlin, and Oxford. Our teams bring together technical and multi-disciplinary expertise across the product lifecycle, and we’re hiring talent to help scale every part of the business. We work quickly to turn cutting-edge science into deployable technology.

In 2024 we raised US$113 million in Series B funding, the largest aggregate investment for a quantum software company. Six months later we delivered the first commercial quantum advantage with Ironstone Opal, our field-validated quantum navigation solution for defense and industry.

At Q-CTRL, we prioritize outcomes over hours. We offer flexibility, equity potential, and competitive benefits that reflect our high-performance culture. If you’re ready to help shape the future of quantum, we’d love to hear from you!