Senior Digital System Architect

PsiQuantum; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 177,000 - 207,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive health coverage

401(k) with company match

Equity grants

Financial wellness tools and planning

Wellness benefits

Family support programs

Life and disability insurance

Paid leave programs

Company-designated paid holidays

Discretionary time off (DTO)

Year-end company shutdown

Job summary

PsiQuantum is seeking a digital hardware system architect to join our System-Architecture team in shaping the digital-logic systems that drive our photonic quantum computer. You will work in a multi-technology environment translating abstract requirements into concrete hardware, and implementing low-latency algorithms for the data-plane.

You will collaborate with physicists and digital designers to optimize designs for performance, latency, and footprint, and will write verification and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related discipline.
• 5+ years of relevant work in digital design.
• Knowledge of SystemVerilog (or VHDL) for design and simulation.
• Experience working with FPGAs (Xilinx preferred) and associated tooling.
• Strong critical thinking skills to devise creative and analytical approaches to solving novel, loosely-defined complex problems.
• Team player with an ability to work effectively across departments and time-zones.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to engage a variety of audiences.
• Experienced Python programmer who strives to write clear code in the context of a small team of contributors.
• Pro‑active with the ability to work independently with limited direction, in a fast‑moving start‑up environment nice‑to‑have:
• Distributed system experience: involving event correlation from multiple sources, under real‑time constraints.
• Experience with High Level Synthesis tools (e.g. Xilinx Vitis).
• Experience with Python for verification (Cocotb).
• Knowledge of photonics and linear optics is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Gather and translate high-level abstract requirements into concrete hardware requirements.
• Devise and implement low-latency algorithms and methods to solve various time-critical tasks that take place in the data-plane of an optical quantum computer.
• Work with other digital-design experts to integrate algorithms into FPGAs.
• Collaborate closely with physicists and digital designers to arbitrate design choices and optimize designs to meet algorithmic performance while matching latency, throughput and footprint constraints.
• Write requirements and documentation.
• Implement cycle-accurate Python models to be integrated in discrete-time-event simulations.
• Implement SystemVerilog implementations matching Python models.
• Write behavioral tests for implementations in Python.

Skills

Digital hardware design

SystemVerilog

Python programming

FPGA experience

Excellent communication

Cross-team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's or master's in Electrical or Computer Engineering

Tools

Xilinx FPGA tooling

HDL simulation tools

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.

In 2024, PsiQuantum announced government-funded projects to support the build-out of our first utility-scale quantum computers in Brisbane, Australia, and Chicago, Illinois. These initiatives reflect a growing recognition that quantum computing will be strategically and economically defining—and that now is the time to scale.

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 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 have a clear path to make it real.

Come join us.

Job Summary

We are looking for a digital hardware system architect to join our System-Architecture team. You will work in a multi-technology environment and will contribute to shaping and defining the digital-logic systems which drive our photonic quantum computer.

Responsibilities

• Gather and translate high-level abstract requirements into concrete hardware requirements.
• Devise and implement low-latency algorithms and methods to solve various time-critical tasks that take place in the data-plane of an optical quantum computer.
• Work with other digital-design experts to integrate algorithms into FPGAs.
• Collaborate closely with physicists and digital designers to arbitrate design choices and optimize designs to meet algorithmic performance while matching latency, throughput and footprint constraints.
• Write requirements and documentation.
• Implement cycle-accurate Python models to be integrated in discrete-time-event simulations.
• Implement SystemVerilog implementations matching Python models.
• Write behavioral tests for implementations in Python.

Experience/Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related discipline.
• 5+ years of relevant work in digital design.
• Knowledge of SystemVerilog (or VHDL) for design and simulation.
• Experience working with FPGAs (Xilinx preferred) and associated tooling.
• Strong critical thinking skills to devise creative and analytical approaches to solving novel, loosely-defined complex problems.
• Team player with an ability to work effectively across departments and time-zones.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to engage a variety of audiences.
• Experienced Python programmer who strives to write clear code in the context of a small team of contributors.
• Pro‑active with the ability to work independently with limited direction, in a fast‑moving start‑up environment nice‑to‑have:
• Distributed system experience: involving event correlation from multiple sources, under real‑time constraints.
• Experience with High Level Synthesis tools (e.g. Xilinx Vitis).
• Experience with Python for verification (Cocotb).
• Knowledge of photonics and linear optics is a plus.

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.

Actual compensation may vary outside of these ranges and is dependent on various factors including, but not limited to, a candidate's qualifications, relevant education and training, competencies, experience, geographic location, business needs, and internal equity. Your recruiter can share more details about the salary range applicable to your location during the hiring process.

• 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

The estimated annual base salary range for this role is:

• Zone 1 $176,500 - $207,400 USD

• Zone 2 $158,900 - $186,700 USD

• Zone 3 $141,200 - $165,900 USD

• Zone 4 $123,600 - $145,200 USD

• 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)
• 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.